SUMMARY
The Gulf Cartel is one of the major drug trafficking cartels in Mexico currently battling for control over territory and smuggling routes.
The cartel originates from the 1970s when the group, headed by Juan Nepomuceno Guerra, engaged in small-scale smuggling of alcohol through the Gulf of Mexico to the U.S. In the 1980s the group included cocaine and marijuana in their business and they rapidly expanded their activities along the Pacific coast. Under the leadership of Juan Garcia Abrego the Gulf cartel gained a reputation as being extremely violent as they eliminated rival groups threatening their territories, and in the 1990s the group grew into one of the largest drug cartels in Mexico, taking in on the then-dominant Juarez and Tijuana cartels. In 1996, Abrego was arrested and extradited to the U.S and internal power struggles followed. In 1999, Osiel Cardenas took control of the cartel, reinforced tits dominance and started battling the Sinaloa Cartel for areas of control in the Yucatan peninsula. Cardenas was imprisoned in 2003 but continued to rule the cartel until he was extradited to the U.S. in 2007, when Jorge Costilla-Sanchez took over.
The cartel has a decentralized structure and is made up of four sub-groups as well as numerous gangs loosely tied to the organisation. Los halcones (the falcons) are responsible for intelligence and information gathering, Las Ventanas (the windows) are hired to function as look-outs, Los Expertos (the experts) carry out technical intelligence operations such as telephone tapping, and Los Jefes (the bosses) are the main gatekeepers and used to control the armed wing, Los Zetas.
Los Zetas was previously the armed wing of the Gulf Cartel and was created in the middle of the 1990s by a group of deserters from the Mexican militarys Special Forces Airmobile Group (GAFES, Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Especiales). As a consequence, this was the first time that a drug cartel controlled such a sophisticated and well-trained armed group. Los Zetas were loyal to Osiel Cardenas, but when he was transferred to the U.S, Los Zetas became more independent and eventually grew more powerful than the Gulf Cartel. In early 2010 Los Zetas officially split from the Gulf Cartel and started fighting their former allies.
The Gulf Cartel is based in Tamaulipas state and used to be dominant along most parts of the Gulf coast, before being pushed back by Los Zetas after the split in 2010. They have fought the Sinaloa Cartel and Los Zetas in Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Coahuila and the Yucatan peninsula, but also along the Pacific coast in the states of Jalisco, Michoacán and Guerrero.
The cartel has been flexible in its alliance structures and has formed links with once rival cartels on various occasions. In 2004, the leaders of the Gulf Cartel and Tijuana Cartel made an agreement in prison against their common enemy, the Sinaloa Cartel. However, the alliance broke down in 2005. Between May 2007 and May 2008 the Gulf Cartel had an agreement on splitting territory with the Sinaloa Cartel. When the deal collapsed, the fighting reached new levels. Since 2010 the major cartels have reportedly assembled in two loose alliances; the Gulf Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel on the one side, and the Juarez Cartel, the Tijuana Cartel, Los Zetas and the Beltran Leyva Cartel on the other. However, the Gulf Cartel has continued to fight the Sinaloa Cartel in some states.
The heavy fighting between members of the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas cartel began in 2010 and has largely taken place in the Northeastern states of Mexico. Both the Gulf and Zetas cartels have solicited the support of other Mexican cartels in order to bolster their ranks in the Northeast.
The number of people involved in the Gulf Cartel is difficult to estimate, although police believe that the core personnel are fewer than 1000.
The Gulf Cartel has been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organised violence.
La Familia was one of the major drug trafficking cartels in Mexico battling other cartels for control over territory and smuggling routes.
The cartel was formerly known as "La Empresa" and served as an ally of the Gulf Cartel. In 2006 the "La Familia" cartel was born when the group became the first Mexican drug cartel to employ the tactic of severing the heads of its victims and then leaving them on public display. The cartel was founded and led by Carlos Rosales Mendoza (arrested October 24, 2004), Nazario "El Chayo" Moreno González, (died May 9, 2014) and José de Jesús "El Chango" Méndez Vargas, (arrested June 21, 2011).
La Familia had a hierarchical leadership structure comprised of between 25 and 50 plaza bosses each of whom had a deputy plaza boss. The cartel had several thousand members many of whom were from the state of Michoacán. La Familia members frequently came from troubled backgrounds and the cartel was known to recruit new members directly from Michoacáns drug-rehabilitation centers.
La Familia was involved in the production, trafficking and distribution of methamphetamine, marijuana and cocaine but also kidnapping, human smuggling, and extortion. The cartel was notorious not only for its brutality but also for its professed radical civic/religious ideology. The cartel frequently professed goals such as eradicating kidnapping, extortion, theft and other already criminal offences from the state of Michoacán, a propaganda tactic which has been widely replicated by other Mexican drug cartels.
La Familia was predominantly active in the state of Michoacán around the states major port city of Lazaro Cardenas where it battled the Zetas cartel during the late 2000s. The cartel was also known to have also been active in the states of Guerrero, Guanajuato, Mexico state and Mexico City, Federal District. The cartel also had an international network with links to Central America, Europe and the United States.
A major 2009-2010 counter-narcotics offensive by Mexican and U.S. government agencies against the cartel ultimately resulted in the arrest of at least 345 suspected La Familia members in the U.S., and the disappearance of one of the cartels founders, Nazario "El Chayo" Moreno González, on December 9, 2010.
The cartel subsequently unraveled and splintered into two smaller groups, the Knights Templar Cartel and a José de Jesús "El Chango" Méndez Vargas led faction which kept the name La Familia. Following the cartels fragmentation in late 2010 and early 2011, La Familia fought the newly created Knights Templar Cartel. On June 21, 2011 José de Jesús "El Chango" Méndez Vargas was arrested by Mexican authorities but the cartel remained active into 2012 albeit in a far less powerful form than previously.
La Familia has been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organized violence.
The Sinaloa Cartel is one of the major drug trafficking cartels in Mexico currently battling for control over territory and smuggling routes.
The leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman-Loera, started out as a drug trafficker and air logistics expert for Felix-Gallardo’s Tijuana Cartel in the late 1980’s. When Felix-Gallardo was arrested in 1989, Guzman inherited some territory and created his own organisation. Guzman was arrested in 1993 and sentenced to 20 years in prison, but continued to control the Sinaloa Cartel from within prison. In 2001 he bribed some prison guards and was smuggled out in a laundry truck. Although Guzman is still the official leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, the organisation is now said to be headed by Ismael Zambada, alias “El Mayo”. After more than a decade on the run Guzman was caught in a beach resort in Sinaloa state in the end of February 2014. However, in July 2015 Guzman managed to escape once again from a Mexican high security prison, this time through a tunnel. After almost six months on the run Guzman was captured and he is expected to be extradited to the US.
The cartel is based in Sinaloa state but controls much of the Pacific coast. Clashes between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Gulf Cartel have primarily taken place in the states of Jalisco, Michoacán, and Guerrero and in the city of Nuevo Laredo. The cartel also fights the Juarez Cartel in Ciudad Juarez as well as in the rest of Chihuahua State. In 2010, reports stated that the Sinaloa Cartel had effectively taken control of Ciudad Juarez, but violence continued to increase.
Between May 2007 and May 2008 the Sinaloa Cartel had an agreement on splitting territory with the Gulf Cartel. When the deal collapsed, the fighting reached new levels. The Sinaloa cartel has also had an alliance with the Juarez Cartel but it broke down in 2007. Since 2010 the major cartels have reportedly assembled in two loose alliances; the Gulf Cartel, the Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco Cartel New Generation, Los Caballeros Templarios and La Barredora, on one side and Los Zetas, the Juarez Cartel, the Milenio Cartel, La Familia and the South Pacific Cartel, on the other. However, the Gulf Cartel has continued to fight the Sinaloa Cartel in some states. In 2010, the Sinaloa Cartel also gained ground in Baja California State, the traditional stronghold of the Tijuana Cartel.
The Sinaloa Cartel has also been called the federation and consists of a number of allied cartels, although the Guzman-Loera group is dominant. Other organisations that for periods of time have been included are the Milenio organisation, the Ismael Zambada organisation, the Juan Jose Esparragoza organisation, Los Pelones and Los Negros.
In May 2008 the Beltran Leyva brothers broke with Guzman as a result of Guzman’s suspected involvement in the capture of Alfredo Beltran Leyva in January. Heavy fighting erupted between the two factions after the Beltran Leyva gang killed Guzman’s son in Culiacan, Sinaloa on 8 May 2008. Since then, the Beltran Leyva Cartel has grown increasingly powerful and has been one of the major drug-trafficking organisations in Mexico.
Los Pelones and Los Negros are armed wings connected to the Sinaloa cartel and created as an answer to the Gulf Cartel’s armed wing Los Zetas. Los Negros was engaged in heavy fighting against Los Zetas in 2004 and 2005 and Los Pelones has been active in battles against Los Zetas, primarily in Guerrero state. Los Zetas officially split from the Gulf Cartel in early 2010, and is now battling the Sinaloa Cartel as an independent group.
The Sinaloa Cartel also controls several gangs used in the fighting against the Juarez Cartel in Ciudad Juarez, for instance Los Mexicles, Artist Assassins and Gente Nueva.
The Sinaloa Cartel has been involved in the non-state category of UCDP organised violence.
