Drug Cartels and Their Tactics, Research Paper Example

The presences of drug cartels in Mexico and around U.S. – Mexico borders have been a problem since 1970s. The establishment of three major drug cartels, Tijuana Cartel, Sinaloa Cartel, and the Gulf Cartel, took place at different times. Therefore, the tensions only arose in late 1980s and early 1990s and all three cartels became more and more mainstream in criminal world and. In addition they were extremely brutal in their activities and the level of rivalry was enhanced since all three cartels have always had financial benefits in Mexico and U.S. border areas and that inevitably creates tensions.  Their main focus is not strictly selling of narcotics but also racketeering, taxing local (“turf businesses”), kidnap for ransom, and other illegal activities. In addition, because Mexican president recently declared war on cartels, there has been a recent increase in murders of many government security agents.  The most recent confrontation with police took place in May of 2008 when Edgar Eusebio Millán Gómez, a Federal Police Commander who aggressively fought against drug cartels, was killed after he arrested a major cartel boss. (1) This is only one incident out of dozens that occur on daily basis. Also, these major cartels operate with clever strategies that sustain their daily survivability but these are the most influential and noticed. This paper will focus on the growth of three cartels in the region and their overall tactics towards their rivals and the government, the corruption of law enforcement agencies and the lack of judiciary system.

Prior to surveying the overall problem of cartels, it is important to first indicate how these cartels operate and what tactics they use to operate.  Mexican cartels are commonly more street-oriented and like to use simple and easy means to solve their problems. They will often use brutality and might even kill victims or rivals for their cause. One of their most widely used and often exercised methods in achieving their means is kidnapping.  Sometimes these kidnappings take place occur because of drug debts and sometimes because for ransom. Tijuana is perhaps one of the most violently aggressive cities in Mexico that has this problem.  In early 2000s kidnapping in Tijuana was not popular at all. Vast majority of those kidnappings took place because of drug debts. But in mid-2007 the number of kidnappings skyrocketed which was quite counter-productive for Tijuana cartel’s drug export.  The kidnappings, however, were more of a financial source than a way to resolve drug debts since the kidnappers would ask for ransom. Fernando S. Arellano, the leader of Tijuana cartel ordered one of lieutenants, Garcia Simental, to limit the kidnappings and upon refusal a civil war erupted.  The kidnappings only aggravated during the civil war which lasted approximately two years, from April 2008 to May 2010 (2). Their victims were usually random, middle-class people whom the kidnappers did not even have prior knowledge of.  The rest were either in interwar or were related to someone who was involved in interwar. The number significantly dropped in mid-2010 when law enforcement agencies took strict measures to end the civil war. But there are, nevertheless, people who still get kidnapped. But it is not strictly the Tijuana cartel that is involved in kidnappings.  In November of 2010 Sinaloa cartel kidnapped the brother of one of the top prosecutors from Tijuana who staunchly fought against drug trafficking. (3) These kidnappings are retaliations to government officials who dare to put up with these cartels. Gulf cartel is not an exception either as they were, too, involved in kidnappings.  In late October of 2011 some members of Gulf cartel were arrested for attempted kidnapping in the city of Hidalgo (3). All in all, kidnapping is perhaps one of their widely used tools for income or it could be used to impose fear to those who dare to confront them or their business

Drug cartels and police bribery

Corruption and bribery in Mexico have always been two existential problems that made it difficult for the government to battle drug cartels.  Most of the bribery takes place in cities where cartels have serious influence in. Most of these cities are populated by low-middle class families and with occasional ghetto-like neighborhoods.  The law enforcement does not get sufficient pay which leads them to either join cartels or aid them on occasional basis.  Tijuana used to be the most corrupt city in all of Mexico and it was widely known to the public. Here the cartels occasionally got help from police officers who would either help them smuggle drugs to U.S. or would cover up crimes done by low-ranking soldiers of these cartels. These are the more common and widely known police involvements in Tijuana and in other cartel-influenced places at large.  Since 2008 in Tijuana alone there have been more than 600 police officers who were fired from their jobs for being accused of bribery (5). But this doesn’t quite help the overall problem of corruption and bribery in government and law enforcement. In fact, there has been several instances were police officers not only ignored crimes in return for bribes, but also participated in illegal activities themselves. For instance, in 2005 there was an incident where about 44 kidnapped were freed after a rescue operation. After hearing the accounts of those people, police found out that these captives were first kidnapped by “uniformed men” and later handed over to kidnappers (6). On a higher level, it was believed that some agents from Federal Investigative Agency were hired by Gulf Cartel to assist them in more internal and secretive issues. Some of them went as far as kidnapping high-ranking cartel members and handed them over to Sinaloa cartel (7). In 2006 about 1,500 of 7000 agents of AFI were under investigation for their affiliation with drug cartels. Roughly 500 of them were charged for corruption. There have also been rumors that the government is also linked to Sinaloa cartel since they do not do much in Sinaloa, but these claims have not been confirmed. (8)

Drug cartels and the judiciary practice against them

In spite of all the local police briberies and selected corruptions in some governmental arenas, it is still worth giving some credit to the judiciary branch of the government for beginning to take strong measures against these drug cartels. In September of 2011 when 35 bodies were found on the street it was widely known that it was the work of an organized criminal group called “New Generation” which is linked to the Gulf Cartel. In response, top federal prosecutors had a convention where they emphasized the vitality of crackdown and decided to have them more often since the frequency of killings was rising since 2010. Few days after the meeting major operations were carried out in which many top officials from the Gulf Cartel were caught and are currently awaiting for the trial. These judges and top prosecutors, in contrast to the old ones, are quite tough on the rule of law and are quite involved in war on drugs.  (9) In contrast to 1990s the system has significantly increased, in particular after Felipe Calderon took the seat of presidency. Calderon reassigned his own people in different branches. In the judiciary branch, for instance, he changed the top prosecutors, total of 37 and some of the military brigadier in order to have people that he personally trusted. It was widely known that back in 1990s the judiciary system was completely bought by 2 main cartels, the Gulf Cartel and the Sinaloa cartel (10) whose top drug lords would either get reduced sentences or would get their minor cases acquitted.  In present, however, none of the three major cartels or any other cartels have any linkage to the judiciary system.

All in all, the question of drug cartels is serious as it is an existential threat to Mexico and its populace. The police and the government should take more strict measures to fight kidnapping, killing, and drug trade. In addition, more attention should be paid to police bribery so that crimes do not go unnoticed.  With that said, it is important to applaud the recent improvements of the judiciary branch of the Mexican government for taking strong measures to stopping these cartels from doing any additional damage. In spite of the unyielding cartels in the country, judges have become stricter and braver in their actions.

Works Cited

http://www.explorandomexico.com/about-mexico/9/170/

http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2011/05/kidnapping-in-tijuana-new-normal.html

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/nov/06/world/la-fg-mexico-gonzalez-20101106

http://www.themonitor.com/articles/hidalgo-56346-charged-gulf.html

http://www.npr.org/2010/11/19/131458817/tijuana-police-chief-battles-corruption-cartels

http://www.chron.com/news/nation-world/article/Freed-captives-in-Mexico-say-police-abducted-them-1923608.php

http://www.statealliancepartnership.org/Resources/CRS%20Report%20to%20Congress%20-%20Mexico’s%20Drug%20Cartels.pdf

http://www.npr.org/2010/05/19/126906809/mexico-seems-to-favor-sinaloa-cartel-in-drug-war

http://www.tribune-chronicle.com/page/content.detail/id/147319/Dumping-of-35-bodies-seen-as-challenge-to-Zetas-.html?isap=1&nav=5030

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/mexico/etc/cron.html