Sinaloa Cartel

Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera is the most wanted drug lord in Mexico. Despite the turbulence it has experienced this past year, his Sinaloa cartel is perhaps the most capable drug trafficking organization in Mexico.

This turbulence involved the loss of the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes organization in Ciudad Juarez as well as the split with the Beltran Leyva organization. Guzman has maintained his long-standing alliances with his high-ranking lieutenants, Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada Garcia and Ignacio “El Nacho” Coronel Villareal. These two have continued to work with Guzman, even as he has come under attack from nearly every other cartel in Mexico.

The Sinaloa cartel also has come under increasing attack this past year from the Mexican government, which has deployed several thousand troops to Sinaloa state. The increased security presence has so far been too limited to significantly affect the Sinaloa cartel’s operations, though some of its money laundering operations and other parts of its infrastructure have been shut down.

The Sinaloa cartel’s loss of partners in Mexico does not appear to have impacted its ability to smuggle drugs from South America to the United States. On the contrary, based on seizure reports, the Sinaloa cartel appears to be the most active smuggler of cocaine.

It has also demonstrated the ability to establish operations in previously unknown areas, such as Central America and South America, even as far south as Peru, Paraguay and Argentina. It also appears to be most active in diversifying its export markets; rather than relying solely on U.S. consumers, it has made an effort to supply distributors of drugs in Latin American and European countries.

Categories: cartel, Mexican Crime, organized crime, sinaloa cartel