Tijuana, the strongest CJNG border plaza

Translated by El Profe for Borderland Beat from Zeta Tijuana

Main Areas of Mexican Cartel Influence

According to the DEA's most recent annual report, from 2015 to date, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel made Tijuana the main point of entry for their drugs into the United States. Although the Sinaloa Cartel dominates most of the border, the agency stresses the rapid expansion of this cartel and the levels of violence it has generated in Mexico.

In two years, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) went from having an incipient presence on the border of Tijuana to controlling half of the drug traffic through this border, with the Sinaloa Cartel as the only rival.

This is indicated by the annual report of the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), published in October of this year, which reveals how the CJNG, the fastest growing during the administration of Enrique Peña Nieto, converted Tijuana to its main entry point to the United States for the sale of drugs.

Although the California-Arizona corridor continues to be under the control of the Sinaloa Cartel, as explained in the report entitled National Evaluation of the Drug Threat 2017, the CJNG has presence in the first area through the cities of San Ysidro and San Diego, the closest to Tijuana, as well as Riverside, Orange County, the Los Angeles area and San Francisco in northern California.

From there, the CJNG jumps to the West Coast until Seattle, Washington, where it fights for a quarter of the drug sales market. In Tucson, Arizona they have a minimal presence, same with El Paso, Texas, border with Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua.

In Texas, there is control of almost half of the drug trafficking in San Antonio and Laredo, on the border with Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.

Both in the border cities of El Paso and Laredo, in the annual report of the DEA for 2015, the CJNG did not even have a presence, while in Tijuana it reached 25 percent.

Even in the 2016 annual report, the areas of influence of the CJNG on the border were reduced to Imperial Valley County, adjacent to Mexicali.

The growth of a cartel

The DEA outlines six major Mexican cartels: Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Juárez Cartel, Gulf Cartel, The Zetas, and Beltrán-Leyva Cartel, "each of these organizations maintains drug distribution cells in designated cities throughout the United States that report directly to the leaders of the cartels in Mexico or through intermediaries."

As for the Knights Templar, whose leader, Servando Gómez Martínez "La Tuta" was arrested in Mexico in 2015, the DEA believes that "they do not have a significant impact on the drug trafficking scene within the United States."

The CJNG appeared in the sights of the US authorities for the first time in 2014, a year before its existence was accepted by the Mexican government. "The CJNG is the most recent organization of the six, but it is one of the most powerful and fastest growing in Mexico and the United States."

In 2016, the DEA opened 26 investigations -which are still active- linked to the main leaders of the CJNG, while the number increased to 46 so far in 2017.

The US agency insists on this report of the rapid expansion of this cartel that was separated from that of Sinaloa in July 2010, thanks to "its willingness to engage in violent confrontations with both security forces and rivals."

"Like the Sinaloa Cartel, CJNG is an organization that traffics multiple drugs with large amounts of methamphetamine, mainly, but also cocaine, heroin and marijuana."

The main points of this organization for the distribution of drugs are Los Angeles, California; New York, New York; and Atlanta, Georgia.

"Members of the CJNG export large quantities of methamphetamine to California from Guadalajara, Jalisco, through crossing points in Tijuana to distribution centers in Los Angeles and San Jose, California," the report said.

The DEA identifies three leaders of this organization: Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes "El Mencho", Abigael González Valencia "El Cuini", the only one who has been arrested, as well as Jorge Luis Mendoza Cárdenas "La Garra".

Since 2015, the US government has designated dozens of people and businesses as part of the money laundering network for the CJNG, among the most recent to appear are the Mexican singer Julión Álvarez and the soccer player Rafael Márquez, as part of their attempts to dismantle their financial networks.

The overwhelming violence in Tijuana

At the local level, Juan José Pérez Vargas "El JP" or "El Piolín" has been identified as the main leader of the CJNG in Baja California. After false versions of his death circulated on the internet, he was arrested on September 19 in Guadalajara, Jalisco.

Along with two other men from Tijuana, he was apprehended for carrying a firearm, as well as doses of drugs and cash.

Despite being one of the main targets identified by the public security corporations, "El Piolín" does not have an arrest warrant in Baja California.

The arrival of the CJNG to Tijuana brought with it the highest figures of homicides in the history of the city, surpassing even the murders committed when the Sinaloa Cartel and the Arellano Félix Cartel (CAF) disputed control of the area before 2010.

Its presence was detected for the first time in 2014, when some of its members came to traffic weapons and drugs with a low profile. A year later, through narcomantas with corpses, its presence began to grow and in 2016 it was recognized by the government of Baja California.

Authorities attribute to the dispute of this cartel, allied with what remained of the CAF against the Sinaloa Cartel, more than 3 thousand 800 intentional homicides committed since 2015.

With everything and "El Chapo" extradited, Sinaloa strengthens in the East Coast
 
The DEA indicates that "Mexican cartels control the majority of drug trafficking in the United States with continuous signs of growth and expansion."

Through this report, it is indicated that in recent years these criminal organizations expanded their sphere of influence to new regions on the East Coast, the point furthest from the border of Mexico, like New England, mainly with the sale of heroin and methamphetamines.

According to information from the DEA, this area is under the control of the Sinaloa Cartel, specifically, most of the State of New York, as well as Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Indianapolis, Indiana; and New Haven, Connecticut.

These are the hot spots in the opiate epidemic that have expanded in the United States and that up to 2016, have caused 60 thousand overdose deaths.

The same happens in Chicago, Illinois, where drug lords of the Sinaloa Cartel have been prosecuted for drug trafficking. It is in this city, where the Mexican cartels control most of the sale of methamphetamines, cocaine, marijuana and heroin, without "any viable competitor".

The expansion of the Sinaloa Cartel continues despite the fact that its most notorious leader, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, is being held in New York and that this year, Damaso López Núñez "El Licenciado" was arrested in Mexico, who was looking for the control of the cartel.

The DEA identifies both as leaders of this criminal organization, as well as Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada García and for the first time Rafael Caro Quintero, who was released from prison in 2013.

One of the distinctions of the Sinaloa Cartel is that it "maintains the most expansive international footprint in comparison with other Mexican cartels," says the DEA document.

Its area of control are the Coast of the Pacific Ocean, both in Mexico and the United States, and distribution cells located in Phoenix, Arizona; Los Angeles California; Denver, Colorado; and still Chicago, Illinois.

Most of the border between Mexico and the United States for the transfer of drugs is under the control of the Sinaloa Cartel, mainly in California, Arizona, New Mexico and part of Texas.

United States with the cartel's drugs, but without their violence

The DEA reports that unlike drug lords operating in Mexico, their counterparts in the United States work to maintain a low profile and low visibility, so they generally avoid violent confrontations with their cartel rivals.

"Although the homicides related to drug trafficking have reached epidemic proportions in Mexico in recent years, this phenomenon has not translated into violence overflowing in the United States," the document said.

He adds that although there have been some homicides related to Mexican cartels in North America, "they are less frequent and mainly related to traffickers, so they do not represent a pattern of concern at this time."

In general, the DEA believes that the Mexican cartels will continue to dominate the trafficking and distribution of marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamines and heroin in the US markets.

"No other criminal organization has the infrastructure or logistics to face them. It is expected that Mexican cartels will continue to grow in the United States through the expansion of their distribution networks and interaction with local criminal groups and gangs,“ the report said.

522 million dollars to fight the narco

According to a budget request submitted by the Department of Justice before the United States Congress, $522 million dollars were requested to fight the cartels in 2017.

This is a Special Forces program to Combat Organized Crime, one of the main sources of information of the DEA for its annual report, National Evaluation of the Drug Threat; since from here emerge the leaders, identified as priority targets, who are pursued within the cartels.
                     
However, this program does not focus solely on drug trafficking and money laundering, but also on any other activity to which transnational criminal organizations engage.

The document states that one of the main missions of this program, made up of multiple federal, state and local agencies, is "to dismantle the networks of transnational organizations dedicated to drug trafficking, including the Sinaloa Cartel."

As part of its annual report, attached with the budget request, the Department of Justice maintains that among the activities of this program are "hundreds of active investigations linked to the Sinaloa Cartel".

Of the 40 priority objectives of these agencies in 2015, 28 percent corresponded to the organization led by "El Chapo" Guzmán, which makes it the cartel with the most members targeted by the US government.