Aruba, Venezuela, Guatemala: this is the intricate route that CJNG uses to traffic drugs from Mexico to the U.S.

Chivis Martinez Borderland Beat MSN-Infobae

It was supposed to be a summit of CJNG members in Bogata Colombia, to define new trafficking routes to the U.S. but it ended with 10 members being captured.

Since 2014, Mexico and the United States knew that the Cartel Jalisco New Generation would become a headache for their governments.

From a small group of criminal cell deserters, the CJNG evolved to become one of the most prolific and violent drug trafficking organizations in the world.

The key to its rapid expansion is due, in large part, to its strategic presence on the northern and southern borders of the country, as well as in areas of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Through the use of violence and alliances with other criminal groups, the CJNG has displaced historically powerful cartels such as Sinaloa and Beltran Leyva, who no longer lead the transfer of cocaine from Mexico to the American Union.

According to the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the criminal organization introduces drugs to the neighboring country through corridors that pass through Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez and Nuevo Laredo.

Coca traffic includes the use of ultralight aircraft loaded with Colombian product. A recent report from the Colombian television channel Noticias Caracol reports that the planes are bought by CJNG.

From Mexico, air transport leaves to Venezuela, passing through the Aruba Island. Mexican emissaries pass through the control of Venezuelan airspace, where an accomplice of the country's Air Forces prevents narcojets from being shot down.

Once released, they travel to the top of Venezuela and land in the state of Zulia, which borders with Colombia.

At this point, the planes descend on clandestine runways and are loaded with at least one or two tons of coca, from the department of Santander, Colombia.

With the cargo on the aircraft, the CJNG hitmen return to the first point of entry: Aruba Island. There they go to Guatemala and Honduras.

In Central American countries, airplanes are destroyed in a matter of minutes, because hitmen do not use the same airplane to traffic the drug to the United States.

Once the coca is found in Azteca territory, it is transferred to the United States by sea, air, in passenger vehicles or on trucks.

The money obtained from the sale of the drug in the United States is laundered through exchange houses that operate in Colombia.

Money is passed through Panama, enter Cúcuta, Colombia and are invested in crops, production and new drug shipments. To legalize money, apartments, houses and vehicles are acquired.

Who is who in the drug trade from Mexico to the US?

Aruba Island: Aruba's proximity to Venezuela - a mere 23 kilometers - makes it an important point for drug trafficking to countries in the United States.

Mexican cartels have used the island as a "bridge" for the transfer of coca from Colombia and loaded in Venezuela. Although the traffic is largely opportunistic and with motorboats, the drug traffickers have ventured into the air transport destined to Guatemala and Honduras.

Venezuela: The drug trafficking businesses of the Jalisco Cartel with Venezuela are not news; however, a recent investigation uncovered that the contacts of the Mexican cartel in the South American nation included a captain of the Air Forces. It was Gino Alfonso Garcés Vergara, aka “Gino”, who received USD 500,000 to prevent the CJNG narcojets from being intercepted by Venezuelan authorities.

Colombia: The relationship between criminal groups in Colombia and Mexico is long standing. However, strong ties began in 2012, a time when cocaine production had collapsed and the supply chain faced problems due to conflicts between the mafias.

The Mexicans intervened so as not to lose the strength of the business that has historically given them more wealth: the sale of drugs - specifically coca - in their northern neighboring country.

In the specific case of the US, Mexican drug trafficking has taken advantage of the high demand of the United States, which has one of the highest rates of drug abuse in the world.

A kilo of cocaine in Colombia has a value of about USD 1,000, but as it moves further north, prices multiply to reach a value up to 25 times higher in cities like New York.

Mexico does not want to get into Colombia's affairs; it just wants to take care of its favorite client.

A CJNG Bogota meeting turned into an operation

Currently, the criminal cell led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, aka “El Mencho”, maintains business relations with Colombia, where for 12 days the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) followed its members through the streets of Bogotá.

News Caracol explained that one by one, emissaries of the CJNG arrived at a prestigious hotel in the capital of Colombia. Their arrival in the South American country had only one objective: to hold a clandestine meeting with Colombian drug traffickers to define new routes for sending cocaine to the United States.

The material obtained by the DEA identified the arrival of Mexicans at the El Dorado International Airport and their transfer to the place of accommodation.

The CJNG hitmen's stay lasted approximately two weeks, during which they made tourist tours through Bogotá.

Contrary to their arrival, the Mexican narcos, headed by “El Manny”, returned together on a commercial flight.

The communications intercepted by the US government undressed that through the Colombian narco nicknamed "El Hamilton", the CJNG trafficked cocaine without being detected by the authorities of both Colombia and Venezuela.

The role of El Hamilton was crucial for the business: he was responsible for getting from the municipality of Villavicencio, Colombia, the routes, aircraft and contacts in Venezuela for the passage of the planes loaded with coca,

Colombian narco contacts include Gino Alfonso Garcés Vergara, a captain of the Venezuelan Air Force.

Garcés Vergara was known within the network as "Gino". At the hand of El Hamilton, the latter received USD 250,000 for delivering the aircraft entry code and another USD 250,000 to prevent the fighter jets from pressing the landing or tearing down the narcojet.

In Colombia, other hitmen who worked for  Mencho also operated. It was the hitman known as "El Negro or Black" and "El Rolex", who was laundering money for the Mexican criminal organization.

Mexico: a route drawn with blood

With light aircraft, passenger buses, private vehicles, cargo transport, and even parcels, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel hitmen traffic drugs from Mexico to the United States.

The information available at the Criminal Investigation Agency (AIC) identifies Mexico City, State of Mexico, Puebla, Michoacán, Jalisco, Querétaro, Morelos, Nayarit, Sinaloa, Durango, Baja California and Sonora, as opioid shipping points, bound for Tijuana, the city where it enters  California.

Currently the organization headed by Nemesio Oseguera, "El Mencho" dominates 25 of the 32 states in Mexico. In them, the production and transfer of drugs, the seizure of territories, extortion, kidnapping, fuel theft, money laundering and brutal violence have been the main hallmark.

The expansion of areas - mainly in the north of the country - has helped the CJNG position itself as the largest drug dealer in the United States.

Due to the above, the US government created forces against organized crime and undertook a hunt against the leaders of the criminal cell.

But charting the shipping route has left a bloodbath in Mexican entities. The CJNG maintains an open dispute with the Sinaloa Cartel, for the domain of the border and the peninsula.

An especially violent war is the one he has with Los Viagras, more than for the control of drugs, the conflict is for theft and transfer of fuel.