Fentanyl Production Is "Stronger Than before", Says "El Mini Lic"

"Char" for Borderland Beat

This article was translated and reposted from PROCESO

Dámaso López Serrano "El Mini Lic," tells Proceso that, although they stopped for a month due to threats from the United States, Los Chapitos and other groups resumed fentanyl production; "Today they are working harder than before," he says.

WRITTEN BY; LUIS CHAPARRO 

MEXICO CITY (Proceso) - Ten years after fentanyl arrived in Mexico from China, U.S. authorities have launched a strong campaign against the alleged producers and exporters of the opioid. Little was said about fentanyl during the cartel's greenest days when profits reached more than 50 million dollars a year for a single producer.

Dámaso López Serrano, "El Mini Lic," says that in 2013 fentanyl arrived in Sinaloa, but that it was not known as such, but rather as 'synthetic Chiva,' white heroin mixed with fentanyl. Made in laboratories.

"First we heard it from members of the organization who talked about this 'synthetic chiva' and then those who knew, the chemists, when we asked what it was, they told us it was fentanyl. And we sent people who worked with us to China, and there they were introduced to everything, from how it is made, what it contains, what it doesn't, how much you have to put in it. And that's how it arrives in Sinaloa.

"Those men brought several precursors from China and began to produce it in Mexico. Only the base was brought from China, but production began in Mexico.

"I remember it was crazy when we saw how and how much the cartel's profits had increased. We invested approximately 300 to 400 thousand dollars and with that, we manufactured some 350 kilos of 'synthetic goat' and each kilo was sold in Culiacán for 18 thousand dollars, and when crossed, in Los Angeles, 30 or 35 thousand dollars. I'm talking about 2014 or so. "There were people, who are not talked about in the media, who made 30 or 50 million dollars in one year.

-Los Chapitos recently ordered a halt to fentanyl production.

--Everything was a result of the US government's declarations that they were going against all fentanyl producers. As a result of that, the order was given to stop everything in Culiacán. But then it started cooking again, if they are looking for them in the end, it doesn't matter.

"The halt lasted less than a month. After that, they ordered that no more fentanyl or pills could be manufactured in Culiacan or the surrounding area, that all the laboratories had to be shut down and that no one could manufacture fentanyl or pills. Anyone who wanted to manufacture fentanyl had to buy it from them, from Los Chapitos, or pay a very high tax.

"Many people stopped manufacturing out of fear, others out of fear of the government, others because they couldn't make ends meet with the tax. Others wanted to skip Los Chapitos' order and manufacture it on the sly, and those are the dead people who have appeared in Culiacan with fentanyl pills.

"Many of these laboratories were moved to Puebla and others to other states, near Mexico City. The point is that in Culiacan it is not seen that there are fentanyl labs, but at the end of the day it didn't stop anything. And I can assure you, today they are working harder than before. Much harder than in the last five years.

Dámaso predicts two things: fentanyl will continue to be a multimillion-dollar source of income for some within the cartel -- including Los Chapitos -- and it will eventually permeate the vast majority of the states in the country.

Source: PROCESO

Excerpt from the interview published in the November issue of Proceso magazine, whose digital edition can be purchased at this link.