Information portal about Mexico and a single service center. Latin American drug war

22.09.2019

Live, work, play, invest

Mexico - this is a whole universe where everyone finds what they want.Those who have become acquainted with Mexico have experienced the uniqueness of the country, the charm of the old world and the calm, measured pace of life. Live inMexico, with its magnificent beaches, jungle, wine region, boat trips, world-class golf courses, scuba diving and fishing and the most amazing cultural and archaeological treasures of the Mayan world - it's a life full of adventure at every turn.

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Mexico has been a popular holiday destination for a long time. But now it doesn’t stop there - it is quickly becoming a popular place to live. According to the US State Department, more than a million US citizens live permanently in Mexico, approximately 1% of the Mexican population and 25% of all US citizens living abroad.

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Immigration strategies for you

Forget Thailand, Dominican Republic, Canada and Australia. An incomparable Mexico awaits you. The whole world is now literally rediscovering Mexico and the Riviera Maya. Developed infrastructure, billions of dollars of investment from all over the world, tourism, construction projects and projects in the field of tourism and trade are in full swing. The second international airport is almost completed and will be located near. A simple and fast procedure for obtaining a residence permit, permanent residence and subsequently citizenship. High quality and low cost of living.

Mexico - land of great opportunity for immigrants

Mexico is becoming an increasingly popular destination for immigrants. From 2000 to 2010, the number of foreigners in the country almost doubled and now continues to grow at an even faster rate. Large-scale changes in the global economy have created a new push for immigration. Rising wages in China and higher transportation costs have significantly increased the competitiveness of Mexican manufacturing. In many industries serving the US market, Mexican production is already cheaper than Chinese production. In terms of economic growth, Mexico is ahead of the leading countries of the Western Hemisphere: the USA, Canada and Brazil. This makes Mexico a more attractive country for foreigners looking for new opportunities.

The class affiliation of new immigrants is very diverse: from high officials to general workers. In November 2013, when a law was passed simplifying the immigration process, the number of applications for a residence permit in Mexico increased by 10%. The situation with immigrants from the United States is developing especially interestingly: over the past few years, the number of Americans who have moved to live in Mexico has exceeded the number of Mexicans who have moved to live in the United States. This happened for the first time in history. The energy of Mexico attracts immigrants from all over the world. Mexico is changing, it is increasingly opening up to the world from all sides: cultural, social and economic.

The best real estate offers in Mexico

In Mexico, we have already sold millions of dollars of real estate and are poised to make history with our increasing sales volume. Our style is to always provide customers with personalized and convenient service.

We are the buyer's trusted representative. Our brokerage company for the purchase of real estate in Mexico is one of those few that represent the interests of the buyer, and not the interests of the seller. Property prices here are still comparatively lower than in other places such as Spain, Croatia, Costa Rica or the Bahamas. Now is the perfect time to buy property in Mexico. Make your purchase before prices jump, and before the opportunities for buying real estate here are exhausted.

Whether you are looking to purchase a house, an apartment, a plot of land for construction, a land property for investment or development, or commercial property, or are looking for other business opportunities in Mexico, we will be happy to assist you. We have accumulated a wealth of experience and adhere to strict rules of business ethics in providing professional real estate services and business advice.

News about real estate, vacation and lifestyle in Mexico

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In the United States, the "war on drugs" involves arresting and imprisoning people for carrying a small bag of marijuana, but in Mexico the "war" is something more real.

The whole truth about life in drug cartel-controlled Mexico is told by a citizen who fled the daily shootings to Canada.

The drug trade is a quirky culture.

Drug dealers here are not afraid to say they are drug dealers. Each cartel has its own emblem. You join any of them and receive a “branded” large bag, only it will not have the Adibas logo, but the cartel logo.

People actually brag about their cartel membership on Facebook. Cartels post photos of murdered bloggers and anti-drug activists as if they were pictures of kittens. This is called drug culture, and it is what happens to you when you deal with various gangs for long enough. It becomes a kind of football fans' club, but with a hint of cocaine and marijuana.

The drug culture has its own patron saint - Malverde. Mexicans call him the "guardian angel of the poor" or the "generous bandit," and all smugglers pray to him before setting off with a shipment to America or before raiding another cartel's hideout. If everything goes well, Saint Melverde receives a new thanksgiving candle.

The drug culture also has its own multi-million dollar musical style, beloved by all the poor youth of Mexico. They dream of wealth and power, and only the drug trade can help them achieve this. This style is called "narcocorridos", and many have heard at least one song without even knowing it.

And if it seems cool and cool to you, then...

This is a real war.

Here's a little story. The cartels started having problems during Prohibition in the United States. It all started with small family-owned beer cartels that smuggled their product into the United States. When America repealed Prohibition, bootleggers were confused... but then the United States banned marijuana. This was an opportunity for drug manufacturers and murderers. The players have changed, but the meaning remains the same. America bans something, and in Mexico people start shooting at each other for a piece of the pie called the black market, estimated at tens of billions of dollars.

But in 2006 everything changed. It was then that Mexican President Felipe Calderon decided to turn the “war on drugs” into a real war. He invaded the drug world with the help of the army and a real bloody war began. While everyone agrees that the cartels will never go away as long as there is still easy money to be made, at least 80,000 people have died, making the Mexican drug war a bloodier affair than the American war was in Vietnam.

The drug war is touching every aspect of life in Mexico's northern cities and in cities dominated by cartels. In cities where gangs still compete with each other, shootings are perceived as bad weather and traffic jams. Murders have become commonplace in the endless cartel wars. The cartels even issue warnings so ordinary people know not to leave the house after 7:00 pm or 8:00 pm, or whenever the gangs decide it's time to kill. Yes, this can be called caring for ordinary citizens, but everything would be much better if they did not kill ordinary road workers in order to warn the cartel in the area.

Ordinary citizens began to form groups called "autodefensas". They also have guns because they take them from killed cartel members. They've cleared out about 5 percent of Mexico within a year, but it's clear the government doesn't approve of a vigilante army operating outside the law. It doesn't help that the cartels have money and influence - they control most of Mexico's government and police, even in a time when the president has been harshly critical of the situation.

What's even more incredible is that the government is attacking the vigilante groups with tanks and helicopters to "disarm" them. And then the cartels tap their badge-wearing buddies on the back and prove that mass murder, like riding a bike, is a skill you'll never forget, no matter what uniform you wear.

The cartels have an advanced PR campaign.

When I got into [a city that they refused to name for fear of being executed], I saw a billboard: "Mexican soldier! You only get $800 a month. You eat unhealthy food. Join us and you will earn at least $1000-2000 a month. And at the same time you will get more free time!" Similar cartel advertisements offering cash to soldiers for their weapons or loyalty can be seen in various parts of the country.

They also have their own news form. Distributed primarily through Facebook, the cartel's news contains less information for people and more intimidating slogans and photos and videos of gruesome executions. And of course selfies, because even brutal killers feel the need to snap their face whenever possible.

But no good PR campaign is limited to the Internet. The cartels also make every effort to spread propaganda to people who live near where they operate. If a hurricane, flood or other disaster strikes, you can be sure that the cartel trucks will be the first to help. They will instantly fill the affected area, and the cartel’s “ministers” will painstakingly film it all for YouTube. And all because a few trucks filled with food and water at the right moment completely erase all memories of the murders.

For many Mexicans, the cartels are the government.

Successful cartels control Mexican society through more than just fear. The cartels give out gifts at Christmas like Santa Claus with a beard full of cocaine. In addition, they allocate money. Yes, they just give money.

Since the Mexican government simply does not have any leverage in some parts of the country, the cartels have taken on the mission of building schools and hospitals. But it is not out of the goodness of their hearts that they recruit their members from these institutions. We are talking about poor children in rural areas of Mexico where there are no other opportunities. Imagine, your dad worked all week seven days a week for $20, and then a kid at school with an iPad and designer jeans starts saying, “You know, you can make $800 or $900 a month, and I can introduce you to people who will tell you how..."

They will begin to listen carefully to such a child and will begin to consider him a true “friend.” It's not even a question of money; most of us would do exactly the same if we were faced with a choice between “wages and starvation” and “fast, illegal, but huge money.” It's the same with the police; You can earn as little as $11,000 a year as a city police chief, but if you're flexible enough, you can earn three times that amount or more. Integrity disappears pretty quickly when it stands between you and things like antibiotics for your children or just money for booze.

And for those who don't join...

This is worse than dictatorship.

The cartels have their own checkpoints, just like the government. While government checkpoints are looking for drugs and weapons, cartel checkpoints are looking for anyone who may be working for a rival cartel.

For example, a guy born near the Bay Area decided to drive across the country towards the Pacific Ocean. Real police officers won't worry because it's completely normal. But the cartels may suspect that he is working for their enemies from the other coast, and therefore this guy simply will not make it to the opposite coast. There is no need to prove anything, no trial or investigation. If they suspect something, they will simply kill you.

Living under cartel surveillance changes everything you can talk about with friends. With a dictatorship, as long as you stay out of politics, you are safe. But in a cartel-run area, if a drug dealer likes your girlfriend, he will kill you. You have no right to exist. If you are a woman and he wants to "date" you, you have no right to refuse. Complained about a cartel on a blog? You will be lucky if you live to see your next birthday.

Two people I know were in a restaurant (in another city that I won't name) when two thugs entered the premises. They grabbed the guy in front of his family and dragged him outside. Another bandit told the other clients: "Be quiet or we will kill you all." The guy they took was never found and most likely never will be found.

If you're asking yourself why all this is happening in Mexico, there's one thing to keep in mind...

Money and weapons come from America.

I'm irritated by the way Americans don't take cocaine seriously, like in American movies like The Wolves of Wall Street, because 90 percent of the coke Americans buy goes through Mexico on its way to the American nose. Cartels make up to $64 billion a year selling drugs in the United States. Marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington may have cut their revenues by as much as $3 billion, but coke and meth remain a lucrative business, and no one in the US is going to legalize them.

All of these drug profits do not stay in Mexico. The money flows back across the border to the 6,700 American firearms dealers who operate near the border. Nearly half of all gun dealers in the United States depend on arms trade with Mexican cartels. You'll never hear about this in an NRA (National Rifle Association) ad, and when you hear people complaining that they need big walls along the border to keep drugs and immigrants out, they forget about the flow of deadly weapons going the other way . Rather, it is precisely because of this that the United States is not seeking to strengthen control on the border of the two countries.

Gun trafficking is illegal in Mexico. There is only one legal gun store in all of Mexico City, and you can only buy guns with permission from the country's armed forces. So while the US fights armed attacks, weapons of all kinds are flowing into Mexico and killing people. And no one in the US, when talking about a gun ban, will think of Mexico, because who cares about the suffering of others, right?

In US political circles, there has recently been discussion of the ATF program or the program of "selling weapons directly to the cartels to see what happens." Isn't this wild? The issue was quickly hushed up when a US border patrol member was shot and killed with weapons smuggled from the US. And no one counts the people who died from the same weapons in Mexico itself. Maybe their names are too complicated for dumb Americans to spell?

And can you imagine the anger of American politicians if, say, seven people in southern Arizona were killed in an ambush by a Mexican drug cartel? But if you go about a mile south, you will find yourself in Mexico, and even the shooting of 100 people will not be noticed. This is the magic of the US-Mexico border and it is this amazing quality that allows everyone to believe that what happens on the other side will never be their problem.

Don't bring evil into someone else's house and you won't get it back.

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map of military operations (locations of the most intense military operations are highlighted in red)

Drug war in Mexico- an armed conflict between rival drug cartels, government troops and police in Mexico. In the first 5 years alone (from the end of 2006 to 2011), more than 47.5 thousand people became victims of the armed struggle of Mexican drug cartels among themselves, as well as against the forces of the federal government.

Mexican drug cartels have existed for several decades, and since the 1970s, support for their activities has been noted on the part of some Mexican government agencies. Mexican drug cartels have intensified since the collapse of the Colombian Medellin and Cali drug cartels in the 1990s. Mexico is currently the major foreign supplier of cannabis, cocaine, and methamphetamine to the United States, and Mexican drug cartels dominate the wholesale illicit drug market in the United States.

The arrests of cartel leaders have led to increased levels of violence as they have intensified the cartels' struggle among themselves for control of drug routes into the United States.

The United States is the main source of weapons involved in drug cartel warfare in Mexico. In certain areas of Mexico, drug cartels have stockpiled military-style weapons, employ former members of the special forces, conduct active counterintelligence, have collaborators among the authorities and an army of rank-and-file poor young people eager to join them.

The drug cartels are opposed by the police, the Mexican armed forces and the US DEA anti-drug service. The Mexican government under Felipe Calderon for the first time dealt a significant blow to the cartels, among other means, extraditing their most active members to foreign countries, confiscating funds and weapons. Youtube has become a propaganda platform for the drug war, with anonymous companies uploading videos and odes to the cartels and their leaders, praising the advantages of one cartel leader over another.

Story [ | ]

Mexico became a major supplier of illegal alcohol to the United States during Prohibition (1919-1933), and after its repeal, established organized crime communities began supplying heroin and cannabis to the United States. Until the 1980s, Mexico remained a drug transit country - the country's own production of narcotic substances, as well as their consumption, was insignificant. With increased law enforcement activity in South Florida and the Caribbean, Colombian organized crime partnered with Mexican cartels to transport cocaine en masse through Mexico into the United States.

In December 1982, the Mexican government adopted the National Anti-Drug Plan, which included the defeat of organized crime forces using army units. In August 1987, Mexico's Attorney General Sergio García Ramirez issued a report on the results of the implementation of the National Plan. In total, from December 1982 to August 15, 1987, 25 thousand soldiers of the Mexican army took part in the fight against drug traffickers, drug producers and armed gangs; they burned 348,350 opium poppy plantations, 215,000 marijuana plantations, and arrested 19,479 criminals ( 19,366 Mexicans and 113 foreign citizens).

By the mid-1980s, Mexican organizations were operating steadily and were reliable transporters of Colombian cocaine. Initially, Mexican gangs received money for their services in transporting drugs, but by the end of the 1980s they switched to the mechanism of payment by the product itself, that is, directly by drugs. Transporters from Mexico typically received between 35 and 50% [ ] from the transported volume of cocaine, which was then sold in the United States.

In April 2008, General Sergio Aponte (responsible for the anti-drug campaign in the state of Baja California) made a number of statements about corruption and the merging of local police with organized crime: bribed police units served as bodyguards for drug traffickers, and were involved in kidnappings and murders.

On April 26, 2008, east of Tijuana, a battle took place between militants of the Tijuana and Sinaloa cartels, in which machine guns were used, 17 militants were killed, 6 more were wounded and arrested by the police, the rest fled.

On May 8, 2008, Federal Police Commissioner Edgar Eusebio Millán Gómez was assassinated.

On October 25, 2008, in the prestigious Fracionamiento Pedregal district of Tijuana, troops and police stormed the villa located here, arresting the leader of the Tijuana drug cartel, Eduardo Arellano Felix (nickname “Doctor”), after which leadership in the cartel passed to his nephew, Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano. At the same time, one of the leaders of the drug cartel, Teodoro García Simental (nickname “El Teo”) left the group and started a war against its new leader, as a result, Tijuana was swept by a wave of violence, which, according to various sources, claimed the lives of from 300 to almost 700 people.

During 2008, drug cartels fought for control of the road through Nogales (Sonora state), the number of murders in this city tripled, to 126 cases.

In total, 6,290 people were killed in 2008.

year 2009 [ | ]

At the end of May, during a large-scale operation by the military and federal police in the state of Michoacan, the mayors of ten cities and a number of senior state government officials were simultaneously arrested on suspicion of links to the drug mafia. At the same time, criminals dealt with city leaders who refused to cooperate and did not obey gangster groups. So, in early October, the mayor of the city of Puerto Palomas, Estanislao Garcia, was kidnapped and killed, who, shortly before his death, told local media that he was being threatened by representatives of the criminal world.

On December 16, one of the leaders of the Beltran Leyva drug cartel, Arturo Beltran Leyva, was killed in a shootout with members of the Mexican Navy, and on December 30, in the city of Culiacan, law enforcement agencies detained his brother and one of the leaders of the drug cartel, Carlos Beltran Leyva.

In total, 7,724 people were killed during the war in 2009, of which 2,635 murders related to drug trafficking and the struggle of criminal groups for spheres of influence were committed in the state of Ciudad Juarez

2010 [ | ]

That same month, in the municipal area of Tamaulipas, the military raided a ranch where suspected drug cartel members were located, killing 4 people during a shootout. During a search of the area around the ranch, the Mexican military discovered a mass grave (the bodies of 72 people, including 14 women).

On August 30, authorities managed to arrest the influential drug lord Edgar Valdez (nicknames “Barbie”, “Comandante” and “Güero”).

In early September, based on operational information, a special naval unit in Pueblo arrested one of the leaders of the Beltran Leyva drug cartel, Sergio Villarreal (nickname “El Grande”).

On September 8, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a statement about the situation in Mexico: “Mexican drug cartels are showing increasing signs of insurgency. This is more and more reminiscent of Colombia 20 years ago, when drug traffickers controlled entire areas of the country.", and also stated, " We face a growing threat from a highly organized drug trafficking network. And in some cases, its actions are transformed into anti-state rebellion in Mexico and Central America.". Clinton's statement caused discontent on the part of official Mexico City.

In October 2010, the city of Los Ramones (9 thousand people) was left without police protection - all 14 police officers simultaneously wrote letters of resignation

Despite the successes of Mexican law enforcement agencies, bandits continued to crack down on city leaders. On September 24, the mayor of the city of Doctor Gonzalez, Prissiliano Rodriguez, was killed by stones on September 27. O. city mayor Gustavo Sánchez Sevrantes and city councilor Rafael Equihua, and on November 8, armed criminals kidnapped and shot the newly elected mayor of the city of Juan Rodriguez Clara Gregorio Barradas Mirovete, former local parliament member Dr. Omar Mansour Assar and ex-mayor of Acayucan Angel Landa Cardenas. A few days earlier, on November 6, one of the leaders of the Gulf Cartel, Ezequiel Gardenas Guillen (nickname of Tony Tormenta), was killed during a shootout with the military in the city of Matamoros.

On December 7, they managed to detain one of the high-ranking members of the La Familia drug cartel, José Antonio Arcos, and the next day government forces entered the city where the La Familia members were located. Hundreds of police and military personnel, supported by helicopters, fought for two days with drug cartel militants, during which 5 police officers, 3 citizens and 3 militants were killed, including the head of the La Familia drug cartel, Nazario Moreno Gonzalez (“Mad”), whose death was a serious blow to the La Familia cartel.

In four years, Mexico's drug war has killed a total of 34,612 people, with 15,273 deaths occurring in 2010.

2011 [ | ]

Mexicans protest against cartel violence

On June 21, during a raid near the city of Aguascalientes in the state of the same name in central Mexico, Mexican police detained a drug lord of the La Familia drug cartel. Not a single shot was fired during the operation.

In July 2011, the United States Department of Justice announced that the 20-month long operation resulted in more than 221 arrests of La Familia cartel members in the United States, along with seizures of cash, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine (outside the United States, the operation resulted in the arrest of more than 1900 people). The announcement comes just a month after Mexican authorities announced the capture of La Familia cartel leader Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas.

At the beginning of August 2011, the city of Ascension in the state of Chihuahua was left without police protection - the police simultaneously wrote letters of resignation.

The Mexican government said violence caused by drug smuggling killed nearly 13,000 people in the first nine months of 2011. Thus, the total number of murders committed by the Mexican drug mafia from the end of 2006 to 2011 exceeded 47.5 thousand people.

On November 2, 2011, the Mexican Federal Police announced that the La Familia cartel had disbanded.

year 2012 [ | ]

In July 2012, the municipality of San Francisco de Conchos in the state of Chihuahua (3 thousand people) was left without police protection - after a series of 12 murders committed in the city, 90% of the police officers simultaneously wrote letters of resignation.

In September 2012, in the state of Veracruz, on the Gulf Coast, marine units discovered and disabled a radio network used by one of the drug cartels to transmit information about the movements of the military and police. The network included broadcasting equipment and several radio towers, one of which reached a height of 90 meters.

year 2013 [ | ]

year 2014 [ | ]

On the night of February 22-23, 2014, the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquin Guzman, was arrested in a hotel in the city of Mazatlan.

2017 [ | ]

On June 30, 2017, in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, as a result of a violent confrontation between police and drug traffickers, nineteen people were killed and five were injured.

2018 [ | ]

January 19, 2018 Guadalupe Campanur, one of the organizers and leaders of the Cheran (Michoacan) community, Purépecha Indians who expelled federal authorities and organized crime from their territory, was killed in Mexico.

On February 6, 2018, four men in a pickup truck delivered two headless bodies, riddled with bullets, to a funeral home in the city of Guachochi.

Chronicle [ | ]

Notes [ | ]

Autodefensa: How ordinary Mexicans fought the drug cartels
Mexico: people are fighting against the drug mafia
["Four Gunmen Die in Clash with Mexican Troops". Latin American Herald Tribune. March 4, 2010.]
Washington, The (2009-03-03). "EXCLUSIVE: 100,000 foot soldiers in Mexican cartels." The Washington Times.
No author, No author (2012). "W.M. Consulting: Knowledge is Security". Police Reform.
"More Americans Murdered In Mexico Than In Any Other Country In The World." Fox News Latino. May 20, 2013.
More than 47 thousand people have become victims of drug wars in Mexico over five years.
Terrorists and organized crime: just business? NATO Review, at nato.in
Guns from U.S. equip drug cartels(English) . Retrieved June 7, 2013. Archived June 7, 2013.
Latin American drug gangs
A. Cherepanov. National plan to combat drugs // Izvestia, No. 228 (22035) August 16, 1987. p. 4
One of the most influential drug lords in the world was arrested in Mexico (Russian), "IZVESTIA" (01/22/08). Archived from the original on August 4, 2012.
Carlos Beltran Leyva is the weakest drug lord from the Beltran Leyva Cartel (Russian), LATINDEX. Archived June 25, 2010.
Mexican general makes explosive accusations // Los Angeles Times, April 23, 2008
Lizbeth Diaz. Seventeen killed in Mexico drug battle near U.S. // "Reuters" from April 26, 2008
Alexander Izyumov. Outpatient arrest (Russian), Magazine “Vlast” (03.11.2008).
Mexican police detained one of the most wanted drug mafiosi (Russian), RIA NOVOSTI (13/01/2010).

Latin American drug cartels

It is most effective to launch a new product on the market at special prices. Colombian drug lords are experienced businessmen, and they present their new products at especially low prices - “for acquaintance.” The “achievements” of their laboratories include heroin for inhalation and liquid marijuana. If heroin is inhaled, then it is believed that you do not become dependent on it so quickly, in addition, this method, unlike a syringe, is not dangerous from the point of view of AIDS. Liquid marijuana is easier to transport and takes up less space. The client drips the required amount onto the tobacco of his cigarette and gets the same effect as from regular material. Diversity is the motto of Latin American drug bosses, and therefore the Federal Intelligence Service is expected to be able to quickly inform Bonn about the latest developments in this field, long before the goods reach the German consumer.

In the traditional coca-growing countries - Peru, Bolivia and Colombia, the area under which it is grown, despite all the opposition from both the governments of these countries and international organizations, is increasing every year. According to satellite photographs, the cocaine lands of these three countries amount to about 620 thousand hectares. The total cocaine production of South American cartels, according to the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), is 740 tons per year, and according to the BND - 1,800 tons.

Before cocaine became a best-selling drug in the 1980s, Colombian drug cartels supplied mainly the North American market with marijuana. It wasn't until the late '70s that they turned to the lucrative cocaine market. The area under coca cultivation increased significantly, and thus sources of income unprecedented for the OP at that time arose, because the cartels controlled not only the processing of raw materials into cocaine, but also the worldwide sale of this drug. According to the Federal Intelligence Service, the most important Colombian drug cartel, the Cali drug cartel (named after the city of Cali), increased its market share in the international cocaine trade from 1991 to 1996 from 25% to 85%. Thus it became one of the most important criminal organizations in the world. Despite the arrest of most of the cartel's top brass in the summer of 1995, the illegal drug business continues to flourish in Colombia, although parts of the business have passed into the hands of Mexican, Brazilian, Peruvian and Bolivian drug traffickers.

The BND writes about this: “Today, Mexican cartels such as Golf (Gulf), Guadalajara, Juarez, Tijuana and Sinaloa represent a new version of the Cali cartel. They negotiate directly with Peruvian and Bolivian suppliers, bypassing the Colombians. Both Peruvian drug trafficking organizations (the largest of them is the firm of a certain El Ministro) and Bolivian clans (like the Mamore and La Paz clans) are themselves increasingly drawn into the independent production of cocaine and heroin.” In Colombia, the cartel structure has also changed. Recently, many small cartels have formed. Then there was information about the merger of these cartels with the remnants of the Medellin cartel and the Cali cartel, as well as the FARC militant group operating in the drug business, into a kind of “super cartel”.

There is an obvious trend towards increased cooperation between drug cartels. If until the mid-90s individual groups still fought bloody wars for markets, now they have peacefully divided spheres of influence and are trying to cooperate with each other - all over the world. Mexican organizations work closely with the North American mafia. The Cali Cartel has reached large-scale agreements with Italian mafia groups for the cocaine trade. Russian and Polish criminal organizations already in the early 90s entered into agreements with the Cali cartel to supply cocaine to Moscow. There are also constantly developing contacts with Japanese and other Asian drug traffickers. In some Latin American countries (for example, Paraguay and Brazil) there are branches of the Chinese mafia ("Triad"). South American drug traffickers often use couriers from Nigerian gangs to transport drugs.

The BND is also observing the increased participation of militant organizations (“guerrilleros”) in the Latin American drug business. For example, the Colombian FARC guerrillas have become the second largest cartel, the ELN, and the Peruvian group Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), which maintains close ties to drug traffickers and controls the production and transport of drugs into Peru.

According to the BND, today the most important Latin American drug cartels head huge networks for the production and sale of drugs and control many small peasant farms in the Andes. which “in total, hundreds of thousands of hectares are used for coca cultivation.” About 20 thousand hectares of poppy and coca plantations have been destroyed in Colombia since 1994 under US pressure by spraying herbicides from airplanes. But still, production, according to the BND, “remains consistently high because the campaign to eradicate it has only led to the relocation of plantations to other areas. Market demand remains unchanged. That’s why no one in South America will voluntarily leave this business.”

Drug cartels have laboratories and production facilities that produce about 1,800 tons of cocaine per year. Only a small part of the income is invested, according to the BND, in the Andean countries themselves. The bulk of illegal profits flows to the United States, and especially in recent years to Europe. Latin American drug cartels collaborate with other international criminal organizations, such as the Italian mafia and Asian groups. The BND, together with friendly services, is trying to explore the strategy of the drug cartels in order to better resist these criminal organizations, at least on the European continent. At the same time, she reports connections with the mafia of politicians in the region, for example, about Colombian President Samper, who financed his election campaign with money earned from drugs.

Increasingly in Latin America, partisan groups are taking Germans hostage. In this regard, the Federal Intelligence Service has worked hard in the past to find out the whereabouts of kidnapped Germans and help their release. The Mauss Case gained fame in 1996–1997. During a question-and-answer hour in the Bundestag, Bernd Schmidbauer, the Minister of State responsible for coordinating the activities of the intelligence services, confirmed that the German private agent Werner Mauss was involved in a kidnapping case in Colombia in 1996 on behalf of the Danish company FLS. Then the ELN group captured four engineers of the Danish company, among them the German Karl Dresser. According to observers, ELN received a ransom of three to five million dollars (4.8 to 8 million marks) for them. Schmidbauer said that the Federal Government, other than newspaper articles, is not aware of any additional information about the payment of the ransom. Mauss was not involved in this case at the initiative of the Federal Government. Schmidbauer defended his contacts with Werner Mauss. He said that next time he would use unusual means, because it was a question of human life, as was the case with the liberation of the German woman Brigitte Schöne from the hands of the Colombian guerrillas. Schmidbauer confirmed that the German embassy in Bogota had indeed provided Mauss with false passports and letters of recommendation. Mauss was asked to help free the hostages. In view of the great danger to their lives, such an approach agreed with the Foreign Ministry was justified, Schmidbauer said. The intelligence coordinator also confirmed that Mauss and his wife were present at negotiations that discussed preparations for peace negotiations between the guerrillas and the Colombian government. However, Colombian representatives were not informed about Mauss’s “humanitarian efforts.” Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl was briefed in general terms about efforts to free the hostages and about exploratory talks that were expected to lead to reconciliation talks, Schmidbauer said. He rejected suggestions that he himself was involved in any effort to mediate between the Colombian government and the Colombian drug mafia.

Mexican drug lords, their cronies and those who simply imitate them today have their own music, their own cinema and even their own patron saint. The Mexican drug culture did not leave the country for many decades, remaining a completely unknown phenomenon to the rest of the world.

Everything has changed in recent years, when, following migrants and smugglers, the drug culture literally poured into the United States. Today, documentaries are made about her, books are written and even plays are staged.

The prerequisites for the emergence of a drug culture should be sought in the distant past - when Mexico was not yet Mexico, and the Indians who inhabited these lands could no longer imagine their life without peyote. In the 16th century, Spanish conquerors brought hemp here, and at the end of the 19th century, opium poppy arrived in the country along with Chinese immigrants.

Peasants treated drugs as ordinary agricultural crops, with little difference in importance from potatoes or corn. But when a ban on the same opium and hemp was introduced in the United States, the cunning Mexicans quickly realized that they could make good money by transporting prohibited plants abroad. The ban on the cultivation of cannabis and poppy was introduced only at the beginning of the 20th century, and even then under pressure from the United States. In the country itself, peasants continued to quietly grow, transport and sell poppy and hemp. True, now it was necessary to unfasten local officials, ranging from minor police ranks all the way up to the governor.

The Great Depression in America became a real high point for drug-growing artisans. It was about completely different money, and small groups in which peasants united to protect their business began to sort things out not with their fists, but with the help of weapons.

Years passed, whole caravans with drugs stretched from Mexico to the USA, and other caravans - loaded with money - came towards them.

Major drug cartels in Mexico

№ 1
SINAOLA CARTEL (PACIFIC CARTEL)
Originating in the state of Sinaola on the west coast of Mexico, this cartel quickly spread its influence to several states: Baja California, Durango, Chihuahua and Sonora. The cartel is headed by Joaquin Guzman Loera, nicknamed El Chapo, who after the murder of Osama bin Laden became the first on the list of the most wanted criminals.

№ 2
GOLF CARTEL (GULF CARTEL)
Based in the city of Matamoros on the Gulf Coast. A small number of fighters of the head of the cartel were compensated by mercenaries from the former military. In the late 1990s, this mercenary army became a separate cartel - Los Zetas.

№ 3
LOS SETAS CARTEL
Los Zetas fighters are among the most trained, as they are recruited from retired police and military personnel. In skirmishes with competitors or federal troops, the cartel uses a rich arsenal of weapons that not every army can boast of. In addition, Los Zetas is distinguished by the fact that they conduct real special operations, actively using special forces tactics, weapons and technical equipment.

№ 4
TIJUANA CARTEL
A major cartel that controls the northwestern part of Mexico. It was formed around the same time as the Sinaol cartel, so it is considered one of the oldest in the country. Interestingly, the founder of the cartel is a peasant from Sinaola, Luis Fernando Sanchez Alleriano. Steven Soderbergh made his famous film “Traffic” about the life of his family.

№ 5
TEMPLAR CARTEL
This organization was created after the collapse of the La Familia cartel. Much attention is paid to the ideological training of fighters, forcing them to take an oath to “fight and die for social justice.” True, it is not very clear what meaning these guys mean by the concept of “social justice”.
Has its own combat wing - grouping
La Resistencia, whose main task is the war with Los Zetas.

Over time, the image of the smuggler has also changed. Where once the drug smuggler was just a guy living next door, he has now become a legendary figure, a defender of the poor and a cruel executioner of those who wrong the common people. Considering that many Mexican states live solely on the production or transportation of drugs, drug lords in the eyes of local residents really look like benefactors, providing work and not allowing them to starve.

Mexican youth, especially from poor neighborhoods, sought to join the ranks of drug cartels because they simply had no other prospects for a better life. Some succeeded in this, while others were forced to only imitate the appearance, manner of speaking and habits of local smugglers. This is how narcos appeared, who became the main drivers and figures of the Mexican drug culture.

The cradle of drug culture is considered to be the state of Sinaola, where the cartel of the same name is based - one of the largest and most influential in Mexico. It is a rare resident of the state who is not associated with the production or smuggling of drugs, and drug lords and cartel members are respected here by everyone without exception.

The clothing style of narcos has undergone major changes since its inception, following the fashion of a particular period. But the enduring classic remains the commitment to the cowboy style characteristic of the border regions of Mexico: hats with curved brims, classic jeans, belts with weighty badges, embroidered shirts and pointy boots made of genuine leather. Among young drug addicts today, T-shirts with aggressive prints on the theme of drug trafficking and cartel life, embroidered leather jackets and fake polo shirts with giant logos are in fashion.

More serious guys prefer popular European brands such as Guess, Gucci, Burberry or Ralph Lauren. There was a complete embarrassment with the latter: drug lords Edgar Valdez Villarreal, nicknamed Barbie, and Jose Jorge Balderas, arrested in 2010 and 2011, were wearing polo from this manufacturer at the time of their arrest. The exhaust was so loud that now in Mexico and the neighboring American states these shirts are associated exclusively with the drug business in the eyes of the average person.

Catholic Latin America has always been famous for the abundance of saints invented by the people, who are responsible for almost every aspect of the life of a believer. The mixture of Christianity and Indian totemism gave rise to a bizarre religion, in which there is a place for both the baby Jesus in a poncho and the Virgin Mary in the image of Saint Death.

Narcos also have their own patron saint. Jesus Malverde - “drug saint”, “generous bandit”. It is not known for certain whether such a person actually existed. It is believed that the prototype of Jesus Malverde could be a certain “noble robber” who robbed the rich and distributed goods to the poor. In 1903, this nameless folk hero fell into the hands of the authorities and was executed. According to legend, the tree on which he was hanged withered and never turned green again.

The cult of Jesus Malverde, whom the official Catholic Church does not want to recognize as a saint, is especially widespread in the state of Sinaola. There is even a chapel dedicated to the “generous bandit” in the state capital of Culiacan.

The children of drug lords, raised in luxury, have become a separate phenomenon within the Mexican drug culture. Unlike their fathers and grandfathers, they were born in cities, in luxurious conditions, never wanting for anything. They are not very concerned about the practical side of their parents’ business, but they borrow the external environment very willingly.

Kilograms of jewelry, hefty wads of money, luxurious clothes, expensive cars and gold-trimmed weapons are the main attributes of any self-respecting drug junior.

The main difference between drug juniors and their fathers and grandfathers is moral principles, or rather the lack thereof. If old-school narcos always put family and neighbors at the forefront, then for junior narcos all these words are an empty phrase. As a result, the poor, who were once supported by old-school cartel gangsters, today often suffer from the unmotivated aggression of drug juniors who live by the principle “I’ll do it because I can.”