Los Zetas
During the past 12 months, Los Zetas have remained a power to be reckoned with throughout Mexico. They operate under the command of leader Heriberto “El Lazca” Lazcano Lazcano. Miguel “Z-40” Trevino Morales is believed to be the organization’s No. 2. Trevino reportedly oversees much of the Zetas’ operations in the southern portions of the country. Daniel “El Cachetes” Perez Rojas, who was arrested this past year in Guatemala, was responsible for the group’s activities in Central America and reportedly answered directly to Lazcano. The November arrest of Jaime “El Hummer” Gonzalez Duran, the organization’s third-in-command, was another significant blow to the organization, as Gonzalez was believed responsible for Zeta operations in nine states. It is unclear at the moment who has replaced Perez and Gonzalez in the Zeta hierarchy.
Since their split with Gulf, Los Zetas have contracted themselves to a variety of drug trafficking organizations throughout the country, most notably the Beltran Leyva organization. Los Zetas also control large swaths of territory in southern Mexico, much of which formerly belonged to the Gulf cartel, and they have a presence in the interior states of Aguascalientes, San Luis Potosi and Zacatecas. Zetas are also present in disputed territories such as Durango, Sonora, Sinaloa, Jalisco, Guerrero and Michoacan due to their alliance with the Beltran Leyva organization, though these areas are not considered to be under their control.
Following the government’s crackdowns, Los Zetas have expanded from strictly drug trafficking to other criminal activities, including extortion, kidnapping for ransom and human smuggling. Los Zetas’ human smuggling operations are based out of Quintana Roo and Yucatan states, where mostly Cuban and Central American immigrants enter Mexico on their way to the United States. Los Zetas maintain a vast network of safe-houses and access to counterfeit immigration documents — which facilitate the illegal movement of drugs or people. At an average cost of $10,000 per person, human smuggling has become a lucrative business for the organization.
Beltran Leyva Organization
The Beltran Leyva family has a long history in the narcotics business. Until this past year, the organization was part of the Sinaloa Federation, for which it controlled access to the U.S. border in Sonora state (among other responsibilities). By the time Alfredo Beltran Leyva was arrested in January, however, the Beltran Leyva organization’s alliance with Sinaloa was over. (It is rumored his arrest resulted from a Sinaloa betrayal.)
Before this year, the Beltran Leyva brothers served as high-ranking members of the organization with many people under their command and plenty of infrastructure to branch out on their own. Under the leadership of Arturo Beltran Leyva, the organization moved quickly to secure strategic narcotics transport routes in the states of Sinaloa, Durango, Sonora, Jalisco, Michoacan, Guerrero and Morelos. This attempt to conquer territory from their former Sinaloa partners sparked a wave of violence. The Beltran Leyva brothers’ Colombian cocaine supplier, Ever Villafane Martinez, was arrested in Morelos state in August. Since then, however, the organization has pursued a relationship with Victor and Dario Espinoza Valencia of Colombia’s Norte del Valle cartel, though the details of this relationship are unclear.
The Beltran Leyva organization has quickly become one of the most powerful drug trafficking organizations in Mexico. Not only have they shown themselves capable of trafficking drugs and going toe-to-toe with the Sinaloa cartel, they also have demonstrated a willingness to order targeted assassinations of high-ranking government officials. The most notable of these was the May 9 assassination of acting federal police director Edgar Millan Gomez. The Beltran Leyva organization also occasionally has secured the cooperation of other drug trafficking organizations such as Los Zetas, Gulf, the Juarez cartel and a faction of the Arellano Felix organization (AFO) in Tijuana. However, these alliances are tentative at best and appear to have been forged mainly to counter the powerful influence of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera’s Sinaloa cartel.
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.
Vicente Carrillo Fuentes Organization/Juarez Cartel
The Vicente Carrillo Fuentes organization, also known as the Juarez cartel, is based out of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, across the border from El Paso, Texas. It also has a presence in much of northern Chihuahua state and parts of Nuevo Leon and Sonora states.
The cartel is led by Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, brother of original leader Amado Carrillo. Believed to be second-in-command is his nephew, Vicente Carrillo Leyva. The Juarez cartel has had a long-standing alliance with the Beltran Leyva brothers, based on family and business ties. This past year, however, Carrillo Fuentes has turned to Los Zetas to aid in the defense of Juarez.
Over the past year, the Juarez cartel has been locked in a vicious battle with its former partner, the Sinaloa cartel, for control of Juarez. The fighting between them has left more than 2,000 dead in Chihuahua state so far this year. The Juarez cartel relies on two enforcement arms to exercise control over both sides of the border: La Linea, a group of current and former Chihuahua police officers, is prevalent on the Mexican side, while the large street gang Barrio Azteca operates in Texas, in cities such as El Paso, Dallas and Austin.
Arellano Felix Organization/Tijuana Cartel
The AFO, also known as the Tijuana cartel, has been weakened almost beyond recognition over the past year due to the efforts of both U.S. and Mexican law enforcement to capture several high-ranking leaders. The most symbolic was the October arrest of Eduardo “El Doctor” Arellano Felix, the only original Arellano Felix brother who had evaded capture.
Fighting among the various factions of the cartel itself has led to hundreds of deaths in the Tijuana area over the past 12 months and resulted in the splitting of the cartel into two factions. One is led by Fernando “El Ingeniero” Sanchez Zamora, a nephew of the original Arellano Felix brothers. Eduardo Teodoro “El Teo” Garcia Sementa, who served as an enforcer under the Arellano Felix brothers, controls the rival faction. Disagreements over authority reportedly led to much of the violence between the two factions in the first half of 2008. The violence peaked on April 26 when three separate and prolonged gunbattles erupted on the streets of Tijuana, leaving 13 people dead and five wounded.
The most recent wave of violence, which claimed more than 100 lives over a two-week period in October, was again attributed to fighting between the two factions. In this case, however, El Teo’s offensive received the support of the Sinaloa cartel, which would benefit greatly from the access to the United States that control of Tijuana would provide.
