{"id":4708,"date":"2017-07-31T20:22:30","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T20:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=4708"},"modified":"2017-10-03T15:10:32","modified_gmt":"2017-10-03T15:10:32","slug":"38-5-5-drug-cartels","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/chapter\/38-5-5-drug-cartels\/","title":{"raw":"Drug Cartels","rendered":"Drug Cartels"},"content":{"raw":"<h2 id=\"concept_1633\">38.5.5: Drug Cartels<\/h2>\r\n<div class=\"brief\">\r\n\r\nDrug cartels have been a major force in contemporary Latin America, sometimes rivaling the power of some nations' governments and military, and causing hundreds of thousands of deaths through violence between competing cartels and between cartels and governments.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Learning Objective<\/h3>\r\nExamine the powerful role drug cartels play across Latin America\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\r\n<h3>Key Points<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>A drug cartel is any criminal organization with the intention of supplying drug trafficking operations, and can range from loosely managed agreements among various drug traffickers to formalized commercial enterprises with billions of dollars in annual profits.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Drug cartels came to power in the 1970s and 80s, controlling the vast majority of illegal drug trafficking throughout Latin America and the United States.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Pablo Escobar with his Medell\u00edn Cartel supplied an estimated 80% of the cocaine smuggled into the United States at the height of his career, turning over US $21.9 billion a year in personal income.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Each year from 1982 to 1992 Forbes magazine ranked Escobar as one of the top ten most powerful people in the World and he was considered by the Colombian Government and the U.S. Government to be \"The unofficial dictator of Colombia.\"<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The Mexican drug cartels began with Miguel \u00c1ngel F\u00e9lix Gallardo (\"The Godfather\"), who founded the Guadalajara Cartel in 1980 and controlled most of the illegal drug trade in Mexico and the trafficking corridors across the Mexico\u2013U.S. border throughout the 80s.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Since then there have numerous cartels, often violently vying for power, with one of the largest in recent years being the Gulf Cartel.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The Mexican Drug War is an ongoing war between the Mexican Government and various drug trafficking syndicates, started in 2006 when the Mexican military began to intervene in drug trafficking violence.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Estimates set the death toll of the Mexican Drug War above 120,000 killed by 2013, not including 27,000 missing.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\r\n<h3>Key Terms<\/h3>\r\n<dl class=\"key_terms\">\r\n \t<dt><strong>Pablo Escobar<\/strong><\/dt>\r\n \t<dd>A Colombian drug lord, drug trafficker, and narco-terrorist. His cartel supplied an estimated 80% of the cocaine smuggled into the United States at the height of his career, turning over US $21.9 billion a year in personal income. He was often called \"The King of Cocaine\" and was the wealthiest criminal in history, with an estimated known net worth of US $30 billion by the early 1990s (equivalent to about $55 billion as of 2016), making him one of the richest men in the world at his prime.<\/dd>\r\n \t<dt><strong>Miguel \u00c1ngel F\u00e9lix Gallardo<\/strong><\/dt>\r\n \t<dd>A convicted Mexican drug lord who formed the Guadalajara Cartel in the 1980s, and controlled almost all of the drug trafficking in Mexico and the corridors along the Mexico\u2013U.S. border.<\/dd>\r\n \t<dt><strong>drug cartel<\/strong><\/dt>\r\n \t<dd>Any criminal organization with the intention of supplying drug trafficking operations. They range from loosely managed agreements among various drug traffickers to formalized commercial enterprises.<\/dd>\r\n<\/dl>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h1>Drug Cartels<\/h1>\r\nA drug cartel is any criminal organization with the intention of supplying drug trafficking operations. They range from loosely managed agreements among various drug traffickers to formalized commercial enterprises. The term was applied when the largest trafficking organizations reached an agreement to coordinate the production and distribution of cocaine. Since that agreement was broken up, drug cartels are no longer actually cartels, but the term stuck and it is now popularly used to refer to any criminal narcotics related organization.\r\n\r\nThe basic structure of a drug cartel is as follows:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Falcons (Spanish: <em>Halcones<\/em>): Considered the \"eyes and ears\" of the streets, the \"falcons\" are the lowest rank in any drug cartel. They are responsible for supervising and reporting the activities of the police, the military, and rival groups.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Hitmen (Spanish: <em>Sicarios<\/em>): The armed group within the drug cartel, responsible for carrying out assassinations, kidnappings, thefts, extortions, operating protection rackets, and defending their plaza (turf) from rival groups and the military.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Lieutenants (Spanish: <em>Lugartenientes<\/em>): The second highest position in the drug cartel organization, responsible for supervising the hitmen and falcons within their own territory. They are allowed to carry out low-profile executions without permission from their bosses.<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Drug lords (Spanish: <em>Capos<\/em>): The highest position in any drug cartel, responsible for supervising the entire drug industry, appointing territorial leaders, making alliances, and planning high-profile executions.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nIt is worth noting that there are other operating groups within the drug cartels. For example, the drug producers and suppliers, although not considered in the basic structure, are critical operators of any drug cartel, along with the financiers and money launderers. In addition, the arms suppliers operate in a completely different circle, and are technically not considered part of the cartel\u2019s logistics.\r\n<h1><\/h1>\r\n<h1>Mexican Drug Cartels<\/h1>\r\n<h2>Origins<\/h2>\r\nThe birth of most Mexican drug cartels is traced to former Mexican Judicial Federal Police agent Miguel \u00c1ngel F\u00e9lix Gallardo (\"The Godfather\"), who founded the Guadalajara Cartel in 1980 and controlled most of the illegal drug trade in Mexico and the trafficking corridors across the Mexico\u2013U.S. border along with Juan Garcia Abrego throughout the 1980s. He started off by smuggling marijuana and opium into the United States and was the first Mexican drug chief to link up with Colombia's cocaine cartels in the 1980s. Through his connections, F\u00e9lix Gallardo became the point man for the Medell\u00edn Cartel, which was run by Pablo Escobar. This was easily accomplished because F\u00e9lix Gallardo had already established an infrastructure that stood ready to serve the Colombia-based traffickers.\r\n\r\nThere were no cartels at that time in Mexico. F\u00e9lix Gallardo oversaw all operations; there was just him, his cronies, and the politicians who sold him protection. However, the Guadalajara Cartel suffered a major blow in 1985 when the group's co-founder Rafael Caro Quintero was captured and later convicted for the murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena. F\u00e9lix Gallardo afterwards kept a low profile and in 1987 he moved with his family to Guadalajara.\r\n\r\n\"The Godfather\" then decided to divide up the trade he controlled, as it would be more efficient and less likely to be brought down in one law enforcement swoop. In a way, he was privatizing the Mexican drug business while sending it back underground, to be run by bosses who were less well known or not yet known by the DEA. Gallardo convened the nation's top drug traffickers at a house in the resort of Acapulco where he designated the plazas or territories.\r\n\r\nThe Tijuana route would go to the Arellano Felix brothers. The Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez route would go to the Carrillo Fuentes family. Miguel Caro Quintero would run the Sonora corridor. The control of the Matamoros, Tamaulipas corridor\u2014then becoming the Gulf Cartel\u2014would be left undisturbed to its founder Juan Garc\u00eda \u00c1brego. Meanwhile, Joaqu\u00edn Guzm\u00e1n Loera and Ismael Zambada Garc\u00eda would take over Pacific coast operations, becoming the Sinaloa Cartel. Guzm\u00e1n and Zambada brought veteran H\u00e9ctor Luis Palma Salazar back into the fold. F\u00e9lix Gallardo still planned to oversee national operations, as he maintained important connections, but he would no longer control all details of the business.\r\n\r\nF\u00e9lix Gallardo was arrested on 8 April 1989.\r\n<h2>Gulf Cartel<\/h2>\r\nThe Gulf Cartel (Cartel del Golfo or CDG), based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, has been one of Mexico's two dominant cartels in recent years. In the late 1990s, it hired a private mercenary army (an enforcer group now called Los Zetas), which in 2006 stepped up as a partner but, in February 2010, their partnership was dissolved and both groups engaged in widespread violence across several border cities of Tamaulipas state, turning several border towns into \"ghost towns.\"\r\n\r\nThe CDG was strong at the beginning of 2011, holding off several Zetas incursions into its territory. However, as the year progressed, internal divisions led to intra-cartel battles in Matamoros and Reynosa, Tamaulipas state. The infighting resulted in several arrests and deaths in Mexico and in the United States. The CDG has since broken apart, and it appears that one faction, known as Los Metros, has overpowered its rival Los Rojos faction and is now asserting its control over CDG operations.\r\n<h2>Mexican Drug War<\/h2>\r\nThe Mexican Drug War is the Mexican theater of the United States' War on Drugs, involving an ongoing war between the Mexican Government and various drug trafficking syndicates. Since 2006, when the Mexican military began to intervene, the government's principal goal has been to reduce the drug-related violence. Additionally, the Mexican government has claimed that their primary focus is on dismantling the powerful drug cartels, rather than on preventing drug trafficking, which is left to U.S. functionaries.\r\n\r\nAlthough Mexican drug cartels, or drug trafficking organizations, have existed for several decades, their influence has increased since the demise of the Colombian Cali and Medell\u00edn cartels in the 1990s. Mexican drug cartels now dominate the wholesale illicit drug market and in 2007 controlled 90% of the cocaine entering the United States. Arrests of key cartel leaders, particularly in the Tijuana and Gulf cartels, has led to increasing drug violence as cartels fight for control of the trafficking routes into the United States.\r\n\r\nAlthough violence between drug cartels had been occurring long before the war began, the government held a generally passive stance regarding cartel violence in the 1990s and early 2000s. That changed on December 11, 2006, when newly elected President Felipe Calder\u00f3n sent 6,500 federal troops to the state of Michoac\u00e1n to end drug violence there (Operation Michoac\u00e1n). This action is regarded as the first major operation against organized crime, and is generally viewed as the starting point of the war between the government and the drug cartels. As time progressed, Calder\u00f3n continued to escalate his anti-drug campaign, in which there are now about 45,000 troops involved in addition to state and federal police forces. In 2010 Calder\u00f3n said that the cartels seek \"to replace the government\" and \"are trying to impose a monopoly by force of arms, and are even trying to impose their own laws.\"\r\n\r\nAs of 2011, Mexico\u2019s military captured 11,544 people who were believed to have been involved with the cartels and organized crime. In the year prior, 28,000 individuals were arrested on drug-related charges. The decrease in eradication and drug seizures, as shown in statistics calculated by federal authorities, poorly reflects Calder\u00f3n\u2019s security agenda. Since the war began, over forty thousand people have been killed as a result of cartel violence. During Calder\u00f3n\u2019s presidential term, the murder rate of Mexico increased dramatically.\r\n<h1><\/h1>\r\n<h1>Medell\u00edn Cartel<\/h1>\r\nThe Medell\u00edn Cartel was a Colombian drug cartel originating in the city of Medell\u00edn. The drug cartel operated from the mid-1970s until the early-1990s in Bolivia, Colombia, Honduras, Peru, and the United States, as well as in Canada and Europe. It was founded and run by Ochoa V\u00e1zquez brothers Jorge Luis, Juan David, and Fabio, together with Pablo Escobar, Carlos Lehder, and Jos\u00e9 Gonzalo Rodr\u00edguez Gacha. By 1993, the resistance group, Los Pepes (or PEPES), controlled by the Cali Cartel, and the Colombian government, in collaboration with the Cali Cartel, right-wing paramilitary groups, and the U.S. government, had dismantled the Medell\u00edn Cartel by imprisoning or assassinating its members.\r\n\r\nAt the height of Pablo Escobar's reign of the Medell\u00edn Cartel, and for 20 years, Pablo Escobar was the most powerful and richest drug lord in the world. And for 25 years, Escobar was also the most violent, ruthless, deadliest, dangerous, and feared drug lord in the World. From 1981-1993, Pablo Escobar was the 7th richest person in the World, Escobar had an astronomical and amazing net worth of $30-$42 Billion (which is equivalent to $107 Billion as of 2017). Escobar became Colombia's top drug kingpin in 1976, but he became the world's top drug kingpin in 1981, around that time Pablo Escobar became the most powerful and dangerous man in Colombia, and during Pablo Escobar's regime, the Medell\u00edn Cartel became bigger and more powerful than the Colombian Government.\r\n\r\nEscobar had more power, man power, weapons, influences, resources, and reach than the Colombian \u00a0government and the Colombian military. For almost 2 decades, Escobar was responsible for ordering hundreds of atrocities, such as 1,300 bombings all over Colombia. Escobar's most notorious bombings were the Avianca Flight 203 bombing, which killed 110 people; the DAS Building bombing, which killed 75 people and severely injured over 1,800 people; a truck bomb that killed a total of 489 people and severely injured 3,000 people; a bus bomb that killed a total of 260 people and wounded around 1,000 people; \u00a0a series of 7 car bombs in the same day, which killed a total of 194 people and injured nearly 800 people; and a car bomb that killed 137 adults, 112 children, and severely injured 600 more people. Over a 20 year period, Escobar ordered the murders of at least 110,000 people.\r\n<div class=\"atom__components__figure\">\r\n<div class=\"atom__components__figure__cont\">\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"340\"]<img class=\"atom__components__figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1599\/2017\/07\/18195541\/media_35801_medium.jpeg\" alt=\"A mugshot of Pablo Escobar, smiling.\" width=\"340\" height=\"487\" \/> Pablo Escobar. At the height of his reign of the Medell\u00edn Cartel, and for 20 years, Pablo Escobar was the most powerful and richest drug lord in the world.[\/caption]\r\n\r\n<div class=\"atom__components__document\"><\/div>\r\n<div id=\"image_35801_text_equivalent\" class=\"atom__components__figure__text_equivalent\"><\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h3>Attributions<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Drug Cartels\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>\r\n<div class=\"attribution\">\"Drug cartel.\" <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Drug_cartel\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Drug_cartel<\/a>. <span class=\"attribution-name\">Wikipedia<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/\">CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>.<\/div><\/li>\r\n \t<li>\r\n<div class=\"attribution\">\"Medell\u00edn Cartel.\" <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Medell%C3%ADn_Cartel\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Medell%C3%ADn_Cartel<\/a>. <span class=\"attribution-name\">Wikipedia<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/\">CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>.<\/div><\/li>\r\n \t<li>\r\n<div class=\"attribution\">\"Mexican Drug War.\" <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mexican_Drug_War\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mexican_Drug_War<\/a>. <span class=\"attribution-name\">Wikipedia<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/\">CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>.<\/div><\/li>\r\n \t<li>\r\n<div class=\"attribution\">\"Pablo_Escobar_Mug.jpg.\" <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Medell%C3%ADn_Cartel#\/media\/File:Pablo_Escobar_Mug.jpg\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Medell%C3%ADn_Cartel#\/media\/File:Pablo_Escobar_Mug.jpg<\/a>. <span class=\"attribution-name\">Wikipedia<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/\">CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>.<\/div><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>","rendered":"<h2 id=\"concept_1633\">38.5.5: Drug Cartels<\/h2>\n<div class=\"brief\">\n<p>Drug cartels have been a major force in contemporary Latin America, sometimes rivaling the power of some nations&#8217; governments and military, and causing hundreds of thousands of deaths through violence between competing cartels and between cartels and governments.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Learning Objective<\/h3>\n<p>Examine the powerful role drug cartels play across Latin America<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\n<h3>Key Points<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>A drug cartel is any criminal organization with the intention of supplying drug trafficking operations, and can range from loosely managed agreements among various drug traffickers to formalized commercial enterprises with billions of dollars in annual profits.<\/li>\n<li>Drug cartels came to power in the 1970s and 80s, controlling the vast majority of illegal drug trafficking throughout Latin America and the United States.<\/li>\n<li>Pablo Escobar with his Medell\u00edn Cartel supplied an estimated 80% of the cocaine smuggled into the United States at the height of his career, turning over US $21.9 billion a year in personal income.<\/li>\n<li>Each year from 1982 to 1992 Forbes magazine ranked Escobar as one of the top ten most powerful people in the World and he was considered by the Colombian Government and the U.S. Government to be &#8220;The unofficial dictator of Colombia.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>The Mexican drug cartels began with Miguel \u00c1ngel F\u00e9lix Gallardo (&#8220;The Godfather&#8221;), who founded the Guadalajara Cartel in 1980 and controlled most of the illegal drug trade in Mexico and the trafficking corridors across the Mexico\u2013U.S. border throughout the 80s.<\/li>\n<li>Since then there have numerous cartels, often violently vying for power, with one of the largest in recent years being the Gulf Cartel.<\/li>\n<li>The Mexican Drug War is an ongoing war between the Mexican Government and various drug trafficking syndicates, started in 2006 when the Mexican military began to intervene in drug trafficking violence.<\/li>\n<li>Estimates set the death toll of the Mexican Drug War above 120,000 killed by 2013, not including 27,000 missing.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\n<h3>Key Terms<\/h3>\n<dl class=\"key_terms\">\n<dt><strong>Pablo Escobar<\/strong><\/dt>\n<dd>A Colombian drug lord, drug trafficker, and narco-terrorist. His cartel supplied an estimated 80% of the cocaine smuggled into the United States at the height of his career, turning over US $21.9 billion a year in personal income. He was often called &#8220;The King of Cocaine&#8221; and was the wealthiest criminal in history, with an estimated known net worth of US $30 billion by the early 1990s (equivalent to about $55 billion as of 2016), making him one of the richest men in the world at his prime.<\/dd>\n<dt><strong>Miguel \u00c1ngel F\u00e9lix Gallardo<\/strong><\/dt>\n<dd>A convicted Mexican drug lord who formed the Guadalajara Cartel in the 1980s, and controlled almost all of the drug trafficking in Mexico and the corridors along the Mexico\u2013U.S. border.<\/dd>\n<dt><strong>drug cartel<\/strong><\/dt>\n<dd>Any criminal organization with the intention of supplying drug trafficking operations. They range from loosely managed agreements among various drug traffickers to formalized commercial enterprises.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n<h1>Drug Cartels<\/h1>\n<p>A drug cartel is any criminal organization with the intention of supplying drug trafficking operations. They range from loosely managed agreements among various drug traffickers to formalized commercial enterprises. The term was applied when the largest trafficking organizations reached an agreement to coordinate the production and distribution of cocaine. Since that agreement was broken up, drug cartels are no longer actually cartels, but the term stuck and it is now popularly used to refer to any criminal narcotics related organization.<\/p>\n<p>The basic structure of a drug cartel is as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Falcons (Spanish: <em>Halcones<\/em>): Considered the &#8220;eyes and ears&#8221; of the streets, the &#8220;falcons&#8221; are the lowest rank in any drug cartel. They are responsible for supervising and reporting the activities of the police, the military, and rival groups.<\/li>\n<li>Hitmen (Spanish: <em>Sicarios<\/em>): The armed group within the drug cartel, responsible for carrying out assassinations, kidnappings, thefts, extortions, operating protection rackets, and defending their plaza (turf) from rival groups and the military.<\/li>\n<li>Lieutenants (Spanish: <em>Lugartenientes<\/em>): The second highest position in the drug cartel organization, responsible for supervising the hitmen and falcons within their own territory. They are allowed to carry out low-profile executions without permission from their bosses.<\/li>\n<li>Drug lords (Spanish: <em>Capos<\/em>): The highest position in any drug cartel, responsible for supervising the entire drug industry, appointing territorial leaders, making alliances, and planning high-profile executions.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It is worth noting that there are other operating groups within the drug cartels. For example, the drug producers and suppliers, although not considered in the basic structure, are critical operators of any drug cartel, along with the financiers and money launderers. In addition, the arms suppliers operate in a completely different circle, and are technically not considered part of the cartel\u2019s logistics.<\/p>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<h1>Mexican Drug Cartels<\/h1>\n<h2>Origins<\/h2>\n<p>The birth of most Mexican drug cartels is traced to former Mexican Judicial Federal Police agent Miguel \u00c1ngel F\u00e9lix Gallardo (&#8220;The Godfather&#8221;), who founded the Guadalajara Cartel in 1980 and controlled most of the illegal drug trade in Mexico and the trafficking corridors across the Mexico\u2013U.S. border along with Juan Garcia Abrego throughout the 1980s. He started off by smuggling marijuana and opium into the United States and was the first Mexican drug chief to link up with Colombia&#8217;s cocaine cartels in the 1980s. Through his connections, F\u00e9lix Gallardo became the point man for the Medell\u00edn Cartel, which was run by Pablo Escobar. This was easily accomplished because F\u00e9lix Gallardo had already established an infrastructure that stood ready to serve the Colombia-based traffickers.<\/p>\n<p>There were no cartels at that time in Mexico. F\u00e9lix Gallardo oversaw all operations; there was just him, his cronies, and the politicians who sold him protection. However, the Guadalajara Cartel suffered a major blow in 1985 when the group&#8217;s co-founder Rafael Caro Quintero was captured and later convicted for the murder of DEA agent Enrique Camarena. F\u00e9lix Gallardo afterwards kept a low profile and in 1987 he moved with his family to Guadalajara.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The Godfather&#8221; then decided to divide up the trade he controlled, as it would be more efficient and less likely to be brought down in one law enforcement swoop. In a way, he was privatizing the Mexican drug business while sending it back underground, to be run by bosses who were less well known or not yet known by the DEA. Gallardo convened the nation&#8217;s top drug traffickers at a house in the resort of Acapulco where he designated the plazas or territories.<\/p>\n<p>The Tijuana route would go to the Arellano Felix brothers. The Ciudad Ju\u00e1rez route would go to the Carrillo Fuentes family. Miguel Caro Quintero would run the Sonora corridor. The control of the Matamoros, Tamaulipas corridor\u2014then becoming the Gulf Cartel\u2014would be left undisturbed to its founder Juan Garc\u00eda \u00c1brego. Meanwhile, Joaqu\u00edn Guzm\u00e1n Loera and Ismael Zambada Garc\u00eda would take over Pacific coast operations, becoming the Sinaloa Cartel. Guzm\u00e1n and Zambada brought veteran H\u00e9ctor Luis Palma Salazar back into the fold. F\u00e9lix Gallardo still planned to oversee national operations, as he maintained important connections, but he would no longer control all details of the business.<\/p>\n<p>F\u00e9lix Gallardo was arrested on 8 April 1989.<\/p>\n<h2>Gulf Cartel<\/h2>\n<p>The Gulf Cartel (Cartel del Golfo or CDG), based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, has been one of Mexico&#8217;s two dominant cartels in recent years. In the late 1990s, it hired a private mercenary army (an enforcer group now called Los Zetas), which in 2006 stepped up as a partner but, in February 2010, their partnership was dissolved and both groups engaged in widespread violence across several border cities of Tamaulipas state, turning several border towns into &#8220;ghost towns.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The CDG was strong at the beginning of 2011, holding off several Zetas incursions into its territory. However, as the year progressed, internal divisions led to intra-cartel battles in Matamoros and Reynosa, Tamaulipas state. The infighting resulted in several arrests and deaths in Mexico and in the United States. The CDG has since broken apart, and it appears that one faction, known as Los Metros, has overpowered its rival Los Rojos faction and is now asserting its control over CDG operations.<\/p>\n<h2>Mexican Drug War<\/h2>\n<p>The Mexican Drug War is the Mexican theater of the United States&#8217; War on Drugs, involving an ongoing war between the Mexican Government and various drug trafficking syndicates. Since 2006, when the Mexican military began to intervene, the government&#8217;s principal goal has been to reduce the drug-related violence. Additionally, the Mexican government has claimed that their primary focus is on dismantling the powerful drug cartels, rather than on preventing drug trafficking, which is left to U.S. functionaries.<\/p>\n<p>Although Mexican drug cartels, or drug trafficking organizations, have existed for several decades, their influence has increased since the demise of the Colombian Cali and Medell\u00edn cartels in the 1990s. Mexican drug cartels now dominate the wholesale illicit drug market and in 2007 controlled 90% of the cocaine entering the United States. Arrests of key cartel leaders, particularly in the Tijuana and Gulf cartels, has led to increasing drug violence as cartels fight for control of the trafficking routes into the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Although violence between drug cartels had been occurring long before the war began, the government held a generally passive stance regarding cartel violence in the 1990s and early 2000s. That changed on December 11, 2006, when newly elected President Felipe Calder\u00f3n sent 6,500 federal troops to the state of Michoac\u00e1n to end drug violence there (Operation Michoac\u00e1n). This action is regarded as the first major operation against organized crime, and is generally viewed as the starting point of the war between the government and the drug cartels. As time progressed, Calder\u00f3n continued to escalate his anti-drug campaign, in which there are now about 45,000 troops involved in addition to state and federal police forces. In 2010 Calder\u00f3n said that the cartels seek &#8220;to replace the government&#8221; and &#8220;are trying to impose a monopoly by force of arms, and are even trying to impose their own laws.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>As of 2011, Mexico\u2019s military captured 11,544 people who were believed to have been involved with the cartels and organized crime. In the year prior, 28,000 individuals were arrested on drug-related charges. The decrease in eradication and drug seizures, as shown in statistics calculated by federal authorities, poorly reflects Calder\u00f3n\u2019s security agenda. Since the war began, over forty thousand people have been killed as a result of cartel violence. During Calder\u00f3n\u2019s presidential term, the murder rate of Mexico increased dramatically.<\/p>\n<h1><\/h1>\n<h1>Medell\u00edn Cartel<\/h1>\n<p>The Medell\u00edn Cartel was a Colombian drug cartel originating in the city of Medell\u00edn. The drug cartel operated from the mid-1970s until the early-1990s in Bolivia, Colombia, Honduras, Peru, and the United States, as well as in Canada and Europe. It was founded and run by Ochoa V\u00e1zquez brothers Jorge Luis, Juan David, and Fabio, together with Pablo Escobar, Carlos Lehder, and Jos\u00e9 Gonzalo Rodr\u00edguez Gacha. By 1993, the resistance group, Los Pepes (or PEPES), controlled by the Cali Cartel, and the Colombian government, in collaboration with the Cali Cartel, right-wing paramilitary groups, and the U.S. government, had dismantled the Medell\u00edn Cartel by imprisoning or assassinating its members.<\/p>\n<p>At the height of Pablo Escobar&#8217;s reign of the Medell\u00edn Cartel, and for 20 years, Pablo Escobar was the most powerful and richest drug lord in the world. And for 25 years, Escobar was also the most violent, ruthless, deadliest, dangerous, and feared drug lord in the World. From 1981-1993, Pablo Escobar was the 7th richest person in the World, Escobar had an astronomical and amazing net worth of $30-$42 Billion (which is equivalent to $107 Billion as of 2017). Escobar became Colombia&#8217;s top drug kingpin in 1976, but he became the world&#8217;s top drug kingpin in 1981, around that time Pablo Escobar became the most powerful and dangerous man in Colombia, and during Pablo Escobar&#8217;s regime, the Medell\u00edn Cartel became bigger and more powerful than the Colombian Government.<\/p>\n<p>Escobar had more power, man power, weapons, influences, resources, and reach than the Colombian \u00a0government and the Colombian military. For almost 2 decades, Escobar was responsible for ordering hundreds of atrocities, such as 1,300 bombings all over Colombia. Escobar&#8217;s most notorious bombings were the Avianca Flight 203 bombing, which killed 110 people; the DAS Building bombing, which killed 75 people and severely injured over 1,800 people; a truck bomb that killed a total of 489 people and severely injured 3,000 people; a bus bomb that killed a total of 260 people and wounded around 1,000 people; \u00a0a series of 7 car bombs in the same day, which killed a total of 194 people and injured nearly 800 people; and a car bomb that killed 137 adults, 112 children, and severely injured 600 more people. Over a 20 year period, Escobar ordered the murders of at least 110,000 people.<\/p>\n<div class=\"atom__components__figure\">\n<div class=\"atom__components__figure__cont\">\n<div style=\"width: 350px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"atom__components__figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1599\/2017\/07\/18195541\/media_35801_medium.jpeg\" alt=\"A mugshot of Pablo Escobar, smiling.\" width=\"340\" height=\"487\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pablo Escobar. At the height of his reign of the Medell\u00edn Cartel, and for 20 years, Pablo Escobar was the most powerful and richest drug lord in the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"atom__components__document\"><\/div>\n<div id=\"image_35801_text_equivalent\" class=\"atom__components__figure__text_equivalent\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3>Attributions<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Drug Cartels\n<ul>\n<li>\n<div class=\"attribution\">&#8220;Drug cartel.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Drug_cartel\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Drug_cartel<\/a>. <span class=\"attribution-name\">Wikipedia<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/\">CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"attribution\">&#8220;Medell\u00edn Cartel.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Medell%C3%ADn_Cartel\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Medell%C3%ADn_Cartel<\/a>. <span class=\"attribution-name\">Wikipedia<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/\">CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"attribution\">&#8220;Mexican Drug War.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mexican_Drug_War\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mexican_Drug_War<\/a>. <span class=\"attribution-name\">Wikipedia<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/\">CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"attribution\">&#8220;Pablo_Escobar_Mug.jpg.&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Medell%C3%ADn_Cartel#\/media\/File:Pablo_Escobar_Mug.jpg\">https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Medell%C3%ADn_Cartel#\/media\/File:Pablo_Escobar_Mug.jpg<\/a>. <span class=\"attribution-name\">Wikipedia<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/3.0\/\">CC BY-SA 3.0<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-4708\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Boundless World History. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Boundless. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/boundless-worldhistory\/\">https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/boundless-worldhistory\/<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":23437,"menu_order":26,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Boundless World History\",\"author\":\"Boundless\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/boundless-worldhistory\/\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-4708","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":3228,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/4708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23437"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/4708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5905,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/4708\/revisions\/5905"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/3228"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/4708\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=4708"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=4708"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-worldhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=4708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}