Violence in Mexico has already ceased to be an exclusively domestic problem and has spread to the northern shore of the Rio Grande - to Texas, California and Arizona. The local American police have not contacted the Mexicans for a long time. bandits, however, with the onset of the crisis, the spread of organized Mexican crime has reached a truly alarming proportions.

In border towns, more than half of all crimes committed are based on drug smuggling or the illegal trade in Mexican labor. The American media is full of stories about killings and kidnappings in the United States of Mexicans who fled from their country from the revenge of the cartels, hundreds of random Americans die during skirmishes. Residents of the American South feel more and more unprotected in the face of the “advancing Mexico” and say that California is once again becoming part of a neighboring state.

Mexico's uncontrolled slide into chaos is beginning to pose a serious strategic problem for US security. The Obama administration has announced its intention to more actively assist the Mexican government in the fight against cartels. Today, the success of this fight depends more on the sincerity of Washington than on the efforts of Mexico City, since for many years the US has effectively subsidized the cartels. Mexican drug traffickers live on the proceeds from the sale drugs in the States, and with the same income they buy weapons there, from which they then shoot civilians and policemen.

Confederation of drug cartels

Today, Mexico, like Pakistan, according to the authors of the US Joint Forces Command 2008 report, is a state on the verge of collapse. The country is being torn apart by cartels at war with each other and with the state. Over the past two and a half years, about 10 thousand people have died in drug wars (in general, according to the country's Minister of Economy Gerardo Ruiz, 75% of all murders takes place in the country during drug showdown).

In 2007, the San Diego (California) Federal Court sentenced to life imprisonment the Mexican drug lord, the head of the famous Tijuana crime cartel, 37-year-old Javier Arellano Felix

“Almost every Mexican border town has recently was killed high-ranking policeman, journalist, politician or other well-known figure - while many other innocent people were killed just by being nearby, ”writes American expert on Mexico Tom Miller. Many Mexicans simply disappear without a trace (one of the members of the Tijuana cartel , who was in charge of disposing of the bodies he dissolved in barrels of acid).

“The government, politicians, police and judiciary are all under constant pressure and regular attack from gangs and drug cartels. The stability of the Mexican state will largely depend on the development of this conflict in the next few years, ”the US Joint Forces Command 2008 report says.

So far, the trend of the conflict is not in favor of the state. In the near future, due to the economic crisis and the reduction in oil revenues, which accounted for about 40% of the country's budget, the Mexican authorities simply will not have the financial resources to fight the cartels on their own.

In addition, the rapid growth and influence catalyzed social structure Mexican society. Minimal state intervention in the life of society, a huge gap between the poor and the rich (10% of the population consumes 40% of GDP) and the absence of a middle class - all this contributes to the marginalization and criminalization of the main part of the population.

Today, about 5 million families (25 million people - a quarter of the country's population) live on $150 a month, of which 35 they receive from the state, so that their children can go to school. From 40 to 55% of the able-bodied population works in temporary jobs, and kidnapping is an extremely common business (according to official data, 72 abductions are committed per month in the country, according to unofficial data - about 500). Moreover, in 70% of cases, those kidnapped are ordinary people from the miserable middle class, working as doctors or journalists, and the required ransom amount is often only a few hundred dollars.

The development of small and medium-sized businesses is hampered by the monopoly nature of business and its affiliation with corrupt authorities. All sectors of the Mexican economy - from oil production to food and construction - are controlled by monopolies and bipolies (Pemex, Bimbo, Maseca). In the Economic Freedom Index for 2008, published jointly by the Wall Street Journal and the Heritage Foundation, Mexico ranks 44th, in the Capital Access Index compiled by the American Milken Institute in 2007 - 35th (US - 4th ).

Most enterprising Mexicans leave for the States, open their own businesses there (repair shops, fast food restaurants), and then “write out” their fellow citizens as assistants. As a result, according to some reports, 27% of the Mexican workforce settled in the United States, from these lucky ones, $ 20 billion goes back into the country (almost a third of all earnings in the Mexican official economy and 10% of the total value of Mexican exports). The rest are "employed" in drug cartels. In fact, participation in the drug chain is the only opportunity for a simple Mexican from the bottom to make a career inside the country.

Birth of the cartels

The history of modern Mexican drug traffickers begins in the 1940s, when farmers from the mountain villages of the Mexican state of Sinaloa began to grow marijuana. However, for a long time, the Mexicans were just "donkeys", serving one of the channels for the supply of Colombian cocaine to North America. And they did not even dare to compete with the powerful Colombians.

The heyday of Mexican drug gangs began after the defeat of the Colombian drug cartels of Cali and Medellin by the US and Colombian governments, as well as after the Americans closed the supply chain of Colombian drugs through Florida. The Mexican delivery route has become virtually uncontested. The weakened Colombians could no longer dictate their will to the Mexicans and now only sell them large quantities of drugs at wholesale prices.

As a result, Mexican gangs gained control over the entire chain of drug trafficking - from raw material plantations in the Andean region to points of sale on American streets. They managed to significantly expand the scale of the business: from 2000 to 2005, the supply of cocaine from South America to Mexico more than doubled, and the volume of amphetamine intercepted at the US-Mexico border - five times. The United States, largely due to the entrepreneurial spirit of the Mexican drug cartels, ranks first in the world in terms of cocaine and marijuana consumption.

And the drug cartels themselves began to earn from 25 to 40 billion dollars a year on the American market. In general, Mexico produces about 10 thousand tons of marijuana and 8 tons of heroin annually. Almost 30% of cultivated farmland in the country is planted with marijuana.

In addition, almost 90% of the cocaine consumed in the United States comes through Mexico. Most of the methamphetamine consumed in the United States is produced in Mexican laboratories (although there used to be a lot of meth - four times more pseudoephedrine was imported into the country than required for the pharmaceutical industry, and now the focus is on marijuana, which provides almost 70% of the cartel's income). All this is sold through controlled outlets, which the Mexican drug cartels have in at least 230 major American cities.

However, this expansion of business affected relations between the leading Mexican cartels. A multiple increase in the supply of cocaine and marijuana with a fixed number of plazas (transshipment points at the border) and the number of drug addicts in the United States led to a sharp increase in inter-cartel competition for the American market.

This is how the drug wars began in Mexico: after all, “if there are standard legal ways of competing in legal business,” says Tom Miller, “in illegal business, the most effective way to get around a competitor is to kill him.” Accordingly, the very structure of the cartels has undergone a change. “In the old days, the drug mafiosi was this guy with a gold tooth and a .45 Colt,” recalls Jay Bollesteros, an elderly employee of the American Anti-Illegal Sales Agency. - Now everything is completely different.

Now there are whole groups of militants trained in a military way.” To fight each other, the cartels began to create private armies consisting of mercenaries - sicarios. These mercenaries are armed with the latest technology and often surpass even part of the Mexican army in technical equipment and level of training. The most famous and violent of these groups, Los Zetas, is in the service of the Gulf Cartel. Its core is former Mexican special forces from the Gafe unit. Following the model and likeness of Los Zetas, the competitor of the "Jellied" Sinaloa cartel created its own army called Los Negros.

There was no shortage of recruits: the cartels openly posted advertisements in the towns bordering the United States, inviting former and current military men to join their organizations. Cartel vacancies have become one of the reasons for the mass desertion and dismissal from the Mexican army (from 2000 to 2006 - 100 thousand people).

Presidential War

Until 2006 periodic mafia showdowns had virtually no effect on ordinary Mexicans. The cartels were doing big business, and big business requires a quiet environment. drug gangs have even become a daily part of the lives of citizens. Ordinary people, seeing the success of drug dealers (especially against the backdrop of total poverty in the country), began to compose “drug ballads” about them. Since Mexico is a very religious country, the cartels even have their own "drug saint" - Jesus Malverde, whose central temple is installed in the capital of the state of Sinaloa, the city of Qualican, and "drug saint" - Dona Sebastian Santa Muerte.

There was no large-scale violence in the country. “With the previous Mexican President Vicente Fox, the cartels interacted according to the formula “Live yourself and don’t disturb others”. Everyone controlled their own territory and did not interfere with someone else's,” Ray Walser, senior analyst at the American Heritage Foundation, tells Expert.

Everything changed with the victory of Felipe Calderon in the 2006 presidential election. Immediately after his election, the new head of state declared war on drug cartels. The president took such a radical step for two reasons.

First, he needed to start some kind of popular campaign to strengthen his position after the mixed election results (Calderón's lead over his closest rival, Andreas Manuel López Obrador, was less than 0.6%). Of the two potential popular directions - the war on crime and the beginning of deep economic reforms - he chose the first as, in his opinion, the easiest.

Secondly, the new president realized the danger of the coexistence of cartels and the state. “Calderón realized that further “see nothing, hear nothing” tactics against drug cartels would inevitably lead to a weakening of the government. Every year, the bandits penetrated deeper into state institutions, primarily into the police, ”comments Ray Walser.

By the time Calderón arrived, the entire police force in the northern states of Mexico had been bought by the cartels. At the same time, law enforcement officers did not fear for their future if their ties with bandits were revealed. “If a local police officer is fired for corruption, then he simply crosses the street and is hired by the cartel (for example, in Rio Bravo, the Los Zetas hideout was right in front of the police station. - “Expert”).

Former police officers know the principles of police work from the inside, they are gladly hired,” says Tom Miller. That is why police in the country was very low. “When policemen are killed on the streets, there is not much public outcry,” says Ernesto López Partillo, a researcher at the Mexican research organization Insyde. “Partly because of the inability to determine why the policemen were killed: because of the performance of their duties or because they acted in the interests of the gangs.”

It is for this reason that the president began his war with a purge of law enforcement agencies. After his inauguration, he placed both national intelligence agencies, AFI and PFP, under the control of a man loyal to him, Minister of Public Security Genaro Garcia Luna. And soon Luna kicked out about 300 high-ranking employees on charges of corruption. The president then placed the war on drug cartels entirely on the shoulders of the military. In some states, in particular in Sinaloa, parts of the Mexican army were introduced, which disarmed the local corrupt police and took over police functions, including the fight against cartels.

As a result of an active campaign, Calderon managed to inflict some damage drug mafia . In 2007-2008, 70 tons of cocaine, 3,700 tons of marijuana, 28,000 barrels, 2,000 grenades, 3 million rounds of ammunition and $304 million were seized from the cartels. The president's team is proud of its success. “If it were not for the efforts of President Felipe Calderon to fight drug cartels, then in the next elections in 2012, a drug mafia would have become the head of state,” says Mexican Economy Minister Gerardo Ruiz. In the USA, their indicators: prices for cocaine soared one and a half times, while the average purity decreased from 67.8 to 56.7%, and the cost of amphetamine on American streets increased by 73%.

Mexico loses

Despite tactical successes, the strategic government of Felipe Calderon is losing the war against the cartels. And both from a military point of view, and from a public one.

After the new president violated the unspoken truce, the drug cartels declared a vendetta against the government and law enforcement agencies and are waging it with their inherent cruelty and intransigence (for the sake of this, two sworn enemies, the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels, even reconciled for a while). Those who did not run away and did not sell out are mercilessly shot. For example, in January 2008, drug cartel members pinned a list of 17 police officers to the door of Juarez City Hall and were sentenced to death. By September, ten of them had been killed. Several district police chiefs have already asked for political asylum in the United States.

At the same time, not only officials of a regional scale, but also the highest officials of the state, turn out to be victims of the revenge of the cartels. In November 2008, under strange circumstances, the plane of Juan Camilo Mourino, the presidential adviser on national security, crashed. And in early February 2009, one of the most popular Mexican military, retired General Mauro Enrique Tello Quinones, was kidnapped, tortured and killed. Less than 24 hours before his kidnapping, he took up the post of security adviser to the mayor's office of Cancun - a resort town, one of the drug lords' recreation centers.

As a result, the cartels achieved their goal: they managed to intimidate the federal security forces. In the northern states, the positions of sheriff, prosecutor or mayor often remain vacant - they are simply afraid to occupy them. Those who occupy try not to linger in one place for a long time (especially if this place is public). No one even knows where they sleep.

Beyond terror itself mafia use the misses of the military. Soldiers of the Mexican army, not trained to perform police functions and working in places where drug production is the only source of livelihood for local residents, do not stand on ceremony with civilians. These facts are promoted in the press by Mexican human rights organizations (whose efforts, according to some reports, are often paid for by cartels). Soldiers, says José Luis Soberanes, President of the Mexican Commission on Human Rights, “commit terrible crimes - murder, rape. Therefore, the use of the army against drug cartels can only be a temporary solution to the problem.”

drug lords won the most important victory - they managed to intimidate and turn against the government the civilian population of the country. “The cartels didn't set out to seize power in the country,” says Ray Walser. “Through terror they are trying to influence public opinion, lower the rating of Felipe Calderon, deprive him of the support of the people in the anti-drug campaign and ensure that Felipe Calderon is defeated in the next presidential election.”

As a result, Mexicans are generally skeptical of the government's efforts to combat organized crime. According to a July 2008 poll by the Mexican metropolitan newspaper Reforma, 53% of those polled believe the cartels are winning the war with the government. Only 24% hold the opposite opinion.

From American trunks

But victory drug mafia would not have been possible without American weapons. The free sale of weapons in the United States is one of the main reasons for the defeat of Calderon in the war against the cartels: 86% of illegal weapons supplied to Mexico come from the north coast of the Rio Grande. “In two years, we have seized more than 25,000 weapons from the cartels, and 90 percent came from the United States,” said Mexican President Felipe Calderon. - Moreover, this is the whole range of weapons - up to rocket launchers and machine guns."

In Mexico itself, you cannot buy so many weapons: domestic laws are very strict in this regard. Civilians wishing to purchase weapons must first obtain permission from the military. In addition, they are prohibited from having large-caliber guns and powerful pistols, not to mention semi-automatic weapons.

In the United States, as you know, almost anyone with a driver's license and no criminal record can buy weapons. There are 110,000 sellers with licenses to sell, 6,600 of which are located between Texas and San Diego. Therefore, for the purchase itself, Mexicans usually use dummy Americans - "straw people" (mostly single mothers who do not arouse suspicion), who receive 50-100 dollars for the service.

These front men buy guns by the piece, either from stores or from "gun shows" that take place every weekend in Arizona, Texas, or California. Then the trunks are handed over to dealers, who, collecting a batch of several dozen, transport it across the border. And they make good money doing it. For example, a used AK-47 can be bought in the States for $400, but south of the Rio Grande it will already cost $1,500.

Armed in this way, the armies of drug cartels have mortars, heavy machine guns, anti-tank missiles, grenade launchers, fragmentation grenades. According to the Mexican authorities, during the reign of Vicente Fox, about 2 thousand barrels were imported into the country daily. Then, according to the Mexican newspaper La Reforma, the police managed to intercept only 8088 barrels, that is, 0.18% of the total supply. In the reign of Felipe Calderon, the interception became better.

From January 1 to October 21, 2007, more than 6,000 barrels, 470 grenades and 552,000 rounds of ammunition were intercepted. But it's still very small. “Understand that this trade is a procession of ants. There is no one large supplier, there are a lot of small ones. And they are simply impossible to detect, ”comments the Attorney General of the US state of Arizona, Terry Goddard, commenting on the problems of the Mexican authorities. After all, more than 100 million cars and 300 million people cross the US-Mexico border every year through 39 checkpoints.

The Mexican border guards themselves cannot stop the arms traffic. Or rather, they don't want to. “Mexicans are not particularly active in searching cars entering their territory from the north,” American journalist Ruben Navarette tells Expert. This passivity is explained by the fact that the border guards are faced with the choice of "plata o plomo" (silver or lead). Many prefer to take bribes and turn a blind eye to smuggling. Those who refuse "silver" usually do not live long. For example, in February 2007, an honest Mexican border guard stopped a truck full of weapons. As a result, the Gulf cartel missed 18 rifles, 17 pistols, 17 grenades, and more than 8 thousand rounds of ammunition. The next day, the border guard was shot dead.

scary world

The George W. Bush administration had much more power to stop traffic. But any attempt to somehow tighten the rules for the sale of weapons in the United States ran into resistance from the most powerful arms lobby - the National Arms Association (NRA), which was covered by the second amendment to the constitution. The NRA defends the interests of arms manufacturers who make millions selling them to Mexican gangsters, especially after the gun lobby won a ban on the sale of semi-automatic weapons in 2004.

Therefore, the NRA in every possible way sabotages the activities of the American Agency for Combating the Illegal Sale of Arms (ATF). NRA director Wayne Lapierre has said bluntly that shutting down the ATF is one of his goals, and even compared the agency's employees to Nazis. Not least because of the efforts of the NRA under Bush, the activities of 6,600 arms dealers on the US-Mexico border were controlled by only 200 ATF agents.

Thanks to this policy, the NRA actually became the lawyer of the Mexican drug mafia. Mexican drug traffickers bought weapons with money they received from selling drugs to the United States. And therefore, for the sake of the "iron stream" to the south, some forces in the United States turned a blind eye to the "white stream" to the north. Even George W. Bush, not wanting to quarrel with the NRA supporting him, limited his involvement in solving Mexican problems to the construction of a wall and the adoption of a plan to help Mexico ("Plan Merida"), significantly curtailed by Congress. As expected, both actions did not lead to any tangible result.

In recent months, the relationship between the global economic crisis and the uncontrolled power of the drug cartels has deepened, and violence has spilled over into the United States. “Under George W. Bush, the showdown between drug cartels took place on Mexican territory. But in the past few months, violence has also spilled over to the northern shores of the Rio Grande. Kidnappings in Arizona, murders in Texas... If someone owes $500,000 to drug dealers and runs away to Atlanta, they will go there, torture the debtor, kill them and take the money. And they won't care if they crossed the border. If the drug traffickers need it, they will go to Canada too,” Ruben Navarette believes.

Close cooperation with Mexican drug traffickers American mafia groups made up of ethnic Mexicans. Thus, the gang operating in California works with Tijuana cartel , "Texas syndicate" - with the Gulf cartel, and the gang - with both. If we take into account that during the economic crisis, the ranks of Mexican ethnic groups in America will increase significantly, we can conclude that every month the level of violence in the United States will increase. This will worsen the already difficult crime situation in the states bordering Mexico.

To make matters worse, in Los Angeles, for example, cops don't have to ask a suspect about his immigration status before charges are filed. In addition, in a number of cities, police officers do not have the right to arrest people for illegal immigration, even if these people are known to be seasoned gangsters. This could mean that the Mexican cartels will soon control the entire American South.

As a result, the new American president, Barack Obama, faced the need for immediate intervention in Mexican affairs. He promised to increase financial assistance to Mexico and at the same time significantly increase the security of the American border. At the same time, unlike his predecessor, Obama is not friendly with the gun lobby, so he may be able to bring the gun problem under control, at least within the United States.

To stabilize the situation in Mexico, the United States will need very serious and large-scale actions. If they only fence off Mexico with a cordon sanitaire, but do not solve their problem with the sale of weapons and help Felipe Calderon fight organized crime, the desperate Mexican president may return to the old tried and true form of coexistence with the cartels. There are already examples of such compromises. City of Nuevo Laredo.

More recently, there has been a colossal level of violence. Now everything is calm. And it happened not because crime was defeated. It's just that one cartel beat another. As a result, the flow of drugs did not stop, but peace and order were restored,” says Tom Miller. For Calderon, who has actually already lost the war, this may be the only hope for peace in the country. But for Mexico, this world can turn into the final collapse of the state, and for the United States - the detonation of a time bomb in their "backyard".

The low standard of living of a significant part of the local population contributes to the emergence of numerous criminogenic elements in the country. Therefore, crime in Mexico is not only the drug mafia and corrupt officials, but also petty thieves, swindlers, kidnappers, blackmailers, etc. The degree of safety largely depends on the specific region of the country or area of ​​the city, however, precautions should always be remembered.

The most dangerous regions of the country and disadvantaged areas of cities

The most dangerous states are Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango, Guerrero, Baja California, Michoacan, Tamaulipas, Veracruz. These are mainly northern territories, with the exception of Guerrero, Michoacán and Veracruz. Rampant crime here is associated with two factors: drug trafficking and illegal migration across the Mexican-American border. Together with the corrupt police, the situation certainly leaves much to be desired.

The high level of crime in the southern and eastern states is associated with the low standard of living of the population, for which the drug trade sometimes becomes the only means of survival.

State	Situation
chihuahua	It borders the US states of Texas and New Mexico. It is here that the infamous city of Ciudad Juarez is located, which in 2009 ranked first in the world in terms of the number of violent deaths per capita. Since 1993, feminicide has flourished here - the mass murder of women. There are many drug trafficking routes across the state. Marijuana cultivation has been cultivated in the mountainous regions for decades.
Sinaloa	Located in the northwest of the country, it became famous thanks to one of the largest drug cartels with the same name.
Durango	In some cities of the state, for example, Gomez-Palacio, until recently, even the police were afraid to appear. This is one of the poorest states in the country, which is a zone active action drug mafia and criminal gangs.
Baja California	The place where another symbol of the underworld of Mexico is located is the city of Tijuana. This is one of the centers for the transfer of illegal immigrants to the United States, as well as the smuggling of cigarettes, alcohol and drugs.
Guerrero	Sometimes rightly referred to as the "Bloody State". In 2014, 43 students disappeared here, and later were found murdered. In March 2017, the massacre claimed the lives of 12 people at a time, in November 2016 - 24 men and women. Such incidents happen here regularly. Several drug trafficking routes run through the state, so the number of criminal elements here is incredibly high.
Michoacán	Situated along the coast Pacific Ocean. The main population is non-Spanish speaking Indians. The state is the zone of influence of two rival gangs of drug dealers. The associated high crime rate forced local residents to organize themselves into self-defense units, conflicts between which often lead to skirmishes.
Tamaulipas	It is located in the northeast of the country and borders with Texas. For many years he has been suffering from clashes between local gangs that dispute influence in the field of drug trafficking. One of the most disadvantaged cities in the state is border Reynos. It is so dangerous here that the police have introduced a color alarm system.
Veracruz	A major port in the Gulf of Mexico and another area of ​​interest for drug cartels. The state became "famous" for the mass grave of victims of criminal gangs with 250 skulls discovered on its territory.

The authorities strongly discourage tourists from traveling through dangerous areas, especially alone. Here you run the risk of being robbed, kidnapped or killed simply because you have gold jewelry, some cash, an expensive camera or a nice car. The low standard of living and the high concentration of unreliable citizens make even a simple walk through the streets dangerous in these areas. It does not matter at all whether you are connected with criminal organizations or not.

Criminogenic and disadvantaged areas of Mexico City

Despite a fairly high standard of living and good police work, there are dangerous places in the capital of Mexico. The city is a "patchwork quilt" on which rich and poor quarters are grouped around the tourist center.

Tepito is a metropolitan area chosen by buyers of stolen goods, pimps, and drug dealers. It is located literally 15 minutes walk from the Parliament. Tepito's calling card is the dismantling of local groups, invariably accompanied by stabbing and gunfights. Tourists often disappear here. Not surprisingly, even local taxi drivers will not take you into the interior of the area.

And, finally, the most interesting thing is the restriction of travel abroad for debtors. It is about the status of the debtor that it is easiest to “forget” when going on another vacation abroad. The reason may be overdue loans, unpaid utility bills, alimony or fines from the traffic police. Any of these debts may threaten to restrict travel abroad in 2018, we recommend that you find out information about the presence of debt using a proven service not to fly.rf

Such areas of Mexico City as Ciudad Azteca, Guerrero, Peraviya, Iztapalapa, La Paz, Iztapaluca, Nezavalcoyotl also enjoy a bad reputation.

Cuidad de Basura (Trash City) is an area that is not on the map. And yet, it has its own transport, garbage processing business, canteens and merchants. Extremely dangerous for tourists.

In addition, crime in Mexico City thrives in the slums, where the urban poor barely survive. Any lanes and territories with the same type of low-rise buildings are potentially dangerous. So be vigilant!

Dangerous areas of Cancun

Cancun is a favorite holiday destination for thousands of tourists. It is one of the most peaceful cities in Mexico. But here, too, dangers can lie in wait for you, you just have to move a little away from the hotels and deviate from popular routes.

Conventionally, the city is divided into two parts: Zona Hotelera (Hotel Zone) and Downtown (Downtown). Downtown (Downtown) - these are residential areas familiar to us. And although the crime rate in Cancun is well below the national average, it is recommended to walk and live here in fenced areas with round-the-clock security at the entry points.

Sona Rural is a rural area six kilometers from the city center, which until the 90s had a bad reputation due to a large number slums and the gangs operating there. Later it was landscaped, but the contingent in it remained the same. Here live ordinary Mexicans with a low level of income. And if you don't want trouble, avoid walking in the area if possible.

The outskirts of the city, an hour's drive from the beaches, are undeveloped slums with cesspools in the yards, local authorities and beggars. And the highest risk of becoming a victim of robbers.

Fraud in Mexico: how to avoid being scammed

Fraud has become a way of survival in Mexico for a huge number of poorly educated and poor citizens.

For example, fake police officers - they can be found even in busy tourist areas. Therefore, if you were suddenly approached and demanded to pay a fine, do not hesitate to ask and check the documents of a law enforcement officer. And be sure to get accurate information about what you decided to fine.

Dishonest boat guides are another category of citizens who inflate prices for their services and profit from inattentive vacationers. Inviting you to the boat, they tell you one price for a trip to dolphins or turtles, and at the end of the voyage - another, much higher than the original one. And to leave the boat, you have no choice but to pay. Therefore, negotiate the full cost of the trip in advance - this way you will save your money.

Remember that tankers in Mexico do not have an official salary. Their bread is tips. So if you give an employee a large bill, you may not wait for change. That is why you should calculate in advance how much you will refuel, and prepare bills for payment and tips.

Card readers with video cameras in street ATMs - modern way robbery. They allow scammers to get your magnetic stripe data and your card pin. Therefore, in order not to lose funds, use ATMs in bank branches or located in shopping centers. And give preference not to credit cards with a large limit, but to debit cards with a limited amount of funds on them.

Sellers of exotic goods and animals are another category of citizens with whom it is better not to deal with in Mexico. The fact that you were sold a product made of jaguar skin, tortoise shell or quetzal bird feathers does not at all guarantee the legality of the transaction. Checking things and finding such goods in them when leaving the territory of some states can result in confiscation, a serious fine, and even imprisonment.

Kidnappings in Mexico for ransom

In 2020, Mexico set a sad record: the country ranked first in the world in the number of kidnappings. At the same time, the number of such crimes is still very significant. So, in the first half of 2020, 867 people were abducted in the country.

Average ransom per representative rich family is about $ 200,000. In order to collect the required amount, relatives of the kidnapped are given no more than a month. For a simple tourist, they can ask $3000-$5000. But even after paying the necessary amount, the kidnapped people are often killed.

Currently, the crime rate in Mexico is so high that absolutely everyone is at risk - from wealthy tourists to relatives of gang leaders.

To avoid the fate of being kidnapped, the following simple recommendations help:

• use the services of official taxis;
• do not meet in social networks and don't go on blind dates;
• do not show expensive things or jewelry that indicates your well-being;
• avoid slums;
• do not hitchhike;
• try to walk in the company of familiar people or accompanied by a guide.

In the northern and central states of Mexico, the number of abductions of girls aged 15-17 years old is steadily increasing with the aim of their subsequent sale to brothels. So do not attract undue attention to yourself with revealing clothes and uninhibited behavior.

Organized crime groups in Mexico

The area of ​​activity of Mexican organized crime groups is illegal transportation and drug trafficking. The damage done to the country as a result of the division of spheres of influence by them is so great that in 2020 one of the local companies even offered to arrange insurance against organized crime for everyone. In addition, organized crime in Mexico is closely intertwined with government agencies and the police.

Drug cartels - criminal organizations of various sizes and levels of influence, literally divided the country among themselves, like a pie. Their confrontation leads to massive armed conflicts, causes kidnappings and major robberies.

In addition to drug cartels, a lot of small gangs are also operating in the country.

Changes in Organized Crime in Mexico

Organized crime in Mexico dates back to the 1980s. However, at the beginning of the 21st century, organized crime groups in the country have undergone major changes. Their result was a significant expansion of the spheres of activity of cartels due to the theft of software, the supply of live goods to brothels, smuggling and illegal import of weapons.

The low standard of living and the inability to provide a normal life legally leads to the fact that smuggling or growing marijuana becomes a source of income for large areas of Mexico. At the same time, entire states are involved in internecine wars, as a result of which thousands of people die.

Since the 2000s, due to political changes in the country and the loss of former loyalty on the part of the authorities, cartels have, in fact, challenged the state. All their forces were directed to protect the routes of transportation of drugs. And in this case, they did not shun any methods.

In recent years, the appetites of the cartels have begun to spread to the central regions of Mexico. And this endangers the national security of the country.

The process of globalization in the Mexican drug business

Guatemala, Belize and Honduras are the countries that have become a zone of interest for Mexican drug cartels in the 21st century. Having extensive connections in Africa and Asia, Mexican groups have seriously strengthened their positions and achieved the unification of local criminal structures with Colombian ones. Using the patronage of the state authorities and police representatives, they formed stable groups, famous for their particular cruelty.

The experience of the mid-2000s showed that even after the defeat, such cartels do not disappear, but are reborn under new names and with new leaders at the head. At the same time, structures that control drug markets in the United States began to enjoy special influence.

The Consequences of Merging State and Criminal Structures

One of the reasons that make it difficult to fight organized crime in Mexico is the involvement of representatives of state power and the police. Indicative in this regard is the arrest in 2008 of the head of the Mexican anti-drug agency, Noe Ramirez, who was convicted of having links with the criminal world and receiving bribes from the largest Sinaloa cartel. Reporting on planned police operations, for many years he nullified all efforts to combat drug trafficking in a particular region. And this is far from an isolated case. A wave of such revelations seriously undermined the public's confidence in the authorities.

Currently, the drug mafia in Mexico is not only flourishing, but partially absorbing the state: gang leaders often become heads of municipalities, and corrupt judges and policemen ensure their safety.

Corruption problems in Mexico

According to a study conducted in 2020 by Transparency International (TI), Mexican political parties turned out to be the most corrupt structures. One of the reasons for corruption in the country is the huge amount of bribes offered to officials.

The authorities never tire of reminding negative impact that corruption in Mexico has on the development of the country:

• disturbed public order;
• democratic institutions are weakened;
• damage to the economy.

At the same time, the problems of general prosecutorial supervision in Mexico are very acute - dishonest servants of Themis tritely turn a blind eye to existing violations of the laws. So, as a result of one of the personnel purges in the country, 1,200 police officers were fired.

Against this background, the creation in 2020 of a coordinating council, which includes the Ministry of Civil Service, the Federal Audit Service, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and the Supreme Administrative Justice Tribunal, looks natural.

Speaking about which anti-corruption body has been created in Mexico, it should be understood that this is not one organization, but a multifunctional structure consisting of several important sectors. The formation of a closed coordinating council will make it possible to avoid the penetration of criminal elements into the system of control and justice.

Social inequality in Mexico and related conflicts

According to research by Coneval (National Council for social policy), in 2020, 46.2% of the population was below the poverty line in Mexico. At the same time, 14 billionaires live in the country.

The highest percentage of the poor among the Indians - more than 70%. Geographically, these are the southern states of Mexico. A sign of belonging to the middle class in the country is the presence of a washing machine in the house.

Representatives of the country's white population predominate in leadership positions and among officials, which causes a negative reaction from the rest of the citizens.

Regressive taxes are one reason why Mexican society is so stratified: the rich pay proportionately less than the poor. And this only reinforces the existing contrasts.

A serious problem in Mexico has been the increase in the number of working women. Believing that they are taking away their jobs, many men have turned to active violence. And this is not only rape, but also murder. This phenomenon is called feminicide.

Punishments for various types of offenses in Mexico

The penalties for different kinds offenses in Mexico are determined mainly by the Administrative Code of Mexico and the Federal Penal Code of Mexico.

Despite the high crime rate in the country, the death penalty has been almost completely abolished. She was replaced by life imprisonment for up to 70 years or more. Exceptions: treason during the war with foreign countries, parricide, perfidious murder, arson, kidnapping, highway robbery, as well as piracy and serious military crimes.

Possession of more than 15 grams of drugs can result in a large fine and even imprisonment for up to 25 years.

For smoking in a public place, you can be fined $20-30. There are punishments in Mexico for kissing in public places- for this you can be sent to corrective labor or fined. A smile or wink at a girl you don't know can be considered an attempted rape.

Cell phones in the country are allowed to use only from the age of 14.

Mexico officially prohibits torture, flogging, confiscation of property, branding, as well as punishments related to deprivation of body parts. At the same time, the country does not have, as such, a system of consumer protection at the legislative level.

Representatives of law enforcement agencies can detain you until the circumstances are clarified for a maximum of three days.

Features of the work of the Mexican police

The Federal Police of Mexico (abbreviated name PF) was created not so long ago - in 1998. It was based on such units as the financial and traffic police, as well as intelligence units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and military police brigades. The main function of the Federal Police is to combat trafficking drugs in the country.

Due to the unfavorable situation, the police in Mexico are usually well armed. Their uniforms are black or blue. In tourist areas, representatives of law enforcement agencies are quite sympathetic to visitors and provide all possible assistance to those who turn to them.

In 2020, the National Gendarmerie was formed, the main function of which was to ensure order in the border areas, in the territory of strategically important ports and airports, and oil centers.

In addition, community police and civil self-defence groups are active in the country.

Confrontation between the state and drug cartels in Mexico

Felipe Calderon is the leader of the Mexican state, who went down in history as the man who declared war on drug cartels. Its backbone was the army and navy. Information support was provided by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

The result of numerous sweeps and arrests was the elimination of several large drug cartels. At the same time, the leaders of these formations, after their arrest, were extradited to the United States, where they could not be helped with the escape by corrupt courts and prison authorities, as in their homeland.

However, the cost of this war was more than 57 thousand dead civilians, which led to the formation of an anti-war movement, as a result of which Enrique Peña Nieto came to power.

The methods of the new government are devoid of a power component. First of all, the leader of the country showed his readiness to negotiate with the leaders of the drug cartels, which resulted in a slight decrease in the level of violence in the regions controlled by them. In addition, the country is focusing on the legalization of soft drugs, which deprives illegal traffickers of profits. For example, for a serving of up to 10 g, nothing threatens you.

The complexity of the fight against drug cartels is partly due to the fact that, despite their criminal activities, they never shunned charity, large donations to the church and invested in the improvement of the territories under their control. This still provides them with the support of the local population.

The government's response was to introduce national program for the social prevention of violence and crime, launched in 2020 and supporting the poorest sections of Mexican society. Thanks to this, the war on crime in Mexico received support from the local population. One example of the implementation of the program is the improvement of the streets in Gomez Palacio, Durango. Another example is the restoration of streets in the Nuevo Mexico area, the city of Torreon, in the state of Coahuila. And more and more positive results!

How to make traveling in Mexico safe: the main rules

Mexico is a country where you can easily be approached in broad daylight with a knife or a gun. Moreover, the criminals will really be ready to use their weapons to take away your wallet or phone.

Crime statistics in Mexico are depressing: according to a report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), in 2020 the country ranked second in the number of violent murders. Over the past ten years, about 200,000 people have died in the country and about 30,000 have gone missing.

Despite this, if you follow a number of rules, traveling around Mexico will become not only interesting, but also safe.

1. Try to avoid purses full of cash and cards that protrude seductively from your pants pockets. After all, you do not want to attract the attention of robbers? Do not put all the available funds in one bag or pocket, so as not to lose everything at once. The best solution would be to store cash and cards in different places, moreover, so that they are not visible.
2. Do not take a laptop with you for a walk. It is better to keep the camera in a bag and pull it out only at the time of taking pictures. At the same time, it is better to give preference to an ordinary digital “soap box” than to expensive equipment - the chances of being robbed and losing a second one are much greater. Valuable property is generally recommended to be left in hotel safes - it should be borne in mind that in poor areas, local authorities can "confiscate" any valuables for walking around their territory.
3. It is not recommended to attract undue attention to yourself with too expensive or revealing clothes - be simple and try to blend in with the crowd outwardly.
4. It is preferable to carry bags in hands, as belts are very often cut off, stealing property.
5. Carry a photocopy of your passport with you, keeping the original document in a safe place.
6. It is recommended to call a taxi by phone and write down not only the car number, but also the taxi driver's license number. When traveling in your own or rented car, choose toll roads - they are the safest. Do not hitchhike.
7. Do not take photos without the permission of local residents, especially Indians - this can cause an extremely negative reaction.

Life in Mexico: Video

In 2016, Mexico ranked second in the world in terms of the number of violent deaths, second only to Syria and ahead of other leaders - Iraq and Afghanistan - in this kind of anti-rating. Such data are given in published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). IISS General Director John Chipman drew attention to an important circumstance: “The Mexican conflict is characterized by the absence of artillery, tanks and combat aircraft. Almost all the victims died from small arms or bladed weapons.” I understood the reasons for the surge of violence in this country.

Big redistribution

The report notes that states that have become "key battlegrounds for rival and increasingly fragmented drug cartels" have suffered the most casualties. Gangs are trying to take away rival-controlled areas and territories in order to monopolize drug trafficking routes to the United States.

A striking example of such clashes is the conflict between two groups of the most powerful local cartel -. After the head of this syndicate, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán (Shorty) was behind bars in January 2016, his closest associate Damaso "Lawyer" Lopez tried to "squeeze" the business from the sons of authority that fell into the hands of the police. However, the heirs of Shorty - Jesus Alfredo and Ivan Archivaldo - were not going to give up the family business without a fight.

As a result, an internecine war began, in which about 500 people died on both sides this year alone. And although on May 2 Lawyer was seized by the police, law enforcement officers are sure that this will not stop the war. Firstly, the Guzman brothers will take revenge on the traitors who have gone over to Lopez's side. Secondly, the sons of El Chapo are forced to fight off attacks on the cartel weakened by civil strife from competitors and allies of the Lawyer.

Now it was embarrassing

The IISS report caused such a wide response that even the President of the United States reacted to it. IN Twitter he posted a link to a material that discussed the paper.

The Mexican authorities were seriously offended by the authors of the study and issued a joint statement and. It indicates that, according to the data, the number of murders in Mexico (16 per 100,000 inhabitants) is much lower than in some other countries of Latin America: in Brazil, for example, this figure is 25, in Venezuela - 54, and in Honduras, in general, an outrageous 90 violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.

Another counterargument given by the Mexicans: many regions of the country are not affected by the showdowns of drug dealers and the tourist flow increased by nine percent last year. Therefore, comparing Mexico with Syria is absolutely incorrect.

“This report is dubious work and sensationalism. Comparing the violence caused by the illegal drug trade with civil war unreasonably. Mexico, like many other countries in Latin America, is facing real problems with homicides,” says a professor at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (Tom Long). - These estimates are questionable. Half of the murders committed in Mexico do not appear to be related to the illegal drug trade.”

One way or another, but in the ten years that have passed since the Mexican authorities declared war on organized crime, about 200 thousand citizens of the country have died, another 30 thousand people have gone missing.

American Recognition

“We Americans must realize that our country is the only market for this product. If not for us, there would not be such a serious problem with organized crime in Mexico. We should understand that we are responsible for this,” the US Secretary of State acknowledged at a joint press conference with Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray. “We must be above shifting responsibility on each other and exchanging reproaches. It must be understood that every demand creates supply and every supply creates demand. If the governments of the United States and Mexico spend time arguing about who is to blame, whose mistake it is, organized crime, which kills people on both sides of the border, will only win,” the Mexican minister said.

According to US Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly, first of all, it is necessary to put an end to what lies at the root of the problem - the demand for drugs in the United States. “If Americans realize that the use of drugs for pleasure entails the death of people in Mexico, Colombia or Central America, the murders of journalists, policemen, military officers, judges, then the profits of this criminal business will be significantly reduced,” he said.

Kelly argues that everyone will be involved in the drug demand reduction program in the US: Hollywood, governors, mayors, families, priests. In his opinion, this can significantly reduce the income of drug cartels. “Until we do this, there will be a desperate struggle on the border,” he stated.

People are dying for gasoline

According to official figures, about half of all violent deaths in Mexico are due to drug cartels. Regions through which oil and gasoline pipelines pass have become a new arena for clashes between various groups. Criminals make tie-ins in them and drain the fuel. The cost of stolen fuel on the black market is two times lower than at legal gas stations.

The underground trade in gasoline and other petroleum products has flourished since last year's decision by the authorities to raise fuel prices by almost 20 percent. According to the national oil company Pemex, if in 2006 213 illegal tie-ins were detected, then last year this figure rose to seven thousand. The turnover of the stolen fuel market exceeded $16 billion.

The battle for such a jackpot could not do without casualties. For example, in the state of Puebla, 185 homicides were committed during the first three months of this year, twice as many as in the same period in 2011, which saw the previous peak of violent crimes.

Several large gangs are fighting over the section of the "gasoline pie". They not only fight among themselves, but also conduct real battles with federal forces. At the end of April, as a result of a special operation of the Mexican security forces in the city of Reynosa, one of the leaders of the underworld of the state of Tamaulipas, Lois Salinas, nicknamed Comandante Bull, was killed. Previously, his group specialized in drugs, but recently it has diversified its activities and is actively engaged in the development of an underground fuel business.

The response of the bandits was not long in coming. According to the local police, the criminals blocked the roads with cars and set them on fire. At the same time, several shops were burned down. The Ministry of the Interior asked citizens not to visit Reynosa due to the sharp aggravation of the situation after the liquidation of Loysa.

Already on May 3, there was a new skirmish between the bandits and the military. Ten people were killed, including four soldiers. “Today we are faced with a problem that is out of control,” said Rep. Carlos Ignacio Mier Banuelos of that state. The authorities responded to the new challenge in the traditional way: additional army units were introduced into the state to strengthen the protection of fuel lines. However, this only indicates that the state does not have a well-developed program to counter the new form of criminal business. “The army operates in a straightforward manner, without a strategy. The military uses only forceful methods,” Mier explained. According to him, as soon as the soldiers leave the region, the battle for gasoline will resume with renewed vigor.

According to experts, the underground fuel business cannot yet be compared with the drug trade in terms of profitability, but local organized crime groups are considered the most promising and fastest growing type of criminal profit. This means that the fights between the gangs will continue and claim thousands of lives. As one of the Mexican experts said on this occasion, "violence feeds on itself: murder entails an inevitable response in the form of the same murder."

Mexican drug lords, their close associates 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 for the rest of the world.

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

The prerequisites for the emergence of 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, the Spanish conquerors brought hemp here, and in late XIX century, along with Chinese immigrants, the opium poppy also came to the country.

Peasants treated drugs like ordinary crops, differing little in importance from potatoes or corn. But when a ban on the same opium and hemp was introduced in the United States, cunning Mexicans quickly realized that they could earn good money by transporting banned plants abroad. The ban on the cultivation of cannabis and poppies was introduced only at the beginning of the 20th century, and even then under pressure from the United States. In the country itself, the peasants continued to quietly grow, transport and sell poppies and hemp. True, now local officials had to be unfastened, starting from a small police rank up to the governor.
The Great Depression in America was a real high point for artisans growing drugs. It was about completely different money and small groups, in which peasants united in order to protect their business, began to sort things out no longer 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 went towards them.

Major drug cartels in Mexico

№ 1
SINAOLA CARTEL (PACIFIC CARTEL)
Having appeared 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 Guzmán Loera, nicknamed El Chapo, who, after the assassination of Osama bin Laden, became the first in the list of the most wanted criminals.

№ 2
GOLF CARTEL ("Gulf Cartel")
Based in the city of Matamoros on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. 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 spun off into a separate cartel - Los Zetas.

№ 3
CARTEL "LOS SETAS"
Los Setas fighters are among the most trained, as they are recruited from retired police and military. 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 Setas" is distinguished by the fact that they carry out real special operations, actively using the tactics, weapons and technical means of special forces.

№ 4
TIJUANA CARTEL
A large cartel that controls the northwestern part of Mexico. It was formed at about 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. About the life of his family, Steven Soderbergh made his famous film "Traffic".

№ 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 the latter to take an oath "to fight and die for social justice". True, it is not very clear what meaning these guys put into 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. If earlier the drug carrier was a simple guy living in the neighborhood, now he has turned into a legendary figure, a defender of the poor and a cruel executioner of the offenders of 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 who give work and do not allow them to die of hunger.

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. Someone succeeded, while others were forced only to imitate the appearance, manner of speaking and habits of local smugglers. This is how narcos appeared, which became the main engines 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. A rare resident of the state is not associated with the production or smuggling of drugs, and drug lords and cartel members are respected by everyone here without exception.

The clothing style of narcos has undergone major changes since its inception, following the fashion of a particular period. But the timeless classics are the cowboy style that is characteristic of the Mexican border regions: turned-up hats, classic jeans, belts with heavy plaques, embroidered shirts and pointed boots made of genuine leather. Among young narcos, 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 today.

More serious guys prefer popular European brands such as Guess, Gucci, Burberry or Ralph Lauren. With the latter, there was an embarrassment at all: the drug lords Edgar Valdez Villarreal, nicknamed Barbie and Jose Jorge Balderas, who were arrested in 2010 and 2011, were in the polo of this manufacturer at the time of their arrest. The exhaust turned out so loud that now in Mexico and the American states bordering on it, these shirts in the eyes of the layman are associated exclusively with the drug business.

Catholic Latin America has always been famous for the abundance of saints invented by the people, responsible for almost every aspect of the life of a believer. A mixture of Christianity and Native American totemism has given 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 Holy Death.

Narcos also has its 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 a certain “noble robber” who robbed the rich and distributed good to the poor could serve as the prototype of Jesus Malverde. In 1903, this nameless folk hero fell into the hands of the authorities and was executed. According to legend, the tree on which it was hung 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, Culiacan.

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

Kilograms of jewelry, heavy wads of money, luxurious clothes, expensive cars and gold-finished 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 their absence. If narcos of the old school have always put family and neighbors at the forefront, then for drug juniors all these words are an empty phrase. As a result, the poor, who at one time were supported by old-school gangsters from the cartels, today often suffer from unmotivated aggression by drug juniors who live by the principle “I will do it because I can”.

The drug mafia in Mexico is getting stronger. Although the total number of murders in the country has been steadily decreasing over the past two decades, drug dealers commit heinous crimes. They have undermined the rule of law so much that ordinary Mexicans are now and then publicly interested: did the mafias win the war against the state?

The history of modern Mexican drug traffickers begins in the 1940s, when farmers from the mountain villages of the Mexican state of Sinaloa began to grow marijuana. The first Mexican drug traffickers were a bunch of villagers connected by family ties. For the most part, they were from the small northern Mexican state of Sinaloa. Sandwiched between the Gulf of California and the Sierra Madre, about 300 miles from the US border, this poor, agrarian state has become an ideal place for smuggling. At first, marijuana was grown here or bought from other "gardeners" of the Pacific coast, and then the drug was shipped to the United States. For decades, it remained a stable and not too risky small business, and violence did not spill out beyond the narrow world of drug dealers. Later, cocaine, which came into vogue in the 60s, was added to marijuana smuggling. However, for a long time, the Mexicans were just "donkeys", serving one of the channels for the supply of Colombian cocaine to North America. And they did not even dare to compete with the powerful Colombians.

The heyday of Mexican drug gangs began after the defeat of the Colombian drug cartels of Cali and Medellin by the US and Colombian governments. One by one, El Mexicoano and Pablo Emilio Escabar were killed, the brothers Ochoa and Carlos Leder (El Aleman) from the Medellin cartel were put in Colombian and state prisons. Following them, it was the turn of the Cali Cartel, led by the Orihuela brothers.

Also, after the Americans closed the supply chain of Colombian drugs through Florida, the Mexican delivery route became virtually uncontested. The weakened Colombians could no longer dictate their will to the Mexicans and now only sell them large quantities of drugs at wholesale prices.
As a result, Mexican gangs gained control over the entire chain of drug trafficking - from raw material plantations in the Andes region to points of sale on American streets. They managed to significantly expand the scale of the business: from 2000 to 2005, the supply of cocaine from South America to Mexico more than doubled, and the volume of amphetamine intercepted at the US-Mexico border - five times.

The United States, largely due to the entrepreneurial spirit of the Mexican drug cartels, ranks first in the world in terms of cocaine and marijuana consumption. And the drug cartels themselves began to earn from 25 to 40 billion dollars a year on the American market. In general, Mexico produces about 10,000 tons of marijuana and 8,000 tons of heroin annually. Almost 30% of cultivated farmland in the country is planted with marijuana. In addition, almost 90% of the cocaine consumed in the United States comes through Mexico. Most of the methamphetamine consumed in the United States is produced in Mexican laboratories (although there used to be a lot of meth - four times more pseudoephedrine was imported into the country than required for the pharmaceutical industry, and now the focus is on marijuana, which provides almost 70% of the cartel's income). All this is sold through controlled outlets, which the Mexican drug cartels have in at least 230 major American cities.

However, this expansion of business also affected relations between the leading Mexican cartels. A multiple increase in the supply of cocaine and marijuana with a fixed number of plazas (transshipment points at the border) and the number of drug addicts in the States led to a sharp increase in inter-cartel competition for the American market. It's time for big money. And big money, as you know, brings big problems. This is how the drug wars began in Mexico, because "if in a legal business there are standard legal ways of competition, then in an illegal one, the most effective way to get around a competitor is to kill him."

At first, families dispersed from Sinaloa began to vie for control of the main border transit points. Accordingly, the very structure of the cartels has undergone a change. If in the old days, the drug mafia was a sort of guy with a gold tooth and a Colt .45, now everything is completely different. Now there are whole groups of militants trained in a military way. To fight each other, the cartels began to create private armies consisting of mercenaries - sicarios. These mercenaries are armed with the latest technology and often surpass even part of the Mexican army in technical equipment and level of training. The most famous and violent of these groups is the Los Zetas. Its core is former Mexican special forces from the GAFE (Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Especiales) unit. Modeled after Los Zetas, their competitor, the Sinaloa cartel, created their own army called Los Negros. There was no shortage of recruits: the cartels openly posted advertisements in the towns bordering the United States, inviting former and current military men to join their organizations. Cartel vacancies have become one of the reasons for the mass desertion and dismissal from the Mexican army (from 2000 to 2006 - 100 thousand people).

Beginning of the first major war between rival drug cartels came to an end after the arrest in 1989 of Miguel Ángel Felix Gallardo, founding father of the cocaine business in Mexico, friend of José Rodríguez Gacha (El Mexicano). This contributed to the fragmentation of his group and the founding of the first two large drug cartels - Sinaloa and Tijuana. Then fuel was added to the fire by the unexpected appearance of a group that had nothing to do with Sinaloa. They were drug traffickers, who called themselves "Cartel del Golfo", from the state of Tamaulipas on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The natives of Sinaloa were divided: some were for new players, some were against. When the cartel formation in Mexico was completed, they split into two parts: one group consists of the Juárez Cartel, Los Zetas, the Tijuana Cartel and the Tijuana Cartel. Beltran Leyva Cartel" ("Beltrán Leyva Cartel"), and the second group from the "Golf Cartel" ("Cartel del Golfol"), "Sinaloa Cartel" ("Sinaloa Cartel") and "Family Cartel" ("Cartel La Familial") . Later, two more were formed - "Cartel of Oaxaca" and "Los Negros".

And ordinary Mexicans, clearly demonstrated a new way of waging drug wars, a group of men in black went to a roadside disco in the state of Michoacán and shook out the contents of a garbage bag - five severed heads. A new era of the Mexican drug business has begun, when violence has become a means of communication. Today, members of the drug mafia monstrously disfigure the bodies of their victims and put them on public display - so that everyone is aware of the power of the drug lords and feared them. You Tube has become a propaganda platform for the drug war, where anonymous companies upload videos and drug ballads that extol the advantages of one cartel leader over another.

The United States, as you know, is not only the main market for drugs, but also the source of weapons involved in the dismantling of drug cartels in Mexico. Almost anyone with a driver's license and no criminal record can buy weapons here. There are 110,000 sellers with licenses to sell, 6,600 of which are located between Texas and San Diego. Therefore, for the purchase itself, Mexicans usually use dummy Americans - "straw people" (mostly single mothers who do not arouse suspicion), who receive 50-100 dollars for the service. These front men buy guns by the piece, either from stores or from "gun shows" that take place every weekend in Arizona, Texas, or California. Then the trunks are handed over to dealers, who, collecting a batch of several dozen, transport it across the border. And they make good money doing it. For example, a used AK-47 can be bought in the States for $400, and south of the Rio Grande it will already cost $1,500. Armed in this way, drug cartel armies have mortars, heavy machine guns, anti-tank missiles, grenade launchers, fragmentation grenades.

The Mexican border guards themselves cannot stop the arms traffic. Or rather, they don't want to. Mexicans are not very active in searching cars entering their territory from the north, this passivity is explained by the fact that the border guards are faced with the choice of “plata o plomo” (silver or lead). Many prefer to take bribes and turn a blind eye to smuggling. Those who refuse "silver" usually do not live long. For example, in February 2007, an honest Mexican border guard stopped a truck full of weapons. As a result, the Gulf Cartel missed 18 rifles, 17 pistols, 17 grenades, and more than 8,000 rounds of ammunition. The next day, the border guard was shot dead.
Until 2006, periodic mafia showdowns had practically no effect on ordinary Mexicans. The cartels were doing big business, and big business requires a quiet environment. Drug gangs have even become an everyday element in the lives of citizens. Ordinary people, seeing the success of drug dealers (especially against the backdrop of total poverty in the country), began to compose “drug ballads” about them. Since Mexico is a very religious country, the cartels even got their own "drug saint" - Jesus Malverde, whose central temple is installed in the capital of the state of Sinaloa, the city of Kualican, and the "drug saint" - dona Santa Muerte.

There was no large-scale violence in the country. With Mexican President Vicente Fox, the cartels interacted according to the formula "Live yourself and do not interfere with others." Everyone controlled their territory and did not climb into someone else's. Everything changed with the victory in the 2006 presidential election, Felipe Calderon. Immediately after his election, the new head of state declared war on drug cartels. The president took such a radical step for two reasons. First, he needed to start some kind of popular campaign to strengthen his position after the mixed election results (Calderón's lead over his closest rival, Andreas Manuel López Obrador, was less than 0.6%). Of the two potential popular directions - the war on crime and the beginning of deep economic reforms - he chose the first as, in his opinion, the easiest. Secondly, the new president realized the danger of the coexistence of cartels and the state. Calderón realized that further “see nothing, hear nothing” tactics against the drug cartels would inevitably lead to a weakening of the government. Every year the bandits penetrated deeper and deeper into state institutions, primarily into the police.

By the time Calderón arrived, the entire police force in the northern states of Mexico had been bought by the cartels. At the same time, law enforcement officers did not fear for their future if their ties with bandits were revealed. If a local police officer is fired for corruption, then he simply crosses the street and is hired by the cartel (for example, in Rio Bravo, the Los Zetas recruiting office was located directly opposite the police station). Former police officers know the principles of police work from the inside, and they were taken with joy. That is why the authority of the police in the country was very low.

As a result of an active campaign, Calderon managed to inflict some damage on the drug mafia. In 2007-2008, 70 tons of cocaine, 370 tons of marijuana, 28,000 barrels, 2,000 grenades, 3 million rounds of ammunition and $304 million were seized from the cartels. In the US, this has translated into numbers: cocaine prices soared 1.5 times, while the average purity fell from 67.8% to 56.7%, and the cost of amphetamine on American streets rose by 73%.

After the new president violated the unspoken truce, the drug cartels declared a vendetta against the government and law enforcement agencies and are waging it with their inherent cruelty and intransigence (for the sake of this, two sworn enemies, the Gulf Cartels and Sinaloa, even reconciled for a while). Those who did not run away and did not sell out are mercilessly shot. Briefly, the chronicle of the most significant victories and losses looks like this:

In January 2008, in the city of Culiacan, one of the leaders of the cartel of the same name, Alfredo Beltran Leyva (nicknamed El Mochomo), was arrested. His brothers, in revenge for his arrest, orchestrated the assassination of Federal Police Commissioner Edgar Eusebio Millano Gomez and other high-ranking officials in the Mexican capital itself.
In the same month of January, members of the Juarez cartel pinned a list of 17 police officers to the door of Juarez City Hall and were sentenced to death. By September, ten of them had been killed.

On October 25, in the prestigious area of ​​Fraksionamiento Pedregal, Tijuana, troops and police stormed the villa located here, arresting the leader of the Tijuana cartel Eduardo Arellano Felix (nickname "Doctor"), after which the leadership in the cartel passed to his nephew - Luis Fernando Sánchez Arellano.
However, after the arrest of Eduardo Arellano Felix, one of the leaders of the drug cartel, Teodoro Garcia Simmental (nicknamed "El Teo") left the group and started a war against its new leader, as a result of which Tijuana was swept by a wave of violence that, according to various sources, claimed from 300 to almost 700 people. . Within a year, rivals fought for control of a road through Nogales, Sonora, and the city's homicide rate tripled.

In November, under strange circumstances, the plane of Juan Camilo Mourino, the President's national security adviser, crashed.

And in early February 2009, one of the most popular Mexican military, retired General Mauro Enrique Tello Quinones, was kidnapped, tortured and killed. Less than 24 hours before his kidnapping, he took up the post of security adviser to the mayor's office of Cancun - a resort town, one of the drug lords' recreation centers.

On December 16 of the same year, Arturo Beltran Leyva, one of the leaders of the Beltran Leyva drug cartel, 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.

On January 12, 2010, one of the most wanted Mexican drug lords and leaders of the Tijuana drug cartel, Teodoro Garcia Simmental (nickname "El Teo"), was caught in Baja California.
In February, the Los Zetas cartel and its ally the Beltran Leyva cartel launched a war against the Golfo cartel in the border town of Reynosa, turning some of the border towns into ghost towns. It was reported that a member of the Golfo cartel killed the Zetas' top lieutenant, Victor Mendoza. The group demanded that the cartel find the killer, but he refused. Thus, a new war broke out between the 2 gangs.

On June 14, members of the opposing Zetas and Sinaloa cartels staged a massacre in the Mazatlán city prison. A group of prisoners, tricked into stealing the guards' pistols and assault rifles, broke into a nearby cell block, massacring members of a rival cartel. During this and at the same time, in other parts of the prison, 29 people died from the riots.

On June 19, in the city of Ciudad Juarez, the mayor of the city of Guadalupe Distros Bravos Manuel Lara Rodriguez, who was hiding there after receiving threats against him, was shot dead, and ten days later the criminals killed Rodolfo Torre Cantu, a candidate for governor of the northwestern state of Tamaulipas.

On July 29, the military discovered in the suburbs of Guadalajara, the whereabouts of one of the leaders of the Sinaloa drug cartel, Ignacio Coronel, and he died during the ensuing shootout. In the same month, in the municipal district of Tamaulipas, the military raided the ranch where the alleged members of the drug cartel were located and 4 people were killed in a shootout. While searching the area around the ranch, the Mexican military found a mass grave (the bodies of 72 people, including 14 women).

On August 30, the authorities managed to arrest the influential drug lord Edgar Valdes (nicknames Barbie, "Comandante" and "Guero"), and in early September, in the wake of operational intelligence information, one of the leaders of the drug cartel was arrested by the special forces of the naval forces in Pueblo "Beltran Leyva" Sergio Villareal (nickname "El Grande").

The next major success of the Mexican law enforcement was the arrest in the Cancun resort of the head of the Los Zetas drug cartel, Jose Angel Fernandez.
A few days earlier, on November 6, during a shootout with the military in the city of Matamoros, one of the leaders of the Gulf Cartel, Ezekiel Gardenas Guillen (nickname Tony Tormenta), was killed.

On December 7, one of the high-ranking members of the La Familia drug cartel, José Antonio Arcos, was detained. And the next day, hundreds of police and military entered the city of Apatzingan, where La Familia is based. And with the support of helicopters, they fought for two days with armed members of the drug cartel, during which several people (civilians, militants and policemen) were killed, including the head of the La Familia drug cartel, Nazario Moreno Gonzalez (nickname "Mad").

On December 28, in the city of Guadalupe Distrito Bravos, unknown people kidnapped the last policeman remaining here, after which the city was left without a police force, and in order to ensure law and order, the authorities sent troops to the city.
On January 18, 2011, near the city of Oaxaca, one of the founders of the Los Zetas cartel, Flavio Mendez Santiago (nickname Yellow), was arrested, the Los Zetas Cartel, the Los Negros Cartel and the Oaxaca Cartel. You can read more about each of them by clicking on the links-names of the cartels.

And a little about Russians, in this interesting topic:

Mexican drug cartels use members of Russian organized crime groups, as well as former employees KGB, to smuggle drugs into the United States, as well as to increase its influence in the region.

Luis Vasconcelos, head of the Organized Crime Unit at the Mexican Attorney General's Office, says that "the Russians are highly professional and extremely dangerous."

Russian mobsters help Mexican drug dealers launder money. This was stated by the head of the intelligence department of the US Federal Drug Enforcement Administration Stephen Casteel. Russians charge 30% of the money laundered for their services.

Castile argues that the emergence of Russians in Mexico is due to the globalization of organized crime. For the first time, fighters from Russian "brigades" appeared in Colombia and Mexico in the early 90s, but their finest hour came a little later. After the arrest of the head of one of the largest drug cartels in Mexico - Benjamin Arellano Felix, as well as several dozen of his assistants, the cartel began to rapidly disintegrate. Bruce Bagley, a specialist from the University of Miami, claims that it was then that Russian mafiosi began to gradually infiltrate the fragments of the once powerful organization.

"Russian fighters are much cooler than the Mexicans. They are much more brutal. They silently do their job and try not to shine unnecessarily. They don't wear gold chains, they don't cut people with chainsaws and don't throw them into rivers," says Bagley - "But don't underestimate them. These guys are the most brutal people you can imagine."

Bagley claims that the latest operations by the Mexican police, which have effectively "decapitated the Mexican drug cartels," provide the Russian mafia with a "golden opportunity to operate in Mexico." The big cartel is breaking down into small armed groups that operate at the state and city levels in Mexico. It is more difficult to detect them there, and it is easier for drug dealers to bribe local officials. Small groups of Mexican drug dealers welcome the Russians with open arms.

Most of the money laundering operations are carried out by Russians in various offshore zones - in Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. Russians escort large shipments of drugs that are being shipped to the United States. In April 2001, the US Coast Police detained a ship carrying 13 tons of cocaine and a mixed Russian-Ukrainian crew.