Mexico is a criminal country. Latin American drug war

The low standard of living of a significant part of the local population contributes to the emergence of numerous criminal elements in the country. Therefore, crime in Mexico is not only drug mafia and corrupt officials, but also petty thieves, scammers, kidnappers, blackmailers, etc. The degree of safety largely depends on the specific region of the country or area of ​​the city, but 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, Michoacan and Veracruz. The rampant crime here is associated with two factors: drug trafficking and illegal migration across the Mexican-American border. Coupled with the corrupt police, the situation certainly leaves much to be desired.

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

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

Crime-prone and disadvantaged areas of Mexico City

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

Tepito is a metropolitan area favored by buyers of stolen goods, pimps, and drug dealers. It is located literally a 15-minute walk from the parliament. Tepito's calling card is showdowns between local gangs, invariably accompanied by stabbings and shootings. Tourists often disappear here. It is not surprising that even local taxi drivers will not take you deep into the area.

And finally, the most interesting thing is the restriction of travel abroad for debtors. It is the status of the debtor that is easiest to “forget” when getting ready for your next vacation abroad. The reason may be overdue loans, unpaid housing and communal services receipts, alimony or fines from the traffic police. Any of these debts may threaten to restrict travel abroad in 2018; we recommend finding out information about the presence of debt using the proven service nevylet.rf

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

Cuidad de Basura (Garbage City) is an area that is not on the map. And yet it has its own transport, business related to waste recycling, canteens and traders. Extremely dangerous for tourists to visit.

In addition, crime in Mexico City thrives in the slums, where the poorest sections of the city's population barely survive. Any alleys and areas with the same type of low-rise buildings are potentially dangerous. So be careful!

Dangerous areas of Cancun

Cancun is a favorite vacation spot for thousands of tourists. It is one of the calmest cities in Mexico. But even here, dangers may await you; you just need 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 is the residential areas familiar to us. And although the crime rate in Cancun is significantly lower than the national average, it is recommended to walk and live here in fenced areas with 24-hour security at entry points.

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

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

Fraud in Mexico: how to avoid becoming a victim of deception

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

For example, fake police officers can be found even in busy tourist areas. Therefore, if you are 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 they decided to fine you for.

Dishonest boat guides are another category of citizens who inflate prices for their services and profit from inattentive vacationers. When inviting you onto the boat, they tell you one price for a trip to see dolphins or turtles, and at the end of the voyage they tell you another price, significantly 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 gas station attendants in Mexico have no official salary. Their bread is tips. So if you give an employee a large bill, you may not receive change. That is why you should calculate in advance how much you will refuel for, and prepare bills for payment and tips.

Card readers with video cameras in street ATMs are a modern method of robbery. They allow scammers to obtain your card's magnetic stripe data and PIN code. Therefore, in order not to lose funds, use ATMs at 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 in Mexico. The fact that you were sold an item made from the skin of a jaguar, a turtle shell, or the feathers of a quetzal bird does not at all guarantee the legality of the transaction. Checking your belongings and finding similar goods in them when leaving the territory of some states can result in confiscation, a serious fine and even imprisonment.

Kidnappings for ransom in Mexico

In 2020, Mexico set a sad record: the country ranked first in the world in the number of kidnappings. However, the number of such crimes still remains very significant. Thus, in the first half of 2020, 867 people were kidnapped in the country.

The average ransom for a member of a wealthy family is about $200,000. The relatives of the kidnapped person are given no more than a month to collect the required amount. For a simple tourist they can ask $3000-$5000. But even after paying the required amount, 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.

Following these simple recommendations will help you avoid the fate of being kidnapped:

• use official taxi services;
• do not meet on social networks and do not go on blind dates;
• do not display expensive items or jewelry that indicate your wealth;
• 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 kidnappings of girls aged 15-17 years for the purpose of their subsequent sale to brothels is steadily increasing. So you shouldn’t attract too much attention to yourself with revealing clothes and relaxed behavior.

Organized crime groups in Mexico

The scope of activity of Mexican organized crime groups is the illegal transportation and trafficking of drugs. The damage caused to the country as a result of their division of spheres of influence is so great that in 2020 one of the local companies even offered everyone insurance against organized crime. In addition, organized crime in Mexico is closely intertwined with government agencies and the police.

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

In addition to drug cartels, there are also a lot of small gangs 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 criminal groups in the country underwent serious changes. Their result was a significant expansion of the cartels' areas of activity through the theft of software, the supply of live goods to brothels, smuggling and the illegal import of weapons.

The low standard of living and the inability to provide a normal life legally leads to the fact that the source of income for large areas of Mexico is smuggling or growing marijuana. 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 previous loyalty on the part of the authorities, the cartels, in fact, challenged the state. All their efforts were aimed at protecting drug transportation routes. And in this matter they did not disdain any methods.

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

The process of globalization in the Mexican drug business

Guatemala, Belize and Honduras are countries that have become areas 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 state authorities and police representatives, they formed stable groups that became famous for their particular cruelty.

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

Consequences of the merging of state and criminal structures

One of the reasons making it difficult to fight organized crime in Mexico is the involvement of government officials and the police in its structures. Indicative in this regard is the arrest in 2008 of the head of the Mexican anti-drug agency, Noe Ramirez, who was convicted of connections with the criminal world and receiving bribes from the largest Sinaloa cartel. By reporting on planned police operations, he had been thwarting efforts to combat the drug trade in a particular region for years. And this is far from an isolated case. A wave of such revelations seriously undermined the population's trust in the authorities.

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

Problems of corruption in Mexico

According to a 2020 study by Transparency International (TI), Mexican political parties were the most corrupt institutions. One of the reasons for corruption in the country is the huge size of bribes offered to officials.

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

• public order is disrupted;
• democratic institutions are weakening;
• economic damage is caused.

At the same time, the problems of general prosecutorial supervision in Mexico are very acute - dishonest servants of Themis simply turn a blind eye to existing violations of the laws. Thus, 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 coordination council, which included the Ministry of Civil Service, the Federal Audit Service, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and the Supreme Tribunal for Administrative Justice, seems logical.

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 coordination council will help to avoid the penetration of criminal elements into the control and justice system.

Social inequality in Mexico and related conflicts

According to research by Coneval (National Council for Social Policy), in 2020, 46.2% of the population lived below the poverty line in Mexico. At the same time, there are 14 billionaires living in the country.

The largest percentage of poor people is among Indians - more than 70%. Geographically, these are the southern states of Mexico. A sign of belonging to the middle class in a 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 of the reasons for the significant stratification of Mexican society: the rich pay proportionally less than the poor. And this only enhances the existing contrasts.

A major problem in Mexico has been the increase in the number of women working. Deciding that they were taking away their jobs, many men turned to active violent actions. And this is not only rape, but also murder. This phenomenon is called feminicide.

Penalties for various types of offenses in Mexico

Penalties for various types of offenses in Mexico are determined primarily by the Mexican Administrative Code and the Mexican Federal Criminal Code.

Despite the high crime rate in the country, the death penalty has been almost completely abolished. It was replaced by life imprisonment for up to 70 years or more. Exceptions: treason against the Motherland during a war with foreign countries, parricide, treacherous 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 hefty fine and even a prison sentence of up to 25 years.

You can be fined $20-30 for smoking in a public place. There are penalties in Mexico for kissing in public places - for this you can be sent to correctional labor or fined. Smiling or winking at a girl you don't know may be considered an attempted rape.

Cellular phones in the country are only allowed to be used by people over 14 years of age.

Mexico officially prohibits torture, flogging, confiscation of property, branding, and punishments involving the deprivation of body parts. At the same time, the country does not have a system for protecting consumer rights at the legislative level.

Law enforcement officials may detain you for a maximum of three days until the circumstances are clarified.

Features of the work of the Mexican police

The Mexican Federal Police (abbreviated 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 the military police brigade. The main function of the Federal Police is to combat drug trafficking in the country.

Due to the hostile environment, police officers in Mexico are generally well armed. Their uniforms are black or blue. In tourist areas, law enforcement officials treat visitors quite favorably and provide all possible assistance to those who contact them.

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

In addition, community policing and civil self-defense 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 the drug cartels. The army and navy became its support. Information support was provided by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

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

However, the cost of this war was more than 57 thousand civilian deaths, 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 forceful component. First of all, the country’s leader showed a willingness to negotiate with the leaders of the drug cartels, which resulted in a slight decrease in the level of violence in the regions they controlled. In addition, the country is focusing on legalizing soft drugs, which is depriving illegal dealers of profits. For example, for a serving up to 10 g you are not in danger.

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

The government's response was the introduction of a national program for the social prevention of violence and crime, launched in 2020, which supports the poorest sectors of Mexican society. Thanks to this, the war on crime in Mexico received support from the local population. One example of the program is the street improvement in Gomez Palacio, Durango. Another example is the rehabilitation of streets in the Nuevo Mexico area, Torreon, Coahuila. And there are more and more positive results!

How to make your trip to Mexico safe: the main rules

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

Crime statistics in Mexico are depressing: according to a report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), the country ranked second in the number of violent homicides in 2020. 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 wallets stuffed with cash and cards that protrude seductively from your trouser pockets. You don't want to attract the attention of robbers, do you? You should not put all your 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, and so that they are not visible.
2. You should not take your laptop with you on a walk. It is better to keep the camera in your bag and take it out only when taking photos. At the same time, it is better to give preference to an ordinary digital point-and-shoot device rather than expensive equipment - the chances of being robbed and losing the second one are much greater. It is generally recommended to leave valuable property in hotel safes - it should be borne in mind that in poor areas local authorities can “confiscate” any valuables for walking through their territory.
3. It is not recommended to attract undue attention to yourself by wearing too expensive or revealing clothes - keep it simple and try to blend in with the crowd outwardly.
4. It is preferable to carry bags in your hands, since the straps are often cut off, stealing property.
5. Carry a photocopy of your passport with you, leaving 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. Don't hitchhike.
7. Do not take photographs without the permission of local residents, especially Indians - this can cause an extremely negative reaction.

Life in Mexico: Video

The Mexican drug war is an armed conflict between rival drug cartels, government forces and police in Mexico.

Although Mexican drug cartels have been around for decades, they have become more powerful since the collapse of the Colombian Medellin and Cali cartels in the 1990s. Mexican drug cartels currently dominate the wholesale illicit drug market in the United States.

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

Mexico is the main foreign supplier of cannabis and the largest supplier of methamphetamine to the United States. Since 2006, 26 thousand people have become victims of the drug war. The drug war has become a national threat in Mexico. Since the 70s, some government agencies in Mexico have assisted in organizing the drug trade. The growing drug war in Mexico has also affected the United States. Mexico is the main source of cocaine and other drugs entering the United States. In turn, the United States is the main source of weapons involved in the showdown of drug cartels in Mexico. In certain areas of Mexico, drug cartels have accumulated military-style weapons, have the ability to conduct counterintelligence, have accomplices among the authorities and an army of rank and file from among poor young people seeking to join to them. The police and armed forces of Mexico and the US DEA anti-drug service are fighting against drug cartels. The Mexican government under the rule of Felipe Calderon for the first time hit smugglers, extradited them to foreign countries, and confiscated their money and weapons.

The US State Department estimates that 90% of the cocaine entering the country comes from Mexico and Colombia, the main producers of cocaine, and that illicit drug revenues range from $13.6 billion to $48.4 billion a year.

Military and forensic experts examine a handcuffed body outside a nightclub.

The body of a man on the side of the Acapulco-Mexico highway.

Soldiers enter the city of Ciudad Juarez to patrol the streets. The city is completely owned by drug lord Vicente Carrillo Fuentes.

Arrested gang members and their weapons.

The body of one of the killed bandits during a special operation to free hostages from the hands of drug dealers. Machine guns, cannons, ammunition, four trucks and about 2 tons of marijuana were also seized.

206 million US dollars - police catch when detaining methamphetamine producers.

Guns, drugs, cash and jewelry seized in several anti-drug operations in Mexico are displayed during a press conference at the Attorney General's headquarters in Mexico City.

Seized 1.2 tons of cocaine.

134 tons of marijuana at the Morelos military base in Tijuana, destined for destruction.

The scene of the murder of 8 people involved in drug trafficking.

Gold and silver pistols encrusted with precious stones from members of one of the gangs, found during house searches.

An arrested drug dealer who was holding several people hostage.

In the coffin is three-year-old Iliana Hernandez, shot along with her father by unknown assailants.

A friend mourns the body of Sergio Hernandez, a fourteen-year-old who tried to cross the US border and was apparently killed by American border guards.

The bodies of two men with their hands and faces tied. The reasons for the murder are unknown.

Two bodies hanging on a bridge in the center of a Mexican city. The reason for the execution is either a showdown within gangs of drug dealers, or an act of intimidation for everyone trying to cooperate with the police.

After a police shootout with a gang of drug dealers.

Searching for bullets near shot young men in handcuffs. The reason for the murder is unknown.

More than a ton of cocaine, which was shown to the media after the arrest of a drug shipment.

A police officer guards a crime scene where four people were shot dead in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico's most dangerous place. More than 2,000 people have died this year in Mexico's drug war, mostly between rival gangs, as they fight to control U.S. drug smuggling that passes through the city.

On the woman's nails are sheets of marijuana and a portrait of one of the drug lords.

Marijuana plantation.

The box in which the woman's corpse was found. Initially it was thought that the box might contain a bomb.

After a shootout between bandits and police in Ciudad Juarez.

Approximately two tons of seized cocaine are being tested at the naval base.

Ciudad Juarez. Murdered members of the city's local government.

Arrest of a pregnant woman for possession and distribution of drugs.

A policeman stands outside a Mexican house where members of a drug gang consisting mainly of Colombians were arrested.

Found corpses of employees of a law firm, thanks to which drug dealers were previously arrested.

The body of a man in Guatemala after a shootout in the street.

Colombian police check packages of cocaine after a flight with drugs weighing three and a half tons was delayed.

One of 17 bodies dumped in prominent locations in Rio de Janeiro just after the president announced a $60 million anti-crime budget ahead of the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.

The drug mafia in Mexico is becoming more powerful. Although the overall murder rate in the country has been steadily declining over the past two decades, drug dealers are committing heinous crimes. They have undermined legal norms so much that ordinary Mexicans now and then publicly wonder: did the mafias actually win the war against the state?

The history of modern Mexican drug traffickers dates back to 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 group of villagers connected by family ties. They were mostly from the small northern Mexican state of Sinaloa. This poor agricultural state, sandwiched between the Gulf of California and the Sierra Madre Mountains, about five hundred kilometers from the US border, has become an ideal location for smuggling. At first, marijuana was grown here or bought from other “gardeners” on the Pacific coast, and then the drug was transported to the United States. For decades it remained a stable and not too risky small business, and the violence did not spill out beyond the narrow world of drug traffickers. Later, cocaine was added to the smuggling of marijuana, which became fashionable in the 60s. However, for a long time, the Mexicans were just “donkeys” serving one of the channels for supplying Colombian cocaine to North America. And they didn’t even dare to compete with the powerful Colombians.

The rise of Mexican drug gangs began after the defeat of the Colombian drug cartels of Cali and Medellin by the US and Colombian governments. One after another, El Mehicano and Pablo Emilio Escabar were killed, brothers Ochoa and Carlos Leder (El Aleman) from the Medellin cartel were sent to Colombian and US prisons. Following them, came the turn of the Cali cartel, led by the Orihuela brothers.

Also, after the Americans closed the Colombian drug supply channel through Florida, the Mexican delivery route became virtually no alternative. 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 drug trade chain - from raw material plantations in the Andes region to points of sale on American streets. They managed to significantly expand the scale of their 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 fivefold.

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 thousand tons of heroin annually. Almost 30% of the country's cultivable farmland is planted with marijuana. In addition, almost 90% of the cocaine consumed in the States comes through Mexico. Mexican laboratories produce the majority of the methamphetamine consumed in the States (although a lot of meth used to be produced - four times more pseudoephedrine was imported into the country than was required for the pharmaceutical industry, and now the focus is on marijuana, which provides almost 70% of the cartels' income). All this is sold through controlled distribution points that Mexican drug cartels have in at least 230 major American cities.

However, this expansion of business also affected the relations between the leading Mexican cartels. The multiple increase in the possibility of supplying cocaine and marijuana with a fixed number of plazas (transshipment points on 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 we know, brings big problems. This is how drug wars began in Mexico, because “if in legal business there are standard legal methods of competition, then in illegal business, the most effective way to get around a competitor is to kill him.”

At first, families who had fled Sinaloa began vying for control of the main border transit points. Accordingly, the structure of the cartels itself has undergone changes. If in the old days, a drug mafioso was a guy with a gold tooth and a Colt 45 caliber, now everything is completely different. Now there are entire groups of militants trained in a military manner. To fight each other, cartels began to create private armies consisting of mercenaries - sicarios. These mercenaries are armed with the latest technology and often surpass even parts of the Mexican army in technical equipment and level of training. The most famous and violent of these groups, Los Zetas. Its core is former Mexican special forces from the GAFE (Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Especiales) unit. In the model and likeness of Los Zetas, their competitor, the Sinaloa cartel, created its own army called Los Negros. There was no shortage of recruits: the cartels openly posted advertisements in towns bordering the United States, inviting former and current military personnel to join their organizations. Cartel vacancies became one of the reasons for mass desertion and dismissals from the Mexican army (from 2000 to 2006 - 100 thousand people).

The first major war between rival drug cartels began with the arrest in 1989 of Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, the founding father of the cocaine business in Mexico, a friend of Jose Rodriguez Gacha (El Mexicano). This contributed to the fragmentation of his group and the founding of the first two major drug cartels - Sinaloa and Tijuana. Then the unexpected appearance of a group with no connection to Sinaloa added fuel to the fire. They were drug traffickers calling themselves the Cartel del Golfo, from the Gulf Coast state of Tamaulipas. People from Sinaloa were divided: some were for the 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, Tijuana Cartel and Beltrán Leyva Cartel, and the second group from the Cartel del Golfol, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Cartel La Familial. . Later, two more were formed - the Oaxaca Cartel and Los Negros.

And ordinary Mexicans were clearly shown a new way of waging drug wars when a group of men in black walked into a roadside disco in the state of Michoacán and shook out the contents of a garbage bag - five severed heads. A new era of Mexican drug trafficking has begun, when violence has become the 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 realizes the power of the drug lords and fears them. The You Tube site has become a propaganda platform for the drug war, where anonymous companies upload videos and drug ballads praising the advantages of one cartel leader over another.

The United States, as you know, is not only the main drug market, but also a source of weapons used in drug cartel fights in Mexico. Almost anyone with a driver's license and no criminal record can buy a weapon here. 110 thousand sellers have sales licenses, 6600 of which are located between Texas and San Diego. Therefore, for the purchase itself, Mexicans usually use fake Americans - “straw people” (mostly single mothers who do not arouse suspicion), who receive $50–100 for the service. These fake people buy guns individually either from stores or at “gun shows” that are held every weekend in Arizona, Texas or California. Then the barrels are handed over to dealers, who, collecting a batch of several dozen, transport it across the border. And they make good money from it. For example, a used AK-47 can be bought in the States for $400, but south of the Rio Grande it will cost $1,500. Armed in this way, drug cartel armies have mortars, heavy machine guns, anti-tank missiles, grenade launchers, and fragmentation grenades.

Mexican border guards themselves cannot stop weapons traffic. Or rather, they don’t want to. Mexicans are not particularly active in searching cars entering their territory from the north, this passivity is explained by the fact that border guards are faced with the choice of “plata o plomo” (silver or lead). Many people 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 detained a truck full of weapons. As a result, the Gulf Cartel was missing 18 rifles, 17 pistols, 17 grenades, and more than 8 thousand rounds of ammunition. The next day the border guard was shot dead.
Until 2006, periodic mafia clashes had virtually no effect on ordinary Mexicans. The cartels were big business, and big business requires a quiet environment. Drug gangs have even become an everyday part of citizens' lives. 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 Cualican, and the “drug saint” - Doña Santa Muerte.

There was no large-scale violence in the country. The cartels interacted with Mexican President Vicente Fox according to the formula “Live yourself and don’t interfere with others’ lives.” Everyone controlled their own territory and did not interfere with others. Everything changed with the victory of Felipe Calderon in the 2006 presidential elections. Immediately after his election, the new head of state declared war on the drug cartels. The president took such a radical step for two reasons. First, he needed to launch some kind of popular campaign to strengthen his position after the controversial election results (Calderon's lead over his closest rival, Andreas Manuel Lopez 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 coexistence between cartels and the state. Calderon realized that continued “See No, Hear No” tactics against drug cartels would inevitably lead to a weakening of the government. Every year the bandits penetrated deeper into government institutions, primarily the police.

By the time Calderon 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 connections with bandits were revealed. If a local policeman is fired for corruption, he simply goes across the street and is hired to serve by the cartel (for example, in Rio Bravo, the Los Zetas recruiting office was located directly across from the police station). Former police officers know the principles of police work from the inside, and they were gladly hired. 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. During 2007–2008, 70 tons of cocaine, 370 tons of marijuana, 28 thousand guns, 2000 grenades, 3 million cartridges and $304 million were seized from the cartels. In the USA, this resulted in its own indicators: cocaine prices soared by 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%.

After the new president violated the unspoken truce, the drug cartels declared a vendetta on the government and security forces and are waging it with their characteristic cruelty and intransigence (for this reason, two sworn enemies, the Gulf and Sinaloa Cartels, even reconciled for some time). Those who did not run away and 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 (nickname El Mochomo), was arrested. His brothers, in revenge for his arrest, organized the murder of Federal Police Commissioner Edgar Eusebio Millano Gomez and other high-ranking officials in the Mexican capital itself.
Also in January, members of the Juarez cartel pinned to the door of Juarez City Hall a list of 17 police officers who had been sentenced to death. By September, ten of them were killed.

On October 25, in the prestigious Fracionamiento Pedregal district of Tijuana, troops and police stormed a villa located here, arresting the leader of the Tijuana cartel, Eduardo Arellano Felix (nickname “Doctor”), after which leadership of 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 Simental (nickname “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, killed from 300 to almost 700 people . Within a year, rivals fought for control of the road running through Nogales, Sonora, and the number of murders in that city tripled.

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

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

On December 16 of the same year, in a shootout with soldiers of the Mexican Navy, one of the leaders of the Beltran Leyva drug cartel, Arturo Beltran Leyva, died, 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 Simental (nickname “El Teo”), was caught in the state of Baja California.
In February, the Los Zetas cartel and its ally the Beltran Leyva cartel began a war against the Golfo cartel in the border city of Reynosa, turning some 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 rival Zetas and Sinaloa cartels carried out a massacre in a prison in the city of Mazatlan. A group of prisoners, having seized the guards' pistols and assault rifles through deception, broke into a nearby prison block, committing reprisals against members of a rival cartel. During this and at the same time, in other parts of the prison, 29 people died from 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 himself, was shot dead, and ten days later, the criminals killed the candidate for governor of the northwestern state of Tamaulipas, Rodolfo Torre Cantu.

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

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

The next major success of Mexican law enforcement agencies was the arrest of the head of the Los Zetas drug cartel, Jose Angel Fernandez, at the Cancun resort.
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, Ezequiel Gardenas Guillen (nickname of Tony Tormenta), was killed.

On December 7, they managed to detain one of the high-ranking members of the La Familia drug cartel, Jose Antonio Arcos. And the next day, hundreds of police and military personnel entered the city of Apatzingan, where La Familia is based. And with the support of helicopters, for two days they fought with armed members of the drug cartel, during which several people died (civilians, militants and police), 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 persons kidnapped the last policeman remaining here, after which the city was left without police, 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.

On June 21, during a raid near the city of Aguascalientes, in the state of the same name in central Mexico, police detained the drug lord of the La Familia drug cartel, Jose de Jesus Mendez Vargas. The following month, in the state of Mexico, police arrested another of the founders of the Los Zetas cartel, Jesus Enrique Rejon Aguilar.
In total, since 2006, 26 thousand people have become victims of this conflict. For comparison, the number of Soviet military deaths during the 10 years of the war in Afghanistan was 13,833. Twice smaller!!!

Currently, there are nine main drug cartels operating in Mexico: the Sinaloa Cartel, the Tijuana Cartel, the Juarez Cartel, the Golfo Cartel, the La Familia Cartel or La Familia Michiocana, the Beltran Leyva Cartel, 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 with the 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 KGB officers, to smuggle drugs into the United States and also to increase their influence in the region.

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

Russian mafiosi help Mexican drug traffickers launder money. This was stated by the head of the intelligence department of the American Federal Drug Enforcement Administration, Stephen Casteel. For their services, the Russians take 30% of the money laundered.

Casteel argues that the rise of Russians in Mexico is linked 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. University of Miami specialist Bruce Beigley claims that it was then that Russian mafiosi gradually began to infiltrate the fragments of the once powerful organization.

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

Bagley claims that the latest Mexican police operations, which have effectively "decapitated the Mexican drug cartels," provide the Russian mafia with a "golden opportunity to operate in Mexico." A large cartel is breaking up into small armed groups that operate at the state and city level in Mexico. There they are more difficult to identify, and it is easier for drug traffickers to bribe local officials. Small groups of Mexican drug traffickers welcome the Russians with open arms.
The Russians carry out most of their money laundering operations in various offshore zones - Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. The Russians escort large cargoes of drugs that are transported to the United States. In April 2001, American coastal police seized a ship with a cargo of 13 tons of cocaine and a mixed Russian-Ukrainian crew.

Sharing my impressions of my trip to Mexico, I already wrote about its originality. I would also like to talk about the social landscape of the country, about its hardships and troubles in this area. You feel the special features immediately, even on the streets of Mexico City. They are always crowded: there are too many unemployed. There is a queue for unskilled work.

In the subway, airports, and shops, the floors almost shine - a whole army of cleaners wield rags more efficiently than any machine guns. In museums, instead of pensioners, as we are used to here, strong young guys sit as caretakers in the halls: at least some money can be earned. They also pay in the army, so there is no end to those who want it, especially from villages. And besides, there are many folk musicians, jugglers, acrobats, magicians, and beggars. Usually they put on a micro-performance at an intersection - they manage to run around a dozen cars with a hat, taking advantage of the fact that the traffic lights change, not like us, rarely, sometimes after 3-5 minutes.

Or this scene: a skinny guy, naked to the waist, enters a subway car, spreads a rag with broken glass on the floor and lays down on it, first with his back, then with his chest, and then walks around the car with drops of not dried blood - can you not serve it?

Newspaper “wanted” sections do not hesitate to invite a bricklayer, a secretary, a painter for 600 pesos, although this is illegal, since the minimum payment is 1200 pesos per month (they write, supposedly for half a day). But what is typical is that foreigners will not be allowed near their workplaces.

Of course, what has been said applies only to the poor; the middle class, the “middle”, has completely different money. For example, a successful professor can earn more than 100 thousand pesos per month. The “scissors” are very significant, so it is unrealistic to give “cheap-expensive” estimates. The poor eat simply: flatbread, milk, beans, pepper, vegetable oil. And they drink a lot of Coca-Cola - 2-3 times more than Americans. As for alcohol, preference is given to beer. In addition to the fact that the heat is not conducive to strong drinks, tequila is also five times more expensive than our vodka.

The street party in the city center, in parks, and on university campuses is lively, free, colorful, and does not have the assertive speed and gloomy concentration of the morning human flows of European metro stations. The women are attractive, many can be called beauties, if not for the almost universal traditional spreading and weighting of figures down from the waist (however, other points of view are also legitimate).

Where there is poverty, there is lack of education. In the metro, pictures are required next to the names of the stations: “Medical Center” - a blue cross, “Juarez” - his portrait, “Balderis” - a cannon. This is for the illiterate; there are quite a few of them among the young (though even the literate like it - it’s generally human nature to say goodbye).

“We are turning this thesis around: where there is illiteracy, there is poverty. No matter how much you do good to the poor, the money will go into the sand, and an educated person will solve many problems himself,” says Cecilia Loria, Minister of Education and Culture of the state of Quintana Roo. Listening to the minister is not only interesting, but also pleasant, because Senorita Cecilia is also a charming woman with a Hollywood smile and tired eyes: “Education reform should go ahead of other reforms, as was the case in Japan and Germany after the war. There are almost 15 percent of Indians who do not speak Spanish, and our first task is to make education truly universal, with equal opportunities.We also care about quality, you saw in the school series the thick volumes of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, they are perhaps the most revered among us after Cervantes. Not everyone knows that we are the first in the world in the production of televisions and cars (“it’s begun,” I thought), there would seem to be a lot of jobs, but these factories are foreign, they don’t let us into hi-tech (that is, high technology), and profits go away from the country".

What is true is true. I tagged along with the President of the Congress of Metallurgists, Professor Tomayo, to fly for half a day to oil workers in the Gulf of Mexico, he advises them on underwater welding. The view from the helicopter is amazing! But that’s not what we’re talking about: the platform is Norwegian, the laying of pipelines is led by the Americans, and the “Papa Carls” are Mexicans. “And among our students,” says Cecilia, “the most prestigious specialty is “commercial engineer”: he has just enough knowledge to be smart, selling American goods - from computers to toilet paper. That’s why our wealth is 60- 70 percent is exported from the country unprocessed."

Something about Mexicans

There are 270 thousand students studying at the National University of Mexico, and 180 thousand at the Polytechnic Institute. Scale! But the trouble is that the “educators” themselves are not very educated: 70 percent of school teachers do not have a licentiate (primary university 4 years), and many university teachers have not completed the full course and do not even have a first academic degree (it sounds charming here - " maestro", not to mention "candidate of sciences"). There is no need to talk about doctors of science - all of Mexico produces fewer of them than the University of Texas at Austin alone.

Every new Mexican president certainly promises to defeat the country's two main ulcers: poverty and corruption. Poverty is visible to the naked eye. The highest echelons of society cannot be reached, but the fact that, for example, all rent is paid in black cash without deductions to the state, or that some professor works full time in three or four universities at the same time and does not appear in any of them, sending graduate students in return, is so This is not considered corruption in our country either. What should I write about?

But what really exists and goes hand in hand with these vices is crime. Unidads hire security guards, but the entrance doors to the apartments are still metal. Single houses are protected by intercoms and concierges (usually men). In the villas there are security guards, rottweilers, electronics, and live wires. And yet they steal and rob. But there is also a street. When your wallet is taken out of your pocket in a crowded subway or market, this can be understood and taken into account for the future. But when a bus is stopped in broad daylight right in the city and three or four young men “quickly, but slowly” rob passengers and the driver - how do you feel about that? I was warned, put money for shopping in a sock, I did this for two days, then I asked: “Don’t “they” know this?” Of course they do. Therefore, if you have a large amount, it is recommended to keep a “distracting” wallet with 200 pesos in a visible place (less likely to offend “them”) in several bills (so that it does not look like a bribe). Alas, “they” know this too.

Cars are not only stolen, but also taken away. I have already said that “red” can burn for about five minutes, and at this time a teenager approaches the car for alms, but suddenly opens the door (don’t yawn), two of his friends with knives appear nearby - a “change” occurs: they - into the car , you are on the sidewalk.

The sensitive topic of drugs here does not sound quite the same as in our media. “Yes, almost every day the front-page news is either the arrest of a major drug trafficker or the discovery of a secret tunnel under the border with Texas. Tens of thousands of drug couriers end up behind bars every year, and what changes? Not a single government can appease the handful of guerrillas (bandits?) of Chiapas, bordering Guatemala. Why? “Because billions of dollars are circulating in this business, and they end up where drugs are sold, in the States, that is. Their bosses subsidize our “national liberation front,” and if you read in the newspapers that the American authorities sent helicopters and instructors “to help” us, keep in mind that this is to control and protect drug highways. As for the drugs themselves, our ancestors regularly used marijuana as a sedative from a natural first aid kit. Remember, Mexico gave tobacco to the world, and the first smoker in Europe was Leonardo da Vinci, so that’s it.”

Big Brother is nearby

For the last seventy years, the country has been continuously, almost without alternative, ruled by the Party of Revolutionary Institutionalism (“you can’t trample against the PRI”). In the 1930s, especially under the strong President Cardenas, oil production was nationalized, social reforms were launched, and sharp statements were made about foreign policy independence. Everything is a great success. But time passes, the world changes, everything becomes boring. In recent years, PRI leaders have not been called anything other than “mastodons” and “gerontocrats,” and the National Activity Party, representing pragmatic businessmen, won the 2000 elections. Its leader, Vicente Fox, previously director of the Mexican branch of Coca-Cola, became its president for the next 6 years. His orientation towards his powerful northern neighbor is obvious. The president claims: “The election results are a mandate for reforms,” but he is not so free in his actions. Here's a recent scandal: the president was going to travel to the USA and Canada, but parliament objected, saying it was a waste of money, and he didn't go!

Relations between Mexico and the United States began to develop in the first quarter of the 19th century. In 1821, after 11 years of bloody struggle, Mexico's independence from Spain was proclaimed, and the United States was the first to recognize the new republic, effectively challenging all European owners of the West Indian colonies and the formidable Holy Alliance. Mexico appreciated the gesture; it tried in everything to imitate its neighbor, who won its independence 45 years earlier. The new republic began to be called the “United States of Mexico” (now there are 31 of them), adopted a constitution, declared universal equality of citizens, and curtailed the power of the church.

When Spain was significantly pushed back and weakened, friction began between neighbors. The energetically growing United States expanded to the west and south and at first was quite content with the de facto seizure of Mexican territories. American settlers colonized uninhabited lands, not too worried about trespassing borders and relying only on the power of their own Colt - it was in the 1840s that this multi-shot miracle came to the people, “making everyone equal.” But as soon as the Mexican parliament bucked, the cowboys bucked too. In 1847, the expeditionary force of General W. Smith (future US presidential candidate) landed in Veracruz and, almost unopposed, moved towards Mexico City. In the capital, near Chapultapec Castle, a “battle” took place with the cadet boys, during which one of them, wrapped in a Mexican flag, jumped out of the window in despair. Today the Monument to Children Heroes is one of the most visible and revered in the city.

According to the peace treaty, Texas and part of Upper California now de jure went to the United States - Mexico did not have the strength to fight for them any longer, and the government convinced itself that these desert lands far from the capital were not so attractive (who could have foreseen then, that oil will be discovered in Texas, and Hollywood in California?). In 1861, there was a new misfortune: England inspired Spain and France to get even with Mexico for the past. The timing was right: the United States was overwhelmed by the Civil War and they had no time to defend the Monroe Doctrine. And this time the expeditionary force repeated the “path of Cortes”: landing in Veracruz and marching to Mexico City. The republic was liquidated, and Maximilian, an Austrian Habsburg prince and author of a couple of books on the study of palace politesse, was installed as emperor.

But this time Mexico didn't go down. President Benito Juarez retreated with the army deep into the country, and then 33-year-old General Porfirio Diaz, the future famous dictator of Mexico for almost 35 years, stood out in his entourage. But things didn’t work out for the interventionists - there was something vaudeville-like in the idea of ​​bringing the monarchy from Europe to tropical America in the second half of the 19th century. England "jumped" from the event before it began, the Spaniards set sail a year later, the French - after 5 years. For the abandoned connoisseur of court etiquette, who blissfully believed in the love of his “subjects,” the time has come that is best characterized by the words “a hangover at someone else’s feast.” Vaudeville turned into drama: in June 1867, Maximilian and his wife Charlotte were shot by patriots in the Queretara hills.

Let us note that the United States, having completed its internal “showdowns,” began actively participating in the expulsion of the French in 1865. And after the Spanish-American War of 1898, when the United States took the Philippines and Puerto Rico from Spain, it became finally clear to the whole world, and Mexico too, who was the boss on the American continent. On the nightstand in my room is a luxuriously designed “Mexico,” published in Miami. The brief historical sketch contains the following sections: "Colonial Era - Independence - French Intervention - Revolution - Today." What about the war of 1846-48, in which Mexico lost half of its territory to the United States? I answer: history is not made by heroes or the masses; history is made by historians, in this case American ones.

In 1994, Mexico signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (TLCAN, or NAFTA, in English). Then the nationalists shouted about surrendering positions and loss of sovereignty. However, Mexico survived the 1995 financial crisis only thanks to US assistance.

It is believed here that Fox's presidency began the long process of Mexico's integration into the US economy. Americans are very supportive of Mexican resorts, which is why, in addition to the world-famous Acapulco, about fifteen years ago they began to upset Cancun specifically “for the Americans.” Now there are more than a hundred luxury hotels on the local coast. It's convenient to have a "fiesta" on hand, and there is a ferry here from Florida. “In return,” 15 million Mexicans, including seasonal workers and illegal immigrants, work in the United States. It is they, and not oil, that provide the main dollar income to the country.

But despite all this, Mexicans somehow surprisingly steadfastly maintain their racial identity. They know the history of the country quite well, they idolize their nature and difficult climate, they prefer tequila to other strong drinks, in families, even intelligent ones, Americans are called “gringos”, and “just Marys” do not strive to become Mary.