Tv commercial (autoevaluation)

Contents
Gulf Cartel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Sinaloa Cartel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Nuevo Laredo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Guerrero . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Michoacán . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Mexican Government Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Mexico's Drug Cartels
Introduction
According to the Mexican government there are seven drug cartels1operating
in Mexico. The Mexican government reports that the major cartels – Gulf, Sinaloa,
and Juárez -- are present in much of Mexico. The Juárez cartel has been found in
21 Mexican states and its principle bases are: Culiacán, Sinaloa; Monterrey, Nuevo
León; the cities of Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, and Ojinaga, Chihuahua; Mexico City;
Guadalajara, Jalisco; Cuernavaca, Morelos; and Cancún,Quintana Roo. The Sinaloa
cartel has a presence in 17 states, with important centers in Mexico City; Tepic,
Nayarit; Toluca and Cuautitlán, Mexico State; and most of the state of Sinaloa. The
Gulf cartel is present in 13 states with important areas of operation in the cities of
Nuevo Laredo, Miguel Alemán, Reynosa, and Matamoros in the northern state of
Tamaulipas. The Gulf cartel also hasimportant operations in Monterrey in Nuevo
León; and Morelia in Michoacán. In addition, the Tijuana cartel is present in at least
15 states with important areas of operation in Tijuana, Mexicali, Tecate, and
Ensenada in Baja California and in parts of Sinaloa.2 (See Figure 1 for map of
Mexican states.)
In recent years, the major cartels have formed alliances with one another; the
two rivalalliances now compete for turf. The Tijuana cartel formed an alliance with
the Gulf cartel as a result of prison negotiations by their leaders. Several cartels have
also formed an alliance known as "The Federation." The Federation is led by
representatives of the Sinaloa, Juárez, and Valencia cartels. The cartels work
together, but remain independent organizations.3 (See Figure 2, for map of thecartels' areas of influence.) In August 2006, Mexico's Deputy Attorney General for
Organized Crime, José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, indicated that this reorganization, and mounting violence, are the result of Mexico's success in capturing
cartel leadership.
From January 2000 through September 2006, the Mexican government arrested
over 79,000 people on charges related to drug trafficking. Of thesearrests, some
78,831 are low level drug dealers. Mexico also arrested 15 cartel leaders, 74
lieutenants, 53 financial officers, and 428 hitmen (sicarios).4 Mexican authorities
arrested nearly 10,000 people on drug-related charges from December 2006 through
August 2007.5 On August 16, 2006, the United States Drug Enforcement
Administration (DEA) and Coast Guard arrested Tijuana cartel leaderFrancisco
Javier Arellano Felix, along with other Tijuana cartel leaders, on a boat off the
Mexican coast.6 His brother, Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix, was extradited to the
United States in September 2006. In January 2007, Mexico extradited 15 persons
wanted for prosecution in the United States, including four senior drug traffickers.
The drug traffickers included Osiel Cárdenas Guillén,the alleged head of thpowerful Gulf cartel, who is believed to have maintained control of the cartel since
his 2003 imprisonment. Ismael Higuera Guerrero and Gilberto Higuera Guerrero of
the Tijuana cartel led by the Arellano Felix family; and, Hector Palma Salazar of the
Sinaloa cartel and a leader of the Federation alliance were also extradited to the
United States. From January through...