Mexico's Drug Cartels, Political Corruption, and Trafficking

Introduction: Mexico's Corruption and Drug Trafficking Crisis

At many levels of government, Mexican authorities are reported to be among the most corrupt in North America. When it comes to slowing the trafficking of narcotics into and through the country, the Mexican government has failed repeatedly. Ample evidence and drug-related violence supports that assertion, yet the drug trafficking situation in Mexico continues to worsen. A generally accepted fact underlies much of this crisis: Mexican politicians and local, regional, and national government officials are, to some degree — or fully — involved in the movement of drugs in, out, and within Mexico's borders.

If Mexico seriously intends to combat these illicit activities, it must launch a massive intervention and interdiction campaign targeting the flow of drugs — cocaine, marijuana, and methamphetamines, among others — on land and sea. Mexico must also begin paying special attention to the movement of drugs and bulk currency through illicit aviation.

Heroin's Spread into the American Heartland

An article in The New York Times published May 31, 2009, titled "In Heartland Death, Traces of Heroin's Spread," points to the fact that Mexican drug cartels have "pushed heroin sales beyond major cities into America's suburban and rural byways" (Archibold, 2009). Ohio is a state where deaths from heroin use were once very rare, but that is changing due to the growing influence of Mexican cartels. Between 2004 and 2007, heroin-related deaths spread into 18 new counties, and the number of deaths in those counties rose from 376 in the period from 2000 to 2003, to 546 deaths between 2004 and 2007 (Archibold).

Federal officials now state that the cartels in Mexico are "the greatest organized crime threat to the United States," taking over that distinction from the Colombians and Dominicans (Archibold). The heroin being sold by Mexican cartels in the U.S. is a powerful new form of the drug called "black tar," which has a darker color than previous versions and is very sticky.

The Times also reported that illegal immigrants from Mexico are playing a role in heroin distribution in the U.S. Two immigrants — Jose Manuel Cazeras-Contreras and Victor Delgadillo Parra — became part of a cartel's distribution ring when they were unable to find legitimate employment. Parra, sentenced to 16½ years in prison for heroin sales, told the Times that he initially feared arrest but eventually began selling drugs to support his wife, son, and relatives in Mexico.

As a measure of how heroin use has grown in Ohio, Paul Coleman, director of the Maryhaven rehabilitation center in Columbus, told the Times that the percentage of patients addicted to opiates — principally heroin — grew from 38% in 2002 to 68% in 2008. Tim Reagan, the DEA agent for central Ohio, explained that the cartel "cells" operating in the region typically consist of only a few people who receive and distribute heroin rather than transport it themselves.

Those cell members receive heroin from Nayarit state on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, where a highly productive form of the poppy — originally from Colombia — is processed in numerous laboratories despite Mexican government fumigation efforts. Cell members in Ohio and elsewhere take orders over disposable mobile phones, making it very difficult for police and DEA agents to trace calls. Orders are delivered by dispatchers and runners, and drugs are sold in busy locations such as shopping center parking lots (Archibold).

Arrested cell members told investigators that a "coyote," or human smuggler, is hired by the cartel to bring drugs across the border. The coyote is then driven to Columbus, trained for two weeks, and taught how to deliver heroin to customers. Although promised significant earnings, the coyote typically receives only $400 to $500 per week plus basic food and shelter, with most earnings sent back to family in Mexico.

One young Ohio man who died of a heroin overdose, Arthur Eisel, had initially used OxyContin to relieve back pain from an injury. When the OxyContin supply ran low in the Columbus area, his dealer suggested heroin — which was far more readily available — and Eisel became addicted.

Cartel Sophistication: Aviation, Weapons, and Money Laundering

In April 2009, a young woman was arrested while standing guard over an anti-aircraft weapon in Sonora state, near the Mexico–Arizona border. This reportedly marked the first seizure of anti-aircraft weaponry by authorities in Mexico (Sky News). The weapon was capable of firing 800 rounds per minute and could reportedly penetrate "any type of armor from more than 1,500 meters." The woman was guarding an arsenal that included a grenade launcher, four heavy weapons, ammunition, two pounds of opium gum, and approximately nine and a half pounds of poppy seeds. The anti-aircraft weapon, said to have belonged to the Beltran Leyva cartel, alarmed law enforcement because it illustrated the level of sophistication drug traffickers have achieved and raised fears that the war on drugs could increasingly become an air war.

Three weeks before this seizure, a DEA news release announced that "Operation Xcellerator" — a 21-month investigation — had resulted in the seizure of 23 tons of narcotics and the arrest of 750 suspects across the United States. The money and power behind those drugs and dealers was traced to the Sinaloa Cartel, a major Mexican trafficking organization. Arrests took place in Minnesota, California, Maryland, Arizona, New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Texas (DEA).

The Sinaloa Cartel launders millions of dollars from the sale of cocaine and marijuana and markets drugs through distribution cells in Canada and the United States. Court documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida allege that the cartel maintains a fleet of approximately fifty aircraft used in drug trafficking operations, four of which were registered in the United States. According to the Laguna Journal, documents reveal that money to purchase those four seized planes was laundered through Dennis Nixon's International Bank of Commerce, owned by Nixon's Bancshares of San Antonio.

Those fifty planes were allegedly purchased from U.S. sources by Pedro Alfonso Alatorre, identified as one of the Sinaloa Cartel's lead financiers in an indictment by Mexico's Attorney General. A document from the Mexican Attorney General's Office states that Alatorre had money laundered through a Chicago bank in 2007. These connections demonstrate that the cartels maintain networks within the United States to launder money, purchase aircraft for drug transport, and distribute narcotics among American users.

In August 2007, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported on the progress — or lack thereof — of the U.S. National Drug Control Strategy, linked to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). The data illustrates how much work remains. An estimated 275 metric tons of cocaine arrive in Mexico each year ready for transport into the United States, yet authorities average seizing only about 36 metric tons — meaning approximately 239 metric tons reach the U.S. annually, according to the GAO's own figures.

The GAO's data on heroin and marijuana is equally sobering: approximately 19 metric tons of heroin are produced in Mexico annually, of which only 1 metric ton is seized by U.S. authorities each year. Approximately 9,400 metric tons of marijuana are grown in Mexico annually, of which about 2,900 metric tons are confiscated by U.S. law enforcement. Regarding methamphetamine, the GAO noted that no accurate estimate of Mexican production exists, but border seizures have increased exponentially since 2000. In 2000, U.S. border seizures of meth totaled roughly 500 kilograms; by 2005 that figure had risen to 2,900 kilograms, with no indication of a slowdown.