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Mexico AG: Only Two Cartels and Three Drug Lords Left in Mexico

The XXXII International Conference for Drug Control in Cartagena, Colombia, has wrapped up. Tomás Zerón, the head of the Mexico Attorney General's Criminal Investigation Agency, who attended the conference, tells Proceso (use google translate) that there are only two drug cartels and three drug lords left in Mexico: Sinaloa, led by Ismael Zambada-Garcia and Fausto Isidro Meza Flores, and CJNG (Jalisco New Generation)led by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes. He said Sinaloa deals primarily in cocaine, while CJNG concentrates on meth. He also said Zambada-Garcia doesn't seem too active these days.

Zerón said the Zetas disintegrated, and the Gulf Cartel turned to kidnapping and extortion instead of drugs because it lacks the financing and contacts to obtain drugs. According to Zerón, the Juarez, Tijuana, Beltran Leyva and Knights of Templar cartels have dismantled, due to the death or detention of their leaders (more here), and now are operating as independent cells. [More...]

The DEA recently said the wealthiest cartels now are CJNG and Los Cuinis and that neither focus on the U.S. market.

"The Cuini focused on partnering with drug traffickers and narco-insurgents of Colombia and other South American countries to sell cocaine and other drugs in Europe, without being involved with the market of the United States. That made a big difference in terms of profits earned, "said the official.

According to official documents reviewed by Proceso for this report, Los Cuinis and CJNG for almost a decade chose not to mess with the US market.

Another market that's slowed down -- marijuana exporting from Mexico -- widely believed to be due to the legalization of pot in some form in 23 states.

In the past, only a sixth of cannabis consumed in the U.S. was grown within the 50 states; today that’s up to at least one-third, according to the