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Wednesday, December 13, 2017

Ioan Grillo: Mexico's New, Deadlier Crime Warlords

Posted by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: US News and World Report

Photo By: Alejandro Cegarra for  USN&WR
A community police officer watches a family run for cover during a shootout between security forces and drug cartel suspects in Buenavista, Guerrero state. 

By: Ioan Grillo, Contributor
Dec. 8, 2017 Chilpancingo, Guerrero Mexico

In this tepid capital of the Mexican state of Guerrero, government security spokesman Roberto Alvarez describes the complexity of the local crime map, from its Sierra Madre mountains to its Pacific coast.

Going north to the mineral-rich city of Iguala, he says, the area is dominated by gangsters who call themselves the "Guerreros Unidos," or Warriors United, a fragment of the older Beltran Leyva cartel, which is a break-off from the more notorious Sinaloa cartel. Turning west from Iguala, the highway then crosses into the territory of the so-called La Familia cartel, led by a local mobster nicknamed "El Guero" or Whitey, who is reported to be barely in his 20s.

This cell of La Familia is also battling a splinter group known as the "Tequileros" (the Tequila drinkers), which dominates a mountainous area above the highway that is known for heroin production. Fighting between these two groups as well as government forces has caused many residents to abandon their homes, leaving phantom villages.

Following the highway south, the road then twists into the domain of the "Caballeros Templarios," or Knights Templar, a once-mighty cartel that has been largely destroyed but has a few surviving outposts. Alvarez rattles off these groups before even beginning to describe the half dozen groups fighting over the state capital Chilpancingo and the sprawling seaside resort city of Acapulco.

"It's a very complicated crime environment, and this makes it difficult to keep order," says Alvarez, who sits at meetings every few days with regional commanders of the army, marines and police forces combating the cartels. "We have to track multiple organizations fighting each other all over the state. The many frontlines lead to a very high number of homicides."

Battles among this plethora of crime groups has made Guerrero one of the most violent states in Mexico this year, with more than 1,900 murders from January to the end of October in a population of 3.3 million. Guerrero boasts a murder rate that is six times higher than that of Louisiana, the U.S. state with the highest rate of murder in 2016.

Similar frontlines between splintered cartels cut through large swaths of Mexico, from the 2,000-mile border with the U.S. to the Caribbean coast. Mexico's so-called drug war now involves dozens of crime groups fighting each other in multiple battles crisscrossing the country.

This cartel fragmentation is one of the key reasons that Mexico is suffering a new high in overall violence. The nation's total body count has topped 20,800 in the first 10 months of 2017, the highest number this century.



Other factors have also led to the rising violence, such as an increasing production of heroin in Mexico amid epidemic opioid use in the United States. As heroin-producing areas become more valuable to cartels, they have increasingly bloody fights over the spoils. Guerrero state is one of the biggest sources of the black tar heroin made here.

But while Mexican traffickers have long supplied drugs – whether cocaine, marijuana, crystal meth or black tar – to American users, it has never faced such a splintered crime map.

"Cartel fragmentation is a big part of the story of why violence is increasing," says Alejandro Hope, a security analyst and former Mexican federal intelligence official. "This has really accelerated in the last couple of years. It's the changing nature of the game."

The new high in violence comes after a decade-long Mexican military crackdown on drug traffickers, which has been supported with billions of dollars' worth of U.S. equipment and training under the Mérida Initiative, a security agreement between Mexico and the U.S. aimed at tackling organized crime, including drug trafficking. That offensive has brought down thousands of traffickers but it has also helped create the new splintered crime map.

Read Grillo's full post by using this link

64 comments:

  1. Chaputo gusman is the same sh!t, the only reason for the violence is that sinaloas no longer DOMINATE any are or state besides sinaloa. Before people from sinaloa controlled guerrero, Jalisco, morelos DF, on and on.. NOW IN DAYS Michoacanos and LOCAL gangs are competing 8n most of the mexican states leaving tje chinolas out. Sinaloa agains michoacan has left many dead but michoacanos are the ones that went independent and now taking sinaloas plazas, something NEVER thought of. Those michoacanos are no joke, I give them props for taking out the most powerful cartel in Mexico. R.I.P CDS

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    1. You must be a Michoacáno 😆

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    2. That is true though, cds had no competition before Mencho.. Zetas were not as powerful outside Mexico so they really didn't interfere with cds.. Now Mencho is taking cds and even zeta plazas.. Crazy..

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    3. Jal.mich.col.gro the new wild westt rip chinoloas de que se murieron los kemados????lol

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    4. Narcoplaticantes

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    5. 2:08 ive heard that one the other day in cpt

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    6. 1010 The zetas were the strongest cartel that it took every cartel and every government in Mexico to stop them. Everyone was scared of them. Ps facil the zetas.

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    7. 9:24 los mata zetas were/are NOT scared of them. What you talking about willis?..

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    8. @9:24 you are very wrong La Familia Michoacana made an example out of zetas

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  2. The night is darkest just before dawn.

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    1. Actually it’s right after the sun goes down but whatevs

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  3. there needs to be a judgment ruling on ‘human rights’ as these cartel roaches murder and rape people at will. they deserve no human rights and any engagement with any govt enforcement needs to me with immediate execution.

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  4. If they would have just left them alone there wouldn't be a problem . Grow marijuana ? Used to nobody cared . Now its all gone to shit . And why ? The USA had to stick their nose in it .

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    1. Well Hello there 5:49. Of course the US had to get involved.It was causing too many social ills in US society and major loss of productivity(not that they licked the problem).Maybe if you would have sent the drugs somewhere else they wouldn't have gone after you.Hello!

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    2. 1:57 . Why you have to be so blind . The gringos are gonna get it no matter where it comes from . This allows everybody in the economy .

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    3. Well . Shoot . I might as well come clean . Thought I could get a "spirited debate" going here . I am both 5:49 and 8:40 . Maybe I am a troll .

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    4. @ troll it's the law of supply and demand. I recommend you Do some reading before attempting a debate

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    5. @Canadiana, there was a time when it wasn't causing too many ills in the U.S. but since that country is 'perfect' and whatever they say is infallible they started a propaganda war against drugs. They had too to protect pretty white women from *imagined* moral ills. In the 30s, for instance, with the film Reefer Madness,they began to perpetuate the myth, the alarmist, rhetoric, that drugs and their users are the worst of the worst. It a sad state of affairs started long ago by the U.S. and now, especially Mexico, they're paying a steep price.

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    6. 8:40 . That wasn't at all my opinion . Just thought I would put something there get some arguing going . Purposely sounded like some of the idiotic posts ive read on here . 6:12 I believe that era you are referring to they forced all the Mexicans back to Mexico . Not many years before that they removed all the patented drugs off the market . Many of which contained cocaine and opiates / heroin .Up until then there were many many American housewives that unwittingly became addicted . There were clinics set up throughout the country to help everybody get off the shit. After the clinics were gone drug addiction went underground . There was a long period in the usa that drug addiction wasn't so common . Probably 40's 50's and 60's . I know the 60's era not much addiction ? but really nothing like today . The war on drugs was officially declared by Richard Nixon during his first term in the late 60's / early 70s . At that time there seemed to be a come back in drug use and has grown ever since . I used to have a old book called society and human behavior . Was in print 30 years ago . I'm sure it still is but there has probably been a few chapters added by now .

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    7. 7:18 Some Mexicans were forced out but for different reason other than drugs. Canadiana conveniently overlooks the demand from the U.S.

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  5. Saw this a few days ago. It's kinda weak. He's written better. Commenting on "cartel fragmentation" has been around for a while.

    The bottom line is that drug sales to the US no longer matter.
    It's all about targeting the local population, when not selling them drugs.

    USA: It's not all about you.

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    1. I was wondering while reading this article, what would happen if the us just let mexico govern itself and just used the billions on drug treatment or other social programs? Im new on this site and this is my first post. What is yours and everyone else's guess on what would happen. Thanks guys and good work with the coverage, thanks. Also please do more articles like the ones on the families of traffickers. Thanks again
      -peace and love

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    2. Yes, I agree. And it’s not new news here on BB, however, it does show that the situation is slowly but surely getting more MSM coverage. Another good example :
      https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/dec/14/mexico-murders-women-rise-sharply-drug-war-intensifies

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    3. 12:21 Welcome . (as if I have anything to do with it ) I have been reading and posting here for years anonymously . Man who know its just another opinion maybe . Seems like we have went so far down the rabbit hole there is no turning back . Social programs ? As long as the drug use keeps rising among young people we absolutely are not doing enough for prevention no matter how much we are doing . There are forces out there that want more addicts and the needs to be more fronts for prevention . The schools are supposed to be preparing the kids to be successful in life . My observation through the many years that I have made it a point to observe is, no matter the level of education one receives , his life will not go well as long as he is on drugs . A kid cant see this . He sees whats happening right now . One fuck head that looks like he has it "going on" right now is a completely different story down the road . As far as social programs go I am bot near as big on getting drug addicts clean needls as I am preventing drug addiction . There are many levels in between and my opinions vary and can change .

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    4. The only way this drug epidemic will get better is bye educating YOUR OWN CHILDREN on the dangers of drug use. Don't leave it up to no nobody especially the schools. Just look and listen drug use is glorified everywhere kids are at. On social media , music, movies etc. Rappers talking about lean. Songs on the radio that only have two words (molly Percocet ) witch I'm sure most of u have heard a child singing along to it. It's a culture that needs to change. Forget about treating the addicts, there already fucked for life. Let's teach the new generation coming up to NEVER touch drugs. Since day one I've been putting fear in my kids about the dangers of drugs, especially the one that are prescribed bye a dr.

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    5. 12:05 .Sure it stars at home anybody will agree on that . But there is a problem there . We cant dictate what parents teach their kids but as voting citizens we have some say what is taught at school . To some extent we have say in what type of student is allowed to attend . That old cliché "it starts at home" just wont always get applied . That pretty simple shit you just said . Now get it applied . I am so glad you are the type of person that teaches your children at home about the dangers of drugs and addiction . Problem is some of these kids are being raised by users and they can be 2nd and 3rd and 4th generation users . "Teach Your Children Well" , the problem may be , what ones opinion of well is .

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    6. @2:44 I disagree! I teach my kids to be good decision makers not only to take orders from me. It does "start at home", but it doesn't end there. Ghandi said " you have to be the change you want to see in the world". How do you contribute to you community? It takes a village to raise children

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    7. Well said goldcup 👌🏽

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    8. Teach "your" children, is an option that may show results 20 or 30 years from now. hopeless.
      SOLUTIONS ARE NEEDED NOW, and they need to be rammer up the as of corrupt hypocrites governing, reigning and presiding over the yearly crop of overdosed carcasses, enriched businessmen and corrupted banksters exposed and fined 1% of their ill gotten gains just to show some work...

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  6. Man is the only animal who has been carefully taught to be discontent. - Sol Prendido

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    1. 12:54 yes, chole, I wish you could do better than trying to confuse us with Old Chairman Confucious quotations...

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    2. Truth is LaVey the satanist said those words. I’ve always found the polyglot religions of the world interesting. Mainly because they all have something unique 2 say 2 us all. Even though I never could adhere 2 just 1 of them. They really do help 2 go through all those dissonant worlds. - Sol Prendido

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    3. @Sol Prendido

      I think you mean monotheistic religions as opposed to polytheistic because "polyglot" in how you wrote it makes little sense.

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    4. I was actually drinking and drivIng while texting. Lost my train of thought. You can actually do over a 100 through the desert and your only casualty would be a jack rabbit. - Sol Prendido

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    5. Don't worry chole, I know you are trying, slow down and start over, I actually don't worry about religions or philosophers, most only want to impress the young and inexperienced with their tea and cookies for the spirits...
      Fack that, gimme my spirits and let me go to hell in peace.

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    6. @Sol Prendido

      Just in case you were serious, be safe. No txtng/drinking and driving!!!

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    7. 3:46 De seguro te la andabas chaquetiando pinchi chole,
      that what religiositry gets you. Repent!

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  7. Wages must increase for all workers in Mexico. Less than a dollar an hour? How can anyone live and/support a family? The young and foolish are especially lured to the "easy money". Big cartels it over. But lots of small ones more violent. Kind of like the hood in the USA with young people killing each other over street corners. And control over prisons/jails. Tony M

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    1. 4:54 the war against the American Worker does not comtemplate making the mexican captive slave Laborers the new millionaire rich boys of the world.
      It contemplates paying the American "skilled" workers the most generic salaries possible.a lot .ore again
      Mexican minimum wage used to be equal to $2.99 US dollar a day, but after devaluation it is more like $2.00 now, and everything costs more

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  8. Los anthrax will be at full strength soon stay tuned on the next episode of narco comics

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    1. 5:08 good luck with the comics, it will be a lot of TP for you

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  9. Nice Beretta i wonder if it was military surplus or police surplus. In the good old USA i mean, of course. Always supplying.

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    1. 7:52 war profiteers have been selling the weapons loot they stole from their foreign wars for profit, just on more foreign countries...

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  10. Bottom line is "Cartel Decapitation" does not work. This operation by the Mexican government can easily be compared to the US Military's campaign in the middle east. They got rid of Sadam then came the increase of all of the insurgent cells entering Iraq from other muslim countries and also the rise of ISIS.

    Chapo and the CDS started all the aggressin towards the other major cartels. AFO, Juarez and the Gulfos all had their turf and stayed in their lane. CDS was too greedy and they wanted more by entering TJ, Chihuahua and the Northeast. Things would have been totally different if Chapo didn't have the little man syndrome. Facts!!

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    1. Mexico fucked up extraditing certain men. While oziel was in mexico hes luitenants stayed in line. Gulf and zetas. They sent chapo to usa and sinaloa erupts in violence.

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  11. Let the mx population have guns. In a few years it will be settled. The coward gangs will be defeated, by the population. Government, police etc will not help

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    1. This is my solution too. And in the USA some misinformed want to end the right to bear arms.

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    2. I guarantee if the Mexican populus was armed, this would end quickly. Imagine a foreign country trying to invade America. No way...the populus here is armed to the teeth. They'd have to nuke us and bomb us for a long time. The right to bear arms her won't end. They could never take all of our guns. The Mexicans need to revolt. It's the only answer.

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    3. They are armed, illegaly armed and nothing has happened. That's not the solution.

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    4. Crooks are armed in Cheekagah, and it has never worked, unless you ask a cop, "being scared" is sufficient excuse to shot to kill negros or cafes whose lives do not really "matter"

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  12. The only reason the michgans are strong is because there's a chilorio backing them. Chilorio doesn't want to lead the pack no more let the michigans take the heat!

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    1. 11:30 dice que se sienta en El chilorio y aunque le pique y le arda el pedorro.

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  13. For folks in the center of the country:

    https://primeraplananoticias.mx/portal/presentaran-libro-todos-somos-autodefensas-en-la-casa-de-hidalgo/

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  14. In 2009, organized crime in Italy generated $189 billion in revenue, while the country had a homicide rate of 0.9 per 100,000 (among the lowest in Europe).

    What does this mean in contrast to the the outrageous violence in Mexico today?

    IMO: the cartels have very little control or influence over crime outside their smuggling networks or their own territories, for the matter.

    The narco lovers boast of the power of the cartels but when you look at the horrendous rates of homicide/femicide, there is little to admire (if anything at all).

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    1. at 4:46 PM - Latin America overall has very high homicide rates. So you don't start at zero violence for Mexico and then assume the rest is related to drug trafficking to the US.

      Even without drug trafficking, Mexico like most other Latin American countries, would have high homicide rates due to high levels of impunity and gross income inequality.

      The very high homicide numbers we're now seeing in Mexico are related to the much discussed cartel fragmentation and criminal groups seeking to replace lost funds by terrorizing the civilian population.

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    2. The Italien government started Fighting against their Mafia around 1990 when they killed mr falcone. The People also went out to the streets and tougher laws were applied. Something which did not happen in mx. All my mexican Friends dont belive in 1$ per hour wages and still closing the eyes when it comes to narcos. So nothing will Change in mx.mx Police catch some criminals and mx judges release them next day and this stupid amparo thing is also not her helpfull.so nothing will Change.it has to worse before it will become better and it seems that there is still some space left to the bottom.

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    3. @4:46PM

      In the 70s Italy had one the highest kidnapping rates and homicide was high while in Mexico it was lower. You're overlooking the fact that Italy does not have a border with the richest and most drug consuming country in the world, the variables are different and simply pointing to raw data from another, oceans apart, country wont shed much light.

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    4. 8:20 you are lying your ass out, Mexico had very little violence until the Kiki Camarena debacle, mass murdering was all the policia judicial federal and the military that still do it that way, but now helped by their narcos and sicarios on the street, Mexico has always had murdering, but never like it has since the "War on Drugs" started, and who ordered the war on drugs?

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    5. Latin America never had wars until United Fruit decided to repress LatinAmericans IN THEIR OWN COUNTRIES, accusing them of being freeloaders and communist agitators, then when the going gots tougher, they set up the CIA to do their dirty jobs for them while the American people foot the bills.
      --Colombia' elect president Jorge Eliecer Gaytan was assassinated one day before he took possession of his office.
      --Omar Torrijos assassinated to install Manuel noriega
      --Salvador Allende, assassinated to make room for murderous pinochet and leave the Chileans "En Las garras del Puma"
      --La Guerra Falsa en Bolivia
      --the Argentinian navy and their murdering mechanics. All the wars in LatinAmerica since their independence wars have been bought and paid for by the US that always gets their bill paid

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  15. Hahaha where's all my shinolas at finally they stay quite se ven mas bonitos callados lol puro chiuhauha

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  16. Morals define a society. Mexicans look up to machismo and have different values. They blame the US because they are desperate for answers. Mexico will never change because you can change a cultures values.

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    1. life isnt that simplistic... morals go out the window when you cant feed your kids. there will always be criminals with no morals who control the game and wreak havoc for their personal gain, in any country...but the peons who do the dirty work and live in the country side where there are no job or industry arent going to watch their families starve to death. the belief that poor ppl dont do that in the us because of morality is nonsense. in mex, if you dont work, you dont eat. there is no welfare in mex...poor fat people only exist in the us where they pay you for not working.

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  17. The problem is not drug trafficking, the problem is the mafia of political power associated with transnational corporations that seek to keep control of natural resources, all territories where there are serious conflicts between drug traffickers have the characteristic of being rich in natural resources. there is the heart of the matter.

    all this is just a plan devised by the mafias of political power in complicity with the transnationals to create conflicts and displace the populations of those territories. the ultimate goal is that. the conflicts over drug trafficking are only the instruments to achieve it.

    People like Felipe Calderon, Vicente Fox, Peña Nieto, Salinas de Gortari are involved, they are only the operators of those who really move the strings. The real bosses are in the United States, one of them has orange hair and hates Mexicans.

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