In the world of trafficking and procuring drug contraband, nobody might be better at it than the big-time traffickers from Mexico. Those whose networks stretch around the world. But the landscape of international drug trafficking has evolved, along with narco cartels evolving into narco-multi-national corporations (narco-MNCs).
Many narco-MNCs have managed to infiltrate various industries, including the mining of metals and precious stones and the farming of cattle, fruits and vegetables. Some have even been able to exert influence over legitimate MNCs like Pepsi, which has offices and operations throughout Mexico. They also tend to tax every link of the supply chain. But what makes them narco-MNCs is their ability to cross international waters and engage in international partnerships with organized crime groups that are grounded within their own borders.
Perhaps the earliest traces of the narco-MNCs date back to when Mexican cartels partnered with Chinese immigrants that moved to Mexico and brought opium-producing poppies. Back in 1914, the US introduced the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act, effectively banning opium in the US, and it is around that time that the first recorded international partnership emerged, between Mexican cartels and Chinese. By the end of the century, the accidental partnership became the producer of billion-dollar profits, and would see new regulations enacted to contain the trafficking of drug contraband.
By the end of the 20th century, the trade of opium became a billion-dollar partnership, which would see new regulations enter effect, limiting access to certain chemicals involved in drug production. Without access to certain chemicals, the process to create drugs would be near impossible because many drugs require certain chemicals to be extracted. Many countries have joined the global effort to track the importing and exporting of chemicals required in the drug trade.
As a result, Mexican cartels have been forced to look elsewhere in order to procure precursor chemicals, and they have leveraged their international connections to also enter into working relationships with organized crime groups in various countries including India, Syria, Iran, and Egypt. However, even when Mexican cartels do manage to purchase these chemicals and when the chemicals make their way to the ports of Mexico, they still need to be smuggled into the country, almost always through the shipping ports.
Some heavy weapons that are reserved for the world’s best equipped armies, like belt machine guns and rocket launchers powerful enough to destroy tanks, are items that narco-MNCs have been successful at procuring. And the resulting outcome from the ability to procure whatever they desire, narco-MNCs have helped cartel hit squads become more comparable to paramilitary groups.
Relying on Armed Vigilantes to Defeat Cartels.
Before the US began providing $300 million per year of funding to Mexico for anti-cartel efforts, Mexico had around 6,000 federal police officers, increasing to around 37,000 after receiving funding. That funding was crucial in helping Mexico fight back against different cartels across 11 different states. And an increased foot presence made a significance difference.
Perhaps the biggest challenge in the fight against cartels is that many of them have been successful in corrupting public officials at the municipal level, state level, and even federal level. This includes police, soldiers, judges, mayors, governors, and other lawmakers, and there was a time when it was believed that some of the cartels held influence among those working in the country’s highest office.
During one of the cartel wars, a police commander confessed that state police cooperated with cartels to better coordinate attacks on federal police. Many cartels have been successful in resisting federal police forces, and Mexico often only offers limited reporting of casualties. Then in 2010, an undersecretary of public security was assassinated, and a similar attack saw 2,700 bullets get fired at an armoured vehicle carrying a government official.
When the Mexican forces went to battle against the Nazario cartel it was reported that the Mexican federal police had killed Nazario. However, in 2014, he was reported to have been seen and the Mexican government admitted that he was still alive. Eventually Mexican marines would kill him, but it was only possible thanks to vigilantes, despite that, at peak moments there were 96,000 soldiers and 16,000 marines.
The rise of armed vigilante groups that decided to fight back against the Nazario cartel was the result of the cartels torturing and victimizing families for so long. It was not uncommon to see Mexican-Americans, living in places like California or Oregon, who had family members victimized by the Nazario cartel, leave good-paying jobs in construction or car sales to join the armed resistance at $16 per day.
One of the many dirty secrets of this specific conflict was that rival cartels provided funding and supplies to knock off the Nazario cartel so that they could go on to take over the territory. And, when Nazario was killed, they ended up doing exactly that.
What might be a positive in all of the chaos is that failed policies can be corrected, and that corruption is not genetic. And while effective justice systems take time to be established, it can be done. Because today’s narco-MNCs challenge governments for control over institutions and their ability to ensure public safety and administer justice, when money flows up and power flows down.
Bonus: An Origin Story
Cocaine is more closely associated with Colombia and Pablo Escobar, while methamphetamine is more closely associated with Breaking Bad and Walter White. But both were created by German scientists back in the 19th century, and Japanese scientists improved on the amphetamine formula to create methamphetamines that were leveraged as a super weapon by both German and Japanese soldiers. Today, however, it is methamphetamine that is considered one of the most damaging drugs, often taken by those living in depressed towns or illegal immigrants working on farms and construction sites, and it is quite popular among long-distance truck drivers. The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) estimates that between 80% to 90% of cocaine and methamphetamine flows in through Mexico.
Travel Advisory: Risky Professions
How some of the US’ three letter agencies like the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) have pursued and captured major cartel leaders have seen their techniques make their way into the public domain and even on the big screen. One of the most effective ways was to have agents enter countries is posing as journalists or humanitarian aid workers. So, it is not uncommon for tourists who present themselves as journalists or humanitarian aid works to get kidnapped, tortured or even killed. If a person falls in either of these two categories, it can be quite dangerous to identify as either.