“Local morgues were filled with corpses. The rise and fall of La China - the head of the Mexican drug cartel and the most brutal female killer

In December 2006, Mexico's newly elected Felipe Calderon declared war on the drug cartels, thereby ending the state's passivity in this matter. Since then, some progress has been made, but at a high cost. Shootings, murders, kidnappings, conflicts between rival cartels, punitive measures. About 9,500 people have been killed in anti-drug efforts since December 2006, and more than 5,300 last year alone.

Ammunition seized from members of the Pacifico drug cartel at Mexico City airport. March 12, 2009. (REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez)

An American police officer in a captured greenhouse in the basement of a ranch in Tecate, Mexico. March 12, 2009. (REUTERS/Jorge Duenes)

A policeman walks among bags of cocaine in the city of Buenaventura, Colombia's main port on the Pacific coast. Monday, March 23, 2009. Colombian police confiscated 3.5 tons of cocaine that they were trying to smuggle into Mexico in a container of vegetable oil. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara)

Yanet Daynara Garcia (center) and Zigifrido Najera (2nd from left), members of the Cardenas Guillen drug cartel, attend a press presentation at the Defense Minister's headquarters in Mexico City. March 20, 2009. (LUIS ACOSTA/AFP/Getty Images)

Mexican drug trafficker Vicente Zambada Niebla meets with the media in Mexico City on March 19, 2009. Zambada was arrested along with five other suspects, police said. The arrested were found to have money and weapons. (REUTERS/Daniel Aguilar)

Soldiers guard a police station in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Monday, March 16, 2009. Since this city of 1.3 million people is largely policed ​​by the military, a retired officer was appointed head of the police as an accomplice after the previous head of the police department resigned from this post after succumbing to threats drug dealers. (AP Photo)

Federal police officers aboard a plane during a flight to the border city of Ciudad Juarez in Mexico. Monday, March 2, 2009. The deployment is part of a plan to increase the law enforcement presence in Ciudad Juarez by 5,000 as the city suffers from an infestation of organized crime. (AP Photo/Miguel Tovar)

A soldier oversees the burning of fourteen tons of drugs in the city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. December 2, 2008. (J. Guadalupe PEREZ/AFP/Getty Images)

Police drive past a burning patrol car in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. Wednesday, February 25, 2009. Earlier in this resort town of Zihuatanejo, which is located on the Pacific Ocean, gunmen opened fire and threw grenades at a patrol car, killing four police officers. (AP Photo/Felipe Salinas)

Mexican police stand near a car containing two people killed in a shooting. Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. November 25, 2008. (J. Guadalupe PEREZ/AFP/Getty Images)

A corpse on a table in the morgue before an autopsy. Tijuana, Mexico. Monday, January 19, 2009. (AP Photo/Guillermo Arias)

Federal police patrol the city of Ciudad Juarez. March 2, 2009. Hundreds of military personnel in full gear and police convoys patrolled Ciudad Juarez in an attempt to restore order in one of the most violent cities. (REUTERS/Tomas Bravo)

Mexican soldiers check documents during a drug and weapons search in Reynosa, on Mexico's northeastern border with the United States, March 17, 2009. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)

A tourist leaves the hotel. A policeman is standing guard nearby - one of the participants in the operation to defuse a bomb in a departmental institution in the border city of Ciudad Juarez. A report that a bomb had been planted in the building prompted local police and federal forces to launch the operation, local media reported. (REUTERS/Tomas Bravo)

Mexican soldiers inspect vehicles and carry out customs clearance at customs checkpoints near the town of Miguel Aleman, on Mexico's northeastern border with the United States. March 18, 2009. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)

A Mexican soldier stands on the Mexico-US border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. March 6, 2009. (AP Photo/Miguel Tovar)

Soldiers patrol near the town of Miguel Aleman, on Mexico's northeastern border with the United States, March 19, 2009. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)

Shoes used for marijuana smuggling are seen at the Drug Museum at the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense in Mexico City, March 9, 2009. The museum displays many exhibits: sniper rifles, mobile and cordless phones encrusted with gold and diamonds, clandestine drug laboratories and many other items. that once belonged to drug traffickers. (REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez)

President of Texas Armoring Corp. Trent Kimball inspects his company's bulletproof glass, which was left with bullet holes from the previous day's shooting. San Antonio, February 26, 2009. Due to an increase in the number of clashes with drug traffickers in the northern regions of Mexico, American companies are increasingly ordering armored lining, bulletproof glass along with armored lining, bulletproof glass and such security gadgets as electronic door handles and alarms. pressing smoke screens. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

Dawn over a canal near El Centro, California. March 12, 2009: El Centro has the highest unemployment rate in the United States: 22.6%. This is the same high figure recorded during the Great Depression. It’s especially hard for Latinos now. People living in the Imperial Valley, a desert north of the US-Mexico border and east of San Diego, are now suffering not only from the effects of the global financial crisis, but also from drought. (David McNew/Getty Images)

Central American migrants released by the military were held hostage by Mexican gang members in Reynosa, Mexico on March 17, 2009. More than 50 migrants are currently being held captive by the gang, which is involved in kidnapping for ransom, according to the Mexican army. (AP Photo/Alejandro Meneghini)

Forensic investigators remove one of nine bodies found near the border city of Ciudad Juarez on March 14, 2009. An anonymous caller called police to report that at least nine bodies were found in a shallow grave, local media reported. (REUTERS/Alejandro Bringas)

A man arrested by the military at a house where a gang was holding Central American migrants hostage. Reynosa, Mexico, March 17, 2009. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)

A forensic investigator examines the vertebra and other bone fragments. This is all that remains of a human body that was burned in a barrel of acid. The murder matches the signature of "El Teo", one of Tijuana's most wanted drug lords. (Los Angeles Times photo by Don Bartletti)

A border patrol vehicle smoothes the sand so that the tracks of potential border violators are visible. New prefabricated stair railings have been installed along the Mexican border between Yuma, Arizona and Calexico, California. March 14, 2009. (David McNew/Getty Images)

Newly built fence on the US-Mexico border. Photo taken at dawn on March 14, 2009, between Yuma, Arizona and Calexico, California. The new 15-foot-tall (4.5-meter) barrier is installed on top of the sand dunes so it can be lifted and repositioned when migrating dunes begin to cover it. Almost seven miles (11 km) of such fencing were installed at a cost of $6 million per mile. (David McNew/Getty Images)

Numbered boxes containing evidence collected from multiple autopsies. Mortuary in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. February 18, 2009. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

Corpses in a mortuary refrigerator in the border city of Ciudad Juarez. Mexico, February 18, 2009. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

In the foreground is a .50 caliber rifle. In the background is a meeting on issues on the Mexican border. The meeting is attended by representatives of the US Department of Homeland Security and the Subcommittee on Foreign Affairs. Thursday, March 12, 2009, Capitol Hill, Washington, DC. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Soldiers escort drug lord Hector Huerta-Rios to an air force base in Salinas Victoria, on the outskirts of Monterrey, northern Mexico. March 24, 2009: Hector, head of the Beltran Leyva drug cartel, was captured by the military on Tuesday. He is accused of murdering the head of the Monterrey police. Huerta Rios was captured along with five of his associates. The arrested were found to have money and weapons. (REUTERS/Tomas Bravo)

Shot in the head by unknown assailants in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, March 11, 2009. (AP Photo/Miguel Tovar)

A police officer searches a field after a shootout for weapons. Tijuana, Mexico. Monday, March 9, 2009. (AP Photo/Guillermo Arias)

Tom Wainwright’s study “Narconomics: The Crime Syndicate as a Successful Business Model”, dedicated to the drug trade as a business, was translated into Russian. The author, editor of the British publication, tells in a popular way how the drug cartel’s business model works, about the similarities and differences in the conduct of business between the owners of a supermarket chain and the shadow market dealers. The book was published by the Palmyra publishing house. with the permission of the publisher, publishes a fragment of the text.

In one of the luxurious rooms of the Los Pinos presidential palace in Mexico City, he is waving a stack of papers on which thirty-seven gloomy faces are emblazoned. It was October 2012, and Mr. Calderon had just six weeks left before his presidential term expired. In his last interview, he tried to impress me with his successes in the fight against the country's main drug lords. Thirty-seven people received the status of the most wanted criminals back in 2009, when information about them was first published in the official state newspaper Diario Oficial de la Federación. Some photographs look like prison photographs, others look as if they were cut out of a family album. What surprised me the most was the black line drawn diagonally across most of the images.

“The leader of the Los Zetas group is El,” says President Calderon, pointing to a bearded man whose photograph has an “arrested” stamp on it. Most of the people listed as members of the largest cartel, Los Zetas, have already been crossed out. "El Amarillo" (Yellow) runs the affairs of Los Zetas in the southeast of the country. "Lucky" is the leader of the group in Veracruz. La Ardilla (Squirrel) is considered one of the most dangerous and bloodthirsty killers,” continues Calderon. On the cards of twenty-five of the thirty-seven people there are notes: seventeen were arrested, six were killed by the police or army, two were executed (that is, killed by competitors). In July 2013, eight months after President Calderon left office, the new leader of the Los Zetas group, Miguel Angel Treviño, was detained at the Texas border. In March 2015, federal police arrested his brother Omar at a luxury apartment in a Monterrey suburb.

The reader may think that the systematic elimination of the top of the criminal world will help to finally deal with the drug cartels. In fact, this does not happen. During Calderon's tenure, the volume of drug smuggling across the US border has hardly decreased, and the number of new followers of the illegal business among young people has only increased. The only noticeable result of his policies was an unprecedented increase in violence. Back in 2006, Mexico was one of the safest Latin American countries, with only 10 murders per 100,000 people. This level was even lower than in most American states. In 2012, the number of deaths doubled and President Calderon left Los Pinos as the most unpopular leader in modern Mexican history. He is now caricatured in an oversized military uniform, standing among graves and skulls.

Just when mortality was on the rise in Mexico, the diametrically opposite situation developed in one of its neighboring countries. For a long time, El Salvador was considered the most dangerous state, compared to which Mexico’s problems simply pale into insignificance. The feared maras, or gangs, famous for their head-to-toe tattoos, carried out scores of tit-for-tat killings every day in the Salvadoran slums. But in 2012 the situation changed dramatically. In just a few days, peace reigned, the murder rate dropped by two-thirds, all thanks to a rare event - two warring clans, Mara Salvatrucha and Kvartal 18, came to a peace agreement. The two groups, who were bitter enemies, even held a press conference, declaring that there would be no more killings. As a result of the truce, more than 2,000 lives are saved annually.

Mexican cartels and Salvadoran maras operate in the same region, engage in similar activities, and display the same willingness to resort to violence. Why then, in just a few years, did gangs in Mexico become extremely violent while murder fell out of favor in El Salvador? In the language of economics, this question sounds like this: why did one market demonstrate increasing competition, while the phenomenon of alliance appeared in another?

The starting point in the war against the Mexican cartels is the same city of Juarez. Like many other communities along the US border, Juarez looks like it was built in a hurry. By Mexican standards he is not that poor. Some of the downtown bars and eateries appear to be transplants straight from Texas. But on its deserted outskirts live desperately poor workers who barely make ends meet by assembling televisions and refrigerators for export at a nearby maquiladora, an assembly-line factory. On the mountainside to the west of the city, a large inscription is visible: “Juarez: The Bible gives you the truth, read it.”

Until recently, I don’t know by what higher powers, peace and order reigned in the city. In normal times, about 400 people were killed a year - not a huge number for a poor city of 1.5 million people that borders a country that has legalized the arms trade. In 2008, there was a surge in violence in the criminal world of Juarez, as a result of which by the summer of 2011 local morgues were literally filled with corpses: more than 300 dead bodies were found here every month.

All cases had the signature of organized crime. Most of the victims were killed by large-caliber bullets fired from a "cuerno de chivo" - a goat's horn, as the AK-47 is commonly called here for its curved magazine. Many were not local: they were visiting hired killers or their victims, who were decided to be quietly disposed of after their abduction in Juarez. At some point, the monthly number of unidentified victims alone approached 50 people. During the reign of President Calderon, more than 25,000 people disappeared without a trace, many of whom subsequently ended up in the Juarez morgue, which was barely able to expand. Almost every day, a small line forms at the entrance to the building in the hope of finding a missing relative.

Why did the Mexican cartels begin to fight so desperately for homely Juarez? At first glance, it should not be of particular interest to them. From the point of view of drug production, it is hardly useful, because marijuana and opium are grown a thousand kilometers in the southwest, in the Sierra Madre, and coca is shipped from South America. And there are not many consumers here, especially compared to large cities in the United States. And yet the war in Juarez was so brutal that in just a few years it received the status of the most dangerous city in the world.

Juarez is important to the cartels as a transport hub and entry point into larger markets. The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), whose mission is to completely destroy the drug industry, believes that about 70% of all Mexican drugs entering the country cross the border in the Juarez area. Large volumes of non-narcotic contraband filtered through the Chihuahuan Desert. Even before the cocaine boom of the 1970s, Juarez was a favorite destination for American tourists who came here for a day for inexpensive booze, budget auto repair, dentistry, intimate services - in short, everything that cheap Mexican labor can produce at equally low prices. While in the city, it is difficult to even understand where Juarez ends and Texas El Paso begins.

To stifle the cartels, the US and Mexican governments have made every effort to make border crossings more difficult. In particular, after the September 11 terrorist attacks, even more police were assigned to guard the American border (to the general indignation of both law-abiding citizens and scammers: “Policeman - ay, cabrón!” - a bartender in Juarez was indignant, accusing America of having there are fewer visitors). The flip side of this tightening is that every entry point for the cartels has become even more valuable. Along the more than three thousand kilometer border between Mexico and the United States, there are only 47 official customs posts, of which six are particularly high-throughput. If the cartel can't get its hands on one of these posts, it won't be able to skim off the world's largest drug market. To make their fabulous profits, the cartel must own a checkpoint. And they spare no expense on this.

Thus, the competition for each entry is incredibly high. Juarez is far from the only border city to be plagued by horrific violence. In recent years, violent clashes between drug cartels have also been observed in cities such as Tijuana, Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo. The highest mortality rates in Mexico are found in the six states bordering the United States. Only large ports, Veracruz and Michoacan, which are valuable to the cartels for the same reason, can compete with them in this. It is the small number of such highly effective gateways that forces drug traffickers to fight tooth and nail for control over them.

And yet the competitive environment has always been more or less stable. Why did everything change so much during Calderon's reign? For a long time, drug trafficking in Juarez was in the hands of the Carrillo Fuentes Organización, which was more often called simply the Juarez cartel. In the 1990s, the leader of the group was Amado Carillo Fuentes, nicknamed “Lord of the Sky,” since he had an entire fleet of aircraft to import cocaine from Colombia. As if from a bad movie, Amado died in 1997 under the knife of a plastic surgeon during an operation to change his appearance. No one really knows how or why exactly he died, but a few months later the three doctors who operated on him were found alive, concreted in oil barrels. Another major blow for the cartel was the exposure of the government contact. José de Jesus Gutiérrez Rebollo was a retired army general appointed to head the National Institute for Drug Enforcement, which automatically made him the czar of the Mexican drug trade. Rebollo received large sums from the Juarez cartel throughout his tenure (you probably already heard about this from the 2000 movie Traffic). With the death of Amado and after the resignation of Rebollo, things went very poorly for the gang.

Their competitors quickly found out about this. The steady flow of bootlegged liquor flowing through Juarez made the city an even more lucrative prospect, and all it took to capture it was a talented corporate merger specialist. As if by order, one winter morning in 2001, the most dexterous drug trafficker in all of Mexico makes a daring escape from prison. The stocky Guzmán from the Sinaloan town of Sierra Madre was not without reason nicknamed “El Chapo” - the short one. It was his short stature of only five and a half feet that helped him escape from prison, located on the outskirts of Mexico City, in a laundry cart. Riding under a pile of dirty prison laundry did not harm the reputation of Mexico's most powerful drug lord and leader of the world's largest Sinaloan cartel. In the ranking of billionaires, El Chapo took sixtyth place as one of the most influential people in the world (but President Calderon was not included in this list at all).

Upon his release, El Chapo decided to take control of Juarez, orphaned without Amado Fuentes. Here is a chronicle of the deaths that followed. In 2004, Rodolfo, the youngest of the Carillo Fuentes brothers, was killed leaving a cinema. That same year, the body of Arturo Guzman, El Chapo's brother, was found in prison in what was seen as an act of retaliation. After four relatively calm years, unknown assailants shot one of El Chapo's sons, Edgar Guzman, in a Sinaloan shopping center. There is a legend that on Mother's Day, which was celebrated two days after Edgar's death, not a single red rose could be found in Juarez, because they were all bought by El Chapo in a fit of deep grief. A few months later, El Chapo's lover was found dead in the trunk of a car, and the symbol of a rival gang was carved on her body. And then the real carnage began.

I happened to set foot on the streets of Juarez precisely at the peak of armed clashes in 2011. Leaving the airport with a notepad in hand and a useless device dangling from my sock, I met with an informant who agreed to take me around the city and tell me everything. Although I’m used to using taxis in my travels, this time I was warned that local “taxistas” often double as cartel observers, and that’s why my friend put me in touch with Miguel. Having my own driver seemed like incredible luck until he asked me to push the car out of parking because the reverse gear was broken. “Yes, it will be impossible to escape pursuit on this car,” I thought as we headed into the city.

As soon as we entered the highway, I found myself thinking that something was wrong in Juarez. Unlike other Mexican cities, where at every intersection someone sells food, fans, fly swatters and other belongings, the local streets were deserted. Even as the weather warms, car windows remain closed during the day. People seem to be trying their best to drive their cars with extreme caution. Traffic in Mexico City is terrible: a few years ago they canceled the driver's license test because most of the examiners were so corrupt that it was almost impossible to pass the test without paying a bribe. In Juarez, on the contrary, drivers are polite and courteous. I asked Miguel why at traffic lights he stops so far from the car in front. “What if they shoot,” he shrugged. Killers most often attack their victims at traffic lights. Therefore, an extra couple of meters to the next car can make the difference between life and death.

I had an appointment with Professor Hugo Almada, an expert on the city's drug industry, who knew it like the back of his hand. The professor sat down wearily on a soft seat in the American-style diner “Barrigas” (“Fat Belly”), where we had previously agreed to talk. “Drug trafficking is like a river,” he said, miming its flow with one hand and slicing his enchilada with the other. “Just try to build a dam and block its path,” the hand falls on the table with a loud knock, “and it will spill everywhere.” It was clear that, like many other Mexicans, he was irritated that President Calderon had taken the war on drugs too literally, using the military to solve the problem whenever possible, only to make it worse. Professor Almada reluctantly acknowledges a more cynical approach to waging this “war” in the United States. “We should take an example from them. Trade is in full swing, drugs continue to flow into the country, money is laundered - and everything is generally calm. But as soon as one goat sets himself up and kills a law enforcement officer, the whole police will be on their ears, he will be found and imprisoned for forty years, and it is unlikely that he will be able to escape. This is an unspoken rule. And here in Juarez, the cops are dropping like flies.”

Translation by G. Mikhailov

Earlier this week, 20 members of a drug cartel were killed in a clash with the military in Mexico. Moreover, the shootout was provoked by the criminals themselves by attacking a patrol of security forces. Similar incidents have long been common in Mexico: the local drug mafia is not afraid of either the police or the army, to which they are not much inferior in numbers and technical equipment. And the drug syndicates became famous for their incredible cruelty far beyond their homeland, turning Mexico into a country where foreign companies are afraid to do business.

The mafia in Mexico has long infiltrated government structures. Not only police officers, but also army officers take part in wars on the side of drug cartels. Bribery and bribery of officials is rampant in the country. Top mafiosi run cartels even from prisons.

Threat to the economy

The drug mafia in Mexico is much more than just a criminal problem. Its activities affect all spheres of state life. In particular, the activity of drug cartels has become a factor hindering the development of the republic’s economy. In the depths of Mexico there are about 545 trillion cubic meters of shale gas and 13 billion of shale oil. However, in 2013 the government passed a law ending the 75-year monopoly of the state-owned Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex) and opening the oil and gas sector to private investment. However, this did not bring any results. On the contrary, over the past decade, the volume of raw material production in Mexico has decreased by a third. The thing is that the areas most attractive for mining are located in the eastern state of Tamaulipas and are in the hands of criminal gangs. As a result, foreign companies, primarily American ones, consider working there too dangerous.

Those who do decide to take this step try to protect their employees as much as possible. For example, Weatherford International workers are escorted to the drilling site by the Mexican army. Such precautions began to be taken after unknown assailants fired at the hotel where the company’s employees lived.

Another serious problem for the development of the oil and gas industry is the theft of raw materials by drug cartels. In 2013, $750 million worth of fuel was illegally pumped out of pipelines.

In recent years, crime syndicates have begun to expand into other types of business. Today they carry out illegal trafficking of migrants and prostitutes. They also sell counterfeit goods, software, and weapons. American counterterrorism analysts are horrified to predict that cartels could soon become couriers for international terrorist and radical extremist organizations.

Photo: Broly Banderas personal Facebook page

The Knights Templar drug cartel has been involved in illegal mining and deforestation over the past few years. Their main source of income is iron ore, according to the Federal Security Commissioner for the state of Michoacán. On the world market, one metric ton of this raw material costs $100, while cartels dump the ore, offering ore for $15. According to Mexican authorities, in 2013 drug cartels earned a billion dollars from the sale of iron ore.

“Drug gangs have become true multinational corporations that will respond to market pressures and do whatever they have to do to stay in business,” says Samuel Logan, director of the consulting firm Southern Pulse.

Now a serious struggle has unfolded between the cartels, not for goods or even for suppliers, but for ports and settlements located near the border and near major highways. The drug lords are demonstrating that they are ready to do anything in this war. Intimidation of the population, government forces and competitors has become routine for them. It has become common practice for members of the drug mafia to disfigure the bodies of their victims and put them on public display, for example by hanging the bodies of those killed on trees. The victims of criminals are often bloggers who dare to criticize them on the Internet. Thus, members of the Los Zetas cartel once hung the mutilated bodies of a young man and woman on a bridge. As the police found out, the only guilt of these unfortunates was unflattering reviews of the drug mafia.

The scale of the wave of violence that has engulfed the country can be judged by the confession made during the trial in the United States by the Mexican Jesus Chavez Castillo. This criminal confessed to killing 800 people in nine months. He took people's lives on the orders of the leader of the gang he was a member of. According to Castillo, the bandits needed daily killings to maintain their authority.

The Knights Templar cartel, founded in 2011, is particularly brutal. This organization, which inherited its name from the medieval knightly order, is more reminiscent of a religious cult. All decisions in the cartel are made by the council of elders. And as a ritual of initiation, applicants for gang membership must eat a human heart. If the Templar does not comply with the order, he will be executed along with his family, with all property confiscated.

States within a state

The first Mexican drug traffickers appeared in the 1940s. Farmers from mountain villages in the state of Sinaloa, which is located 500 kilometers from the US border, began growing marijuana and transporting it to the United States. In the 60s, Colombian cocaine was added to “weed.” Mexico gradually turned into a kind of hub for transporting drugs from Colombia to North America.

Mexican gangs could only dream of a monopoly on the illegal import of drugs in the 70-90s. The entire business was in the hands of the Colombians, led by the famous Pablo Escobar. But then the American and Colombian authorities unexpectedly came to the aid of the Mexicans. By defeating the major cartels in Colombia and cutting off the supply chain through Florida, they unwittingly cleared the way for the Mexican drug cartels. The weakened Colombians could no longer dictate terms. For the supply of drugs through Mexico, they had to pay not only in money, but also in goods (from 35 to 50 percent of the supply volume). In just a few years, Mexican gangs gained complete control over the entire drug trade chain - from raw material plantations to points of sale on the streets of the United States.

As the business expanded, new syndicates emerged. There are currently about ten major cartels in Mexico. Two of them are called founding fathers. These are the Sinaloa Cartel and the Gulf Cartel, which were the first to take over the supply of Colombian drugs to the world market. Later, the former partners turned into competitors, unleashing a fierce war in the country.

The fight against drug cartels is complicated by the fact that law enforcement officers themselves often go over to their side. Mafiosi easily lure border guards by asking just one question: Plata o plomo (silver or lead)? Those who refuse to cooperate with criminals usually do not live long. It is not surprising that customs officers prefer to take bribes, turning a blind eye to smuggling.

Since the late 1990s, the cartels have begun to hire former soldiers of the elite army units (GAFE), trained by specialists from the United States, Israel and France. Recruitment notices were openly posted in towns. Cartel vacancies became one of the reasons for mass desertions from the Mexican army. From 2000 to 2006, about 100 thousand soldiers and officers went over to the side of the bandits. These mercenaries are called sicarios. They collect taxes, provide drug supplies, and also destroy competitors. Gradually, the former military ousted the old mafiosi, concentrating all power in their hands.

The government army can envy the technical equipment of mercenaries. The drug cartels have mortars, anti-tank missiles, grenade launchers and heavy machine guns in their arsenal. Mexicans buy weapons from the United States. There it costs three to four times cheaper. For individual purchases, they usually use front people who receive $50-100 for their services.

The Mexican drug mafia also bribes American officials. Thus, in June 2011, the US government arrested 127 customs and border patrol officers who collaborated with Mexican drug cartels. As the investigation showed, for one missed car with cocaine, customs officers received an average of a million dollars.

Thieves romance

Gradually, Mexico turned into a country with a thriving drug business, which affected almost all spheres of society. Drug lords sponsor films and TV series in which mafiosi are presented as positive heroes. The bandits are sung in their songs by well-known drug singers in the country. Singing "narcocorridos" - songs dedicated to the mafia - teenagers in Mexico see a path to success in selling drugs. Dreaming of becoming richer, young people join gangs at the age of 14.

It seems to ordinary Mexicans that members of criminal gangs feel good not only during life, but also after death. It is customary for mafiosi to see off their fallen comrades with honors and bury them in mausoleums. The cartels spare no expense on the construction of the crypt. The cheapest tombs - for ordinary fighters - cost 20-30 thousand dollars. Crypts for the top of the clan cost from 300 to 500 thousand dollars. This amount often includes the price of air conditioners and stereo systems, which mausoleums are equipped with for added luxury. When decorating the crypt, the preferences of the deceased are taken into account: he is depicted with a weapon in his hands or driving a car.

In the first half of the 2000s, Mexican authorities turned a blind eye to the growth of the octopus drug business. The mafiosi had an unspoken agreement with President Vicente Fox: not to interfere in each other's affairs. This led to the weakening of central power. Everything changed in 2006, when Felipe Calderon became president. The country's new leader declared war on the drug cartels.

Calderon's work is continued by the new president of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto. Fighting crime in Mexico, the country's authorities arrest and destroy cartel leaders. As a result, powerful criminal organizations are breaking up into small armed groups. Some believe that this is the beginning of the end of the cartels, since disagreement within their ranks is a sure way to defeat. However, more experts believe that the measures taken by the government have not yet brought the desired effect. Small armed groups are more difficult to target. And for them, in turn, it is much easier to bribe local officials.

The drug mafia has been thriving in the country for several decades. And since the 70s of the 20th century, some government and political structures have been promoting its activities. With the collapse of the Colombian drug cartels in the 90s, Mexican groups increased their influence and are still powerful. Mexico's cartels dominate the wholesale distribution of illegal substances in America.

The origin and development of drug cartels in Mexico

The drug trade in Mexico began in the 1940s. It originated in the state of Sinaloa. This place was considered the best to freely supply contraband to the United States.

A group of rural residents acted as the first Mexican drug couriers. In the 60s, cocaine, which was fashionable at that time, was added to marijuana. For a long time, the Mexicans only served the Colombian drug supply channel to North America.

In the 90s, the Colombian drug business began to die. The decline occurs due to the closure of the Columbia-Florida Canal. From now on, Mexico remains the only route to bring cocaine to America. Local groups become the sole suppliers of the drug.

The heyday of the cartels in Mexico

The rapid takeover of the cocaine market entails a change in the situation within the country. The cartels are growing their own armies and fiercely competing with each other. Mexican gangs rule their cities and states, the local police are bought and intimidated. People who did not want to cooperate with the terrible drug mafia were simply destroyed.

Some Mexican border guards did not inspect cartel trucks at all, while others pretended not to notice the thousands of tons of drugs being shipped across the border. Those officers who had the courage to stop the transportation of illegal cargo died the next day from colleagues or bandits.

At the beginning of the 2000s, drug cartels had already bought almost the entire government of the country. The drug trade is an integral part of the state economy.

A full-scale war against drug cartels begins in 2006 on the initiative of the current head of state, Felipe Calderon, with financial support from the United States. In six years, he managed to cleanse the ranks of structures from corruption, increase the earnings of military personnel, and crack down on drug dealers.

The most famous Mexican drug cartels

Despite the fact that the fight against illegal business has been quite successful, drug cartels in Mexico still exist. They are very influential and powerful. According to some sources, the drug mafia has numerous prisons where they hold more than a thousand prisoners.

Sinaloa Cartel

With the birth of this particular organized crime group, the history of the Mexican cartels began. Until now, Sinaloa is the largest supplier of drugs: the share of supplies to the United States is about 60%.

The cartel's criminal activities extend to 17 countries, which supply cocaine, heroin, marijuana and methamphetamine.

In 2010, the Sinaloa cartel managed to penetrate government structures.

Los Zetas Cartel

The founder of the cartel is a former soldier of the Mexican army, Heriberto Lazcano. Using his connections gained during his service, he gets access to suppliers. Los Zetas is quickly becoming a force among the Mexican cartels. Lazcano did his best to make everyone fear them. He had entire detachments of executioners working for him, engaged in the brutal murders of competitors, but first they tortured them.

The cartel leadership collected incriminating dossiers on officials, thanks to which any emerging problem with the authorities was quickly resolved.

Los Zetas today is a large corporation. Its numerous divisions supply and sell drugs, cover up illegal operations, engage in showdowns, murders and executions of victims. In addition to crime, the cartel is engaged in legal investment business.

Golf Cartel

"Golfo" is famous due to the fact that many policemen and military personnel joined his mercenary squad. Before the cartel was divided into separate groups, the criminals managed to instill fear in the people of Mexico and destroy some border towns.

In 2006, a group of people separated from the cartel and set off on an independent voyage called Los Zetas. Since their drug trafficking routes in the United States coincided with Golfo, a bloody war was waged between the drug cartels, which claimed several hundred lives. In 2010, the cartel lost its former influence, and in 2012 its leader was arrested.

New Generation Cartel "Jalisco" or "Mata Zeta"

This criminal organization was founded in 2009. The head of the gang is Nemesio Oseguera, a former police officer. He managed to literally carve out a place for himself in the crowd of competitors.

Cartel leaders are not focused only on war, they are able to use diplomatic methods to develop new territories and give bribes to exactly those employees that they need at a certain moment.

In the summer of 2009, gang thugs brutally massacred 3,800 residents of the state of Jalisco. The agreement between Nemesio and the country's law enforcement officials allowed the cartel to become an impregnable fortress from which decisions are made regarding the fate of citizens throughout almost all of Mexico.

"New Juarez Cartel"

The founder of the group is Pablo Acosta Villarreal, who was killed in 1987. Then Amado Carrillo Fuentes took the lead and handled all matters on a grand scale. He was involved in transporting drugs to the United States using many aircraft. During his reign, 50% of drug trafficking came from his cartel.

The organization is currently headed by Vicente Carrillo Fuentes. The main rival is the Mexican Sinaloa cartel, whose leaders continue to control most of the drug trafficking in Juarez. Because of this, bloody massacres are constantly taking place on its territory.

In 2005, the police managed to catch and imprison Fuentes, from where he continues to direct crimes.

Templar cartel

The cartel was founded in 2010. One of the main sources of income is extorting money from entrepreneurs. The pirate market in Michoacan and Guanajuato is under the control of the gang. The leaders are actively blackmailing the authorities and taking interest in the construction of socially significant facilities in the state. Municipal and agricultural fairs operate under the complete control of the Templar cartel. Businessmen and tenants of retail spaces who regularly pay the gang do not experience any problems.

In terms of its management structure, the Templar cartel is similar to an enterprise headed by the Council. According to his instructions, the four lower departments operate: commercial, administrative, legal, operational. The last of them is an armed structure, it includes executioners for torture and murder.

The place of activity of the organization is the northwestern part of the country. The business is run by the Arellano Felix family, consisting of 10 people. They are all brothers and sisters, and they inherited the business from their father.

Until the early 80s of the last century, the cartel was engaged in smuggling of alcohol, clothing and other things. After adding marijuana to the list of traditional goods, the main activity became the supply of narcotic substances. But gradually, poor and deserted Sinaloa began to displease Arellano, and the family decided to develop Tijuana. This city, rich in tourists and bordering the United States, met all the ambitions of the cartel members.

However, the market in Tijuana was occupied by other drug lords who had no intention of sharing with the insolent people. Soon, a massacre began in the city, as a result of which Arellano gained full power and expanded his influence. Now, in addition to marijuana, the Tijuana cartel has become involved in the sale of cocaine, heroin, and synthetic drugs.

At the beginning of the 21st century, the drug cartel is a powerful international group.

How are things now?

Mexican drug cartels engage in illegal drug transportation and trafficking on an incredible scale. These gangs are closely intertwined with government services and the police. The cartels divided Mexico up like a pie. If the authorities begin to resist them, they begin to take revenge and initiate massive armed conflicts, kidnap and execute local residents, carry out massacres, and organize large robberies. In addition to the cartels, there are numerous small gangs operating in the state that should be feared.

The new government does not have a forceful component in its methods of fighting crime. The country's president announced his readiness to engage in negotiations with drug dealers, as a result of which the level of violence has decreased slightly.

It is incredibly difficult for the authorities to investigate crimes and somehow suppress the activities of drug cartels due to the fact that the leaders of these organizations make large donations to churches, charities, and invest in urban improvement. In response, local residents support the leaders of criminal gangs.

Safety in Mexico for tourists

Dangerous states are located in the northern territories of the country. Organized drug trafficking and illegal migration to the United States are factors that contribute to high crime rates in Mexico.

Tourists, especially single tourists, are prohibited from visiting dangerous areas. Foreigners appearing in such places risk being robbed, kidnapped or killed for gold jewelry, money, expensive equipment, or a good car.

Although Mexico City is the capital of the country, there are also disadvantaged areas there:

• Tepito (tourists are often kidnapped here);
• Ciudad Azteca;
• Guerrero;
• Peraviya;
• Iztapalapa;
• La Paz;
• Iztapaluca;
• Nesavalcoetl.

For safety reasons, you should avoid slums: even if you are in the prosperous tourist resort of Cancun, the situation can change dramatically, so you should not go far from the hotels.

Mexicans are actively involved in fraud and trade in busy areas with many tourists. Here are some common ways to deceive foreigners:

• a fake policeman demands to pay a fine for a fictitious violation. You should ask a law enforcement officer who suddenly appears about the documents and find out what exactly you need to pay for;
• overpricing by boat tour guides. At first they quote a very small amount for their services, and at the end of the trip they increase the rate, and you still have to pay, otherwise the boat simply won’t land on the shore. In order not to run into such deceivers, it is better to agree on the cost of the trip in advance and record the conversation on camera;
• Gas attendants in Mexico do not receive an official salary; they feed on tips. If you give a banknote with a large denomination, you don’t have to wait for change;
• Card readers and video cameras in ATMs allow scammers to read information from the magnetic stripe, as well as the PIN code. In order not to lose money, you need to withdraw it in banks and shopping centers;
• illegal sale of exotic goods. At the airport, these things are necessarily confiscated, and the tourist is subject to a serious fine or, in the worst case, arrested.

In order not to attract the attention of local robbers, you do not need to carry wallets with cash and plastic cards in your pockets. It is also not recommended to put money in one place, because you can easily lose it. You must leave your passport at the hotel, and only have a photocopy of the document with you.

A taxi should be called exclusively by phone, and the car number and license of the taxi driver should be written down. When traveling in a rented car, you must choose toll roads. Remember also that hitchhiking is extremely dangerous for tourists. If you follow the recommendations, you can avoid danger and fully enjoy the beauty and flavor of the country.

The whole truth about life in drug cartel-controlled Mexico is told by a citizen who fled the daily shootings to Canada.

The drug trade is a quirky culture.

Drug dealers here are not afraid to say they are drug dealers. Each cartel has its own emblem. You join any of them and receive a “branded” large bag, only it will not have the Adibas logo, but the cartel logo.

People actually brag about their cartel membership on Facebook. Cartels post photos of murdered bloggers and anti-drug activists as if they were pictures of kittens. This is called drug culture, and it is what happens to you when you deal with various gangs for long enough. It becomes a kind of football fans' club, but with a hint of cocaine and marijuana.

The drug culture has its own patron saint - Malverde. Mexicans call him the "guardian angel of the poor" or the "generous bandit," and all smugglers pray to him before setting off with a shipment to America or before raiding another cartel's hideout. If everything goes well, Saint Melverde receives a new thanksgiving candle.

The drug culture also has its own multi-million dollar musical style, beloved by all the poor youth of Mexico. They dream of wealth and power, and only the drug trade can help them achieve this. This style is called "narcocorridos", and many have heard at least one song without even knowing it.

And if it seems cool and cool to you, then...

This is a real war.

Here's a little story. The cartels started having problems during Prohibition in the United States. It all started with small family-owned beer cartels that smuggled their product into the United States. When America repealed Prohibition, bootleggers were confused... but then the United States banned marijuana. This was an opportunity for drug manufacturers and murderers. The players have changed, but the meaning remains the same. America bans something, and in Mexico people start shooting at each other for a piece of the pie called the black market, estimated at tens of billions of dollars.

But in 2006 everything changed. It was then that Mexican President Felipe Calderon decided to turn the “war on drugs” into a real war. He invaded the drug world with the help of the army and a real bloody war began. While everyone agrees that the cartels will never go away as long as there is still easy money to be made, at least 80,000 people have died, making the Mexican drug war a bloodier affair than the American war was in Vietnam.

The drug war is touching every aspect of life in Mexico's northern cities and in cities dominated by cartels. In cities where gangs still compete with each other, shootings are perceived as bad weather and traffic jams. Murders have become commonplace in the endless cartel wars. The cartels even issue warnings so ordinary people know not to leave the house after 7:00 pm or 8:00 pm, or whenever the gangs decide it's time to kill. Yes, this can be called caring for ordinary citizens, but everything would be much better if they did not kill ordinary road workers in order to warn the cartel in the area.

Ordinary citizens began to form groups called "autodefensas". They also have guns because they take them from killed cartel members. They've cleared out about 5 percent of Mexico within a year, but it's clear the government doesn't approve of a vigilante army operating outside the law. It doesn't help that the cartels have money and influence - they control most of Mexico's government and police, even in a time when the president has been harshly critical of the situation.

What's even more incredible is that the government is attacking the vigilante groups with tanks and helicopters to "disarm" them. And then the cartels tap their badge-wearing buddies on the back and prove that mass murder, like riding a bike, is a skill you'll never forget, no matter what uniform you wear.

The cartels have an advanced PR campaign.

When I got into [a city that they refused to name for fear of being executed], I saw a billboard: "Mexican soldier! You only get $800 a month. You eat unhealthy food. Join us and you will earn at least $1000-2000 a month. And at the same time you will get more free time!" Similar cartel advertisements offering cash to soldiers for their weapons or loyalty can be seen in various parts of the country.

They also have their own news form. Distributed primarily through Facebook, the cartel's news contains less information for people and more intimidating slogans and photos and videos of gruesome executions. And of course selfies, because even brutal killers feel the need to snap their face whenever possible.

But no good PR campaign is limited to the Internet. The cartels also make every effort to spread propaganda to people who live near where they operate. If a hurricane, flood or other disaster strikes, you can be sure that the cartel trucks will be the first to help. They will instantly fill the affected area, and the cartel’s “ministers” will painstakingly film it all for YouTube. And all because a few trucks filled with food and water at the right moment completely erase all memories of the murders.

For many Mexicans, the cartels are the government.

Successful cartels control Mexican society through more than just fear. The cartels give out gifts at Christmas like Santa Claus with a beard full of cocaine. In addition, they allocate money. Yes, they just give money.

Since the Mexican government simply does not have any leverage in some parts of the country, the cartels have taken on the mission of building schools and hospitals. But it is not out of the goodness of their hearts that they recruit their members from these institutions. We are talking about poor children in rural areas of Mexico where there are no other opportunities. Imagine, your dad worked all week seven days a week for $20, and then a kid at school with an iPad and designer jeans starts saying, “You know, you can make $800 or $900 a month, and I can introduce you to people who will tell you how..."

They will begin to listen carefully to such a child and will begin to consider him a true “friend.” It's not even a question of money; most of us would do exactly the same if we were faced with a choice between “wages and starvation” and “fast, illegal, but huge money.” It's the same with the police; You can earn as little as $11,000 a year as a city police chief, but if you're flexible enough, you can earn three times that amount or more. Integrity disappears pretty quickly when it stands between you and things like antibiotics for your children or just money for booze.

And for those who don't join...

This is worse than dictatorship.

The cartels have their own checkpoints, just like the government. While government checkpoints are looking for drugs and weapons, cartel checkpoints are looking for anyone who may be working for a rival cartel.

For example, a guy born near the Bay Area decided to drive across the country towards the Pacific Ocean. Real police officers won't worry because it's completely normal. But the cartels may suspect that he is working for their enemies from the other coast, and therefore this guy simply will not make it to the opposite coast. There is no need to prove anything, no trial or investigation. If they suspect something, they will simply kill you.

Living under cartel surveillance changes everything you can talk about with friends. With a dictatorship, as long as you stay out of politics, you are safe. But in a cartel-run area, if a drug dealer likes your girlfriend, he will kill you. You have no right to exist. If you are a woman and he wants to "date" you, you have no right to refuse. Complained about a cartel on a blog? You will be lucky if you live to see your next birthday.

Two people I know were in a restaurant (in another city that I won't name) when two thugs entered the premises. They grabbed the guy in front of his family and dragged him outside. Another bandit told the other customers: "Be quiet or we will kill you all." The guy they took was never found and most likely never will be found.

If you're asking yourself why all this is happening in Mexico, there's one thing to keep in mind...

Money and weapons come from America.

I'm irritated by the way Americans don't take cocaine seriously, like in American movies like The Wolves of Wall Street, because 90 percent of the coke Americans buy goes through Mexico on its way to the American nose. Cartels make up to $64 billion a year selling drugs in the United States. Marijuana legalization in Colorado and Washington may have cut their revenues by as much as $3 billion, but coke and meth remain a lucrative business, and no one in the US is going to legalize them.

All of these drug profits do not stay in Mexico. The money flows back across the border to the 6,700 American firearms dealers who operate near the border. Nearly half of all gun dealers in the United States depend on arms trade with Mexican cartels. You'll never hear about this in an NRA (National Rifle Association) ad, and when you hear people complaining that they need big walls along the border to keep drugs and immigrants out, they forget about the flow of deadly weapons going the other way . Rather, it is precisely because of this that the United States is not seeking to strengthen control on the border of the two countries.

Gun trafficking is illegal in Mexico. There is only one legal gun store in all of Mexico City, and you can only buy guns with permission from the country's armed forces. So while the US fights armed attacks, weapons of all kinds are flowing into Mexico and killing people. And no one in the US, when talking about a gun ban, will think of Mexico, because who cares about the suffering of others, right?

In US political circles, there has recently been discussion of the ATF program or the program of "selling weapons directly to the cartels to see what happens." Isn't this wild? The issue was quickly hushed up when a US border patrol member was shot and killed with weapons smuggled from the US. And no one counts the people who died from the same weapons in Mexico itself. Maybe their names are too complicated for dumb Americans to spell?

And can you imagine the anger of American politicians if, say, seven people in southern Arizona were killed in an ambush by a Mexican drug cartel? But if you go about a mile south, you will find yourself in Mexico, and even the shooting of 100 people will not be noticed. This is the magic of the US-Mexico border and it is this amazing quality that allows everyone to believe that what happens on the other side will never be their problem.

Don't bring evil into someone else's house and you won't get it back.

Material prepared by GusenaLapchataya

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