The recent killing of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, the leader of the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) who was commonly referred to by his alias “El Mencho”, has once again brought global attention to drug-related violence in Mexico. His death at the hands of the Mexican security forces triggered a wave of retaliatory violence that affected several states.
This situation will undoubtedly occur again. Under Donald Trump, the US government has been ramping up pressure on the Mexican authorities to take stronger action against the cartels that traffic drugs across the border. So now is a good moment to reflect on the main cartels operating in Mexico and the underlying factors that sustain their operations.
For decades, Mexico had three major drug trafficking groups: the Milenio cartel, the Sinaloa cartel and the Golfo cartel. These organisations dominated drug trafficking until the 1980s when the Mexican government, under pressure from the US, intensified its operations against them. This pressure followed the 1985 killing of American Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique Camarena by organised crime figures.
