Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel on Fentanyl “stop producing the drug or die”

in one of the biggest shifts in drug trafficking in a generation, the leaders of the notorious Sinaloa cartel warning its members to ‘stop producing the drug or die.’ The trafficking of fentanyl from Mexico to the United States may finally start to decrease, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Under the leadership of drug lord Joaquín Guzmán (known as El Chapo), the Sinaloa cartel emerged as a global leader in the movement of illicit narcotics including cocaine and fentanyl – a highly-addictive, synthetic opioid that has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans. After escaping from prison multiple times, El Chapo was finally captured in 2016 and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2019 (see image above). His son, Ovidio, was captured earlier this year and extradited to the US for trial. 

With the Sinaloa cartel acting as the leading exporter of fentanyl to the US, overdose deaths involving the drug have increased by nearly 280% since 2016 to reach a shocking 67,235 in 2021.

The cartel’s decision to ban fentanyl follows efforts from the Biden Administration to force the Mexican government to take action against the cartel. Some GOP lawmakers have even suggested sending the military to Mexico to fight the gang. 

In April, the US government announced indictments against Guzmán’s four sons and several of their associates following the DEA’s announcement that it had infiltrated the cartel and achieved “unprecedented access to the organization’s highest levels.”

The Sinaloa cartel is currently being led by Guzmán’s sons Jesús Alfredo Guzmán and Ivan Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar. They call themselves “the Chapitos.” According to a source within the cartel, the Chapitos are leaving the fentanyl business with hopes the US will shift its crackdown efforts to the group’s primary rival, a fentanyl-producer known as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. 

Though many officials are wary of the Sinaloa cartel’s true intentions, the group sent a grim message in June when it left three dead bodies sprinkled with fentanyl pills near the outskirts of Culiacán. Individuals who recently left the fentanyl business claim the Sinaloa cartel has killed five more people and kidnapped twelve for violating the ban.

When US Secretary of State Antony Blinken journeyed to Culiacán earlier this month, he reported seeing large banners advertising the fentanyl ban hanging from overpasses and construction sites. Similar signs have been spotted in Sonora state and Tijuana.

Though we can expect an increase in the amount of heroin, meth, and cocaine being trafficked into the US to make up for lost profits, the cartel’s decision to stop moving fentanyl is good news – for now. Manelich Castilla, a former leader of Mexico’s federal police, doubts the cartel will abandon fentanyl permanently as doing so would leave the lucrative business securely in the hands of the Jalisco cartel. 

Editor’s note: As a former CIA officer in the Crime in Narcotics Center, I hesitate to give credit to the Biden Administration. While I believe that our counter narcotics agents are working their butts off and have likely been given more inspiration with the opioid crisis and the deaths from fentanyl, I think something else is adding to this. Someone has perhaps made a deal, and somehow that deal is more lucrative for the Sinaloa Cartel. It may involve China, or it may be some appeaser asshole in the Biden Administration. I don’t believe the Sinaloa Cartel is scared, but even with some kind of disastrous deal, this will likely slow down fentanyl smuggling. But I will give credit where credit is due, something bold happened.

Source:

Mexican Sinaloa Cartel’s Message to Members: Stop Making Fentanyl or Die