Jeremy Kryt: Mexico’s Murderous Super-Cartel CJNG Is Winning the ‘Narco Game of Thrones’
Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) is
now the most powerful criminal organization in the country, with a confirmed
presence in 22 Mexican states as well as the U.S., Central America, and South
America.
A study this
year determined that Mexico was home to 1.13 million people displaced by
violence. Guerrero, long among Mexico’s most
dangerous states and the nation’s top heroin producer, is also a
leader when it comes to internal refugees, many
of whom flee north to seek asylum. The U.S. border patrol deports more
residents from Guerrero than from anywhere else in Mexico.
There are two main
factors driving the flow of refugees from small towns and villages like
Vallecitos, and they are both tied to seismic changes in the cartel universe.
The first has to do with an ongoing power struggle in the wake of Joaquín “El
Chapo” Guzmán’s capture and extradition to the U.S. The second is related to a
profound shift in the habits of the cartels’ best customers: American drug
users.
These two key issues
combined to push Mexico's homicide rate to historic
levels this year. October has been marked by several major clashes,
including one involving
El Chapo’s son and another last week here in Guerrero that cost
15 lives. In all, some 17,000 people were killed in the first half of 2019,
making this year the bloodiest in the 12-year history of the drug war. To better understand
these changes, and how they impact communities, I’ve sought out a mysterious
man named José Ángel Contreras, leader of the powerful Contreras clan, and the
de facto authority in this lawless stretch of the sierra.... read more:
