Organization is key to running a successful business, the illicit drug trade is no exception. The Gulf Cartel began as a group of former lieutenant and has expanded to include their own paramilitary group (Los Zetas). The duties of the members of Los Zetas include laundering money, kidnapping, assassinating and collecting any debts owed to the Gulf Cartel. The Gulf Cartel maintains control over Nuevo Laredo, a border city with Laredo, Texas. The majority of their drug smuggling occurs across the Mexico-Texas border. In recent news a former Texas Sheriff was sentenced to five years in prison for accepting bribes from the Gulf Cartel in order for the Cartel to freely smuggle drugs into the United States[1]. The recent arrest of Sheriff Guerra shows the extent of the Gulf Cartel’s influence. The cartel’s influence reaches across the border and into the United States.
The Gulf Cartel has benefited greatly as a result of corrupt government officials, including law enforcement agents. In the past year 122 Mexican police officers have been arrested on suspicion of having ties to Los Zetas. The relationship the Cartel has with the police officers allows drug trafficking to go on without interruption. Officer corruption has been attributed to the low pay they receive. The low pay makes the decision to take the Gulf Cartel’s bribes much easier. Another effort aimed at reducing police corruption includes better training as well as equipping the officers with the proper tools needed to carry out their duties. [2] By cutting off the link that ties police officers to the Gulf Cartel the Mexican government is moving closer towards dissolving the Gulf Cartel.
In order to combat the Gulf Cartel, as well as other Mexican drug cartels, 48,000 troops have been deployed by President Felipe Calderon. In addition to this the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has offered a combined reward of $50 million for the arrests of the Gulf Cartel’s leaders. According to the DEA, “the Gulf Cartel is responsible for much of the escalation of violence along our Southwest Border. Their violence is not contained at the Border, however. It has reached as far as Chicago and Detroit and even into small town America, as evidenced by the horrific murders of five people, including 3 innocent bystanders, in Birmingham, Alabama, in August 2008—attributed to the Cartel”[3]. The border is no barrier for drug related violence.
[1] Texas: Former Sheriff Is Sentenced. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/us/28brfs-FORMERSHERIF_BRF.html
[2] Police Step Up in Mexico’s Drug Wars. http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-09-16-mexico-drug-war_N.htm
[3] DEA Announces Gulf Cartel/Los Zetas Most-Wanted List.
http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/states/newsrel/2009/dallas072309.html
The Gulf Cartel has benefited greatly as a result of corrupt government officials, including law enforcement agents. In the past year 122 Mexican police officers have been arrested on suspicion of having ties to Los Zetas. The relationship the Cartel has with the police officers allows drug trafficking to go on without interruption. Officer corruption has been attributed to the low pay they receive. The low pay makes the decision to take the Gulf Cartel’s bribes much easier. Another effort aimed at reducing police corruption includes better training as well as equipping the officers with the proper tools needed to carry out their duties. [2] By cutting off the link that ties police officers to the Gulf Cartel the Mexican government is moving closer towards dissolving the Gulf Cartel.
In order to combat the Gulf Cartel, as well as other Mexican drug cartels, 48,000 troops have been deployed by President Felipe Calderon. In addition to this the United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has offered a combined reward of $50 million for the arrests of the Gulf Cartel’s leaders. According to the DEA, “the Gulf Cartel is responsible for much of the escalation of violence along our Southwest Border. Their violence is not contained at the Border, however. It has reached as far as Chicago and Detroit and even into small town America, as evidenced by the horrific murders of five people, including 3 innocent bystanders, in Birmingham, Alabama, in August 2008—attributed to the Cartel”[3]. The border is no barrier for drug related violence.
[1] Texas: Former Sheriff Is Sentenced. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/us/28brfs-FORMERSHERIF_BRF.html
[2] Police Step Up in Mexico’s Drug Wars. http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-09-16-mexico-drug-war_N.htm
[3] DEA Announces Gulf Cartel/Los Zetas Most-Wanted List.
http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/states/newsrel/2009/dallas072309.html
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