A new investigation has revealed the brutal methods by which one of Mexico’s most powerful criminal organizations, responsible for the production and trafficking of narcotics, recruited new members: deceptive online job ads to offer false opportunities as well-paid security guards, forced withdrawals from bus stations; armed training at gunpoint; and the complicity of local authorities. The latter were in fact recruited as trainers and leaders of teams of armed men by exploiting their professional training. A ranch, the site of the training, located in the state of Jalisco, was discovered in 2024, but the investigation was only rekindled in March, when family members of desaparecidos, or missing persons, found human remains and hundreds of personal belongings at the site, probably victims of forced recruitment. At least three local police officers are now under investigation for complicity.
According to current investigations conducted by the U.S. federal Drug Enforcement Administration DEA agency, the Jalisco cartel is currently one of the most powerful drug trafficking criminal organizations in all of Mexico. According to the agency, which conducts investigations both domestically and internationally to disrupt drug trafficking and prosecute the organizations involved, the Jalisco cartel reportedly developed rapidly as an extremely violent and well-structured organization after separating from the Sinaloa cartel following the killing of leader Ignacio “Nacho” Coronel Villarreal by the military in 2010.
The Jalisco and Sinaloa cartels have fought to gain control over drug trafficking in various parts of Mexico, including the southern border with Guatemala. Both are among the six Mexican organized criminal groups recently designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the U.S. government. Leading the Jalisco cartel is boss Nemesio Rubén “el Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, for whom the U.S. government offered a $15 million reward for information leading to his capture.
