Guadalajara -
Mexico's monolithic drug cartels now have a presence on every continent, and dominate the production, distribution and sale of cocaine, according to the U.S. security consulting firm Stratfor in a report quoted by news services today.
The cartels, which Mexico's new attorney general recently said number between 60 and 80, are constantly focused on expanding and developing new markets, according to the firm. Measured by revenues, cocaine sales have made them genuine business rivals to the world's largest corporations.
Stratfor is a global intelligence company founded in 1996 in Austin, Tex. It sells intelligence briefings to individual and corporate subscribers through its website. Stratfor is often quoted in the Mexican press, especially on drug war matters.
In the Stratfor report summarized today by a reliable Mexican news service, the company's analysts concluded that trafficking in cocaine has brought more money and power to Mexican cartels than the sale of any other drug. While most of the cocaine is shipped to the U.S. because of its geographical proximity, cartel operations now extend to remote corners of the world, including Asia and Africa.
Stratfor says that the primary cocaine distribution centers in the United States are Atlanta, Chicago and Dallas.
Last November former president Felipe Calderón told a European audience that at least $20 billion dollars enter Mexico every year as the result of American drug demand, and "in the face of that mountain of money, the people of Mexico are struggling to confront" organized crime and narcotics trafficking.
Stratfor echoed the theme. "Trafficking in cocaine earns billions of dollars which enables the cartels' global expansion, and finances the operations of organized crime in Mexico. It permits them not only to buy ships and airplanes, but to hire executioners, bribe officials and undermine the government."
But Stratfor also pointed out that marijuana and methamphetamine are important cartel exports, and generate huge revenues in their own right. In recent months meth and synthetic drug labs have been discovered and decommissioned by security forces in Jalisco state and the greater Guadalajara area.
Stratfor argues in today's report that the global drug trafficking industry has changed radically since the 1970s, when it was dominated by Colombian cartel bosses who hired Mexicans to haul cocaine north to the U.S. border, for paltry compensation. Now those Mexicans are the "main actors on the world stage," according to Stratfor.
Mar. 26 - Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel enjoys 90% market domination in U.S.
Mar. 29 - A Mexican researcher has published a study which reports that the Sinaloa Cartel became a global enterprise by diversification in the manufacture and distribution of drugs, including cocaine, opiates, marijuana, designer drugs and above all methamphetamine. José Luis León Manríquez, a Ph.D. in political science at Colombia University in New York, concluded that the cartel controls a triangular market between Mexico, the United States and Asia. Dr. León found that Sinaloa has been a major producer and exporter of meth since the 1990s and enjoys a virtual monopoly on the drug in many countries, including 80% market domination in the U.S. according to a DEA analysis.
Mar. 4, 2014 - A United Nations committee today reported that despite large narcotics seizures by Mexican security forces, 90% of the cocaine arriving in the United States originates in Colombia and passes through Central America and Mexico in route, while 80% of the methamphetamine seized by U.S. border authorities was manufactured in Mexico. México sigue siendo país de tránsito de drogas.
2013
Jan. 13 - Mexican drug cartels operate in 1,286 U.S. cities
Jan. 7 - Peña Nieto: no option but to follow Calderón strategy
2012
Dec. 20 - Mérida millionairess convicted of drug trafficking, money laundering in Nicaragua
Dec. 19 - The drug addict next door
Nov. 1 - Stratfor warns about consequences of putting army troops on Cancún streets
Sept. 29 - Los Zetas are "dominant force" in Central America and have foothold in Belize, says U.N.
2011
Dec. 29 - Honduras "invaded by drug traffickers" - tons of cocaine shipped to U.S.
Dec. 12 - Obama: U.S. drug demand responsible for damage done to Mexico and other nations
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