Jabberwocky
Frumious Bandersnatch
- Joined
- Nov 3, 1999
- Messages
- 84,998
IN A world bought and paid for with bloodshed, violence is never far from the minds of Mexico’s drug lords.
But with the demise of one of the country’s most notorious cartel leaders, a war is thought to be bubbling under the surface as young narcotraffickers ready themselves for a potential power grab.
Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán was captured by authorities following a now infamous secret meeting with Hollywood actor Sean Penn, months after escaping from a Mexican prison through an elaborate set of tunnels.
Inside a Mexican prison, El Chapo is able to call the shots from afar. But it’s likely he will be extradited to the US where his influence will be muted, causing a further vacuum in Mexico’s increasingly fractured world of organised crime.
A majority of the fighting is taking place in a region known as ‘Little Hell’ (Infiernillo), or Tierra Caliente which runs through the southwestern Guerrero state.
The area has become the new front line of the bloody narco wars, in part due to the fact it is home to the largest heroin production in the country, most of which is smuggled north into the lucrative US market.
According to The Daily Beast, in just the past three months, there have been more than 340 murders in Tierra Caliente and neighbouring municipalities.
Last month alone, authorities have recorded at least 35 “forced disappearances”, including several children which has even caused schools to close throughout the region.
In one recent case, 30 men dressed as police officers terrorised a school and kidnapped the principal and four other teachers.
Guerrero is also the state where 43 schoolchildren disappeared, sparking a huge public outcry that dominated headlines in the country.
BATTLE FOR TERRITORY
Until 2015, organised crime in the region was dominated by Sinaloa and Tamaulipas based crime groups, the former of which was controlled by El Chapo. But in the past year or so, the old vanguard has ceded ground and splinter groups are looking to consolidate their power.
The state of Guerrero in which Tierra Caliente lies has become organised crime central.
New gangs have popped up, and with the recapture of El Chapo, authorities fear a spike in violence as rival gangs try to take advantage.
These younger gangs have names such as Los Rojos (The Reds), Guerreros Unidos (Warrior’s United) and the increasingly powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and are full of members all trying to make a name for themselves.
As a special Stratfor report on the state Mexico’s cartel violence noted: “No criminal group will be immune to downsizing and decentralisation” in 2016, a scenario that has led to an “increase in violence related to organised crime”.
SPLINTER GROUPS MORE VIOLENT
Unbelievably, these splinter groups exhibit even more violent tendencies than some of their predecessor drug cartels.
“I’ve been in Mexico for 30 years but I never imagined that we could see the levels of violence happening now,” Laura Carlsen told The Daily Beast.
She is the director of the Mexico City-based Americas Program which aims to influence US policy in the region and said the current level of violence amounts to a “human rights crisis in Tierra Caliente”.
Among the brutal tactics which have come to define Tierra Caliente, gang members are known to skin the face off their victims while they’re still alive. They also engage in brutal Islamic State-style beheadings, use dramatic tools such as
chainsaws to dismember their victims and dissolve the bodies of their enemies in vats of acid.
One of the gangs most responsible for such depravity in the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and their notoriously slick leader, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as ‘El Mencho’.
Over the past few years, he has used his cunning and brutality to rise through the ranks of Mexico’s world of narco crime.
“He’s the top crime boss right now in Mexico,” according to Stratfor’s Tristan Reed, a Mexican security analyst for the global intelligence firm.
El Mencho is just one of many who are looking to capitalise on El Chapo’s extradition to the United States.
US and Mexican authorities are currently working on an extradition deal which will see El Chapo languish in a US jail cell.
However, according to José Manuel Merino Madrid, who oversees extradition efforts in Mexico, the extradition could take a year to finalise as El Chapo’s lawyers try to slow the process.
If he somehow manages to sidestep extradition, El Chapo would likely be able to maintain his dominance in controlling trafficking routes into North America, experts believe.
“If Guzmán stays in Mexico, then the same thing will happen as after his last arrest: absolutely nothing,” professor Martín Gabriel Barrón Cruz told The Guardian in January.
The Sianola cartel leadership will no doubt look to implement a contingency plan to replace their captured leader if and when he departs. But when such a day comes, the throne he abdicates will be up for grabs, which could be bad news for a place known as Little Hell.
Source: http://www.news.com.au/world/north-...t/news-story/1e682f03ce00841576343431e143e0d4
But with the demise of one of the country’s most notorious cartel leaders, a war is thought to be bubbling under the surface as young narcotraffickers ready themselves for a potential power grab.
Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán was captured by authorities following a now infamous secret meeting with Hollywood actor Sean Penn, months after escaping from a Mexican prison through an elaborate set of tunnels.
Inside a Mexican prison, El Chapo is able to call the shots from afar. But it’s likely he will be extradited to the US where his influence will be muted, causing a further vacuum in Mexico’s increasingly fractured world of organised crime.
A majority of the fighting is taking place in a region known as ‘Little Hell’ (Infiernillo), or Tierra Caliente which runs through the southwestern Guerrero state.
The area has become the new front line of the bloody narco wars, in part due to the fact it is home to the largest heroin production in the country, most of which is smuggled north into the lucrative US market.
According to The Daily Beast, in just the past three months, there have been more than 340 murders in Tierra Caliente and neighbouring municipalities.
Last month alone, authorities have recorded at least 35 “forced disappearances”, including several children which has even caused schools to close throughout the region.
In one recent case, 30 men dressed as police officers terrorised a school and kidnapped the principal and four other teachers.
Guerrero is also the state where 43 schoolchildren disappeared, sparking a huge public outcry that dominated headlines in the country.
BATTLE FOR TERRITORY
Until 2015, organised crime in the region was dominated by Sinaloa and Tamaulipas based crime groups, the former of which was controlled by El Chapo. But in the past year or so, the old vanguard has ceded ground and splinter groups are looking to consolidate their power.
The state of Guerrero in which Tierra Caliente lies has become organised crime central.
New gangs have popped up, and with the recapture of El Chapo, authorities fear a spike in violence as rival gangs try to take advantage.
These younger gangs have names such as Los Rojos (The Reds), Guerreros Unidos (Warrior’s United) and the increasingly powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and are full of members all trying to make a name for themselves.
As a special Stratfor report on the state Mexico’s cartel violence noted: “No criminal group will be immune to downsizing and decentralisation” in 2016, a scenario that has led to an “increase in violence related to organised crime”.
SPLINTER GROUPS MORE VIOLENT
Unbelievably, these splinter groups exhibit even more violent tendencies than some of their predecessor drug cartels.
“I’ve been in Mexico for 30 years but I never imagined that we could see the levels of violence happening now,” Laura Carlsen told The Daily Beast.
She is the director of the Mexico City-based Americas Program which aims to influence US policy in the region and said the current level of violence amounts to a “human rights crisis in Tierra Caliente”.
Among the brutal tactics which have come to define Tierra Caliente, gang members are known to skin the face off their victims while they’re still alive. They also engage in brutal Islamic State-style beheadings, use dramatic tools such as
chainsaws to dismember their victims and dissolve the bodies of their enemies in vats of acid.
One of the gangs most responsible for such depravity in the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and their notoriously slick leader, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as ‘El Mencho’.
Over the past few years, he has used his cunning and brutality to rise through the ranks of Mexico’s world of narco crime.
“He’s the top crime boss right now in Mexico,” according to Stratfor’s Tristan Reed, a Mexican security analyst for the global intelligence firm.
El Mencho is just one of many who are looking to capitalise on El Chapo’s extradition to the United States.
US and Mexican authorities are currently working on an extradition deal which will see El Chapo languish in a US jail cell.
However, according to José Manuel Merino Madrid, who oversees extradition efforts in Mexico, the extradition could take a year to finalise as El Chapo’s lawyers try to slow the process.
If he somehow manages to sidestep extradition, El Chapo would likely be able to maintain his dominance in controlling trafficking routes into North America, experts believe.
“If Guzmán stays in Mexico, then the same thing will happen as after his last arrest: absolutely nothing,” professor Martín Gabriel Barrón Cruz told The Guardian in January.
The Sianola cartel leadership will no doubt look to implement a contingency plan to replace their captured leader if and when he departs. But when such a day comes, the throne he abdicates will be up for grabs, which could be bad news for a place known as Little Hell.
Source: http://www.news.com.au/world/north-...t/news-story/1e682f03ce00841576343431e143e0d4
![:\](https://bluelight.org/xf/BL_Images/Orig_Emoji/wrygrin.gif "wry grin :\")
