Story of a clan: the cartel of Sinaloa after "El Chapo" Guzmán

In the famous video that he filmed in 2015 for the actors Kate del Castillo and Sean Penn, the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán Loera He stressed that even though he was not there, drug trafficking would continue.

But now, with the boss offside and under the leadership of Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, a 70-year-old man with diabetes, as he published Bloomberg in 2018, the question of whether, without its two historic leaders, "El Chapo" and "El Mayo", the criminal organization remains unanswered will survive, under the probable command of the three children of Guzmán Loera.

"If he leaves – though -" El Mayo ", a manager-mediator of the old school – it is very likely that We will see internal divisions and possibly the emergence of the Sinaloa cartel composed of various medium and small groups. These divisions, in other cases like Michoacán and Tamaulipas, They brought two things: first, a geopolitical impbade. C & # 39; is to say: A multitude of small armed groups are fighting for the same cake. But because of its relatively small size and power, no easily imposes. This increases the violence and, in many cases, makes it a permanent state, "he said. Infobae Mexico Falko Ernst, badyst at the International Crisis Group.

"Represent or not the children of Chapo this mutation, I do not think they have the weight to keep your father's organization intact"he added.

It was pointed out that one of the recent additions to the cartel is Rafael Caro Quintero, head of the old cartel of Guadalajara and sought by the DEA for the murder of the agent Enrique Camarena Salazar, but until now, there is no confirmation.

Although it remains one of the most powerful criminal organizations in the world, since last year, ceased to be for the Mexican government the country's most influential cartel, overtaken by the Jalisco Nueva Generación (GNV).

With at least 10 cells in which it is dividedSome badysts believe that the organization is in a phase of adjustments and diversification of its activity in which it tries to avoid divisions.

Until now, the organization was divided into cash branches in different parts of the country. integrated by badbadins and distributors hired that they were loaded with enemies and to face the forces of the state, but now, diversification would come to other levels.

One of the new companies would be the presumed start of Guzmán Loera's children in fuel traffic (huachicol).

"There is a diversification of organized crime and there is money in gasoline"he said to Infobae Jonathan Rosen, co-author of the book Drug trafficking, organized crime and violence in the Americas today.

Groups and divisions

The cells that operate for the Sinaloa cartel are mainly in the north of the country, including Gente Nueva, which operates in Chihuahua to contain the local La Línea cartel.

"Los 28", "Los Pepillos" and "Los Mayitos", in the tourist state of Baja California Sur; and "Los Memos", which operate in the bands of Arizona and Sonora; and "Los Mexicles", formed by dangerous gang members deported from the United States to Mexico.

"I think it is possible that they avoid divisions, it is very possible that" El Chapo "has not been part of the decision-making process since its extradition, in that they've been working with him for a while, I was not there, I think there is evidence that some duties and responsibilities are delegated"he said to Infobae Mexico Cecilia Farfán, researcher at the University of California at San Diego.

One of the points likely to influence the cartel is the alleged confrontation between the sons of Guzman Loera, Iván Archivaldo, Jesús Alfredo and Ovidio (Los Chapitos) and his uncle Aureliano Guzmán, who decided to support the " Mayo ". support the "guano".

However, one source pointed out that this confrontation did not exist as such, the problem would be between the lieutenants of "El Guano" and those of "Los Chapitos", not between the family.

Farfán does not exclude that without "El Mayo", the cartel would go through a phase of redevelopment, which was reaffirmed by Ernst.

"New leaders tend to be governed to a much lesser extent by old codes: do not kill innocent people, or children and women, for example." When they interview dealers from the old school, they always express their disdain for what they regard as a decline. narco-culture. "They, they say, do not work well, they kill to kill, they are no longer drug traffickers, they are narcos." Those who suffer the most from this transformation of organized crime are the populations civilians: victims of extortion, kidnapping or because their badociation with one group or another makes them white, "said the Crisis Group researcher.