The "dolphins" of El Chapo: who sent today in the cartel of Sinaloa after condemning Guzmán – 18/02/2019

Joaquín "El Chapo" GuzmánThe 61-year-old is likely to spend the rest of his life in jail after a New York jury convicted him of the 10 drug, weapons possession and money-laundering crimes he was charged with.

However, the cartel of Sinaloa it's still a big deal of international stature. This company has heirs. According to the US DEA, the boss is Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, 70 years old and a style of negotiation favoring society, long-term strategies and not violence.

In a second level they would be Iván and Alfredo Guzman, the two sons of El Chapo, responsible for arms, logistics and small-scale drug sales.

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The Sinaloa cartel is present in 17 Mexican states and dominates three, the "Golden Triangle", formed by the states of Sinaloa, Chihuahua and Durango.

One of the experts on the subject, Scott Stewart, wrote in "The hill", in Washington, that the poster remains the leading supplier to the US synthetic drug market (fentanyl and methamphetamine) as well as more traditional products such as heroin and cocaine. Stewart recalled that on January 26, 2019, US Border Patrol inspectors found 115 kilograms of fentanyl and 179 kilograms of methamphetamine in the town of Nogales. According to police records, It would be the largest kidnapping of fentanyl in US history.

To understand the cartel's international links, it is enough to know that fentanyl is bought in China at $ 9,000 per kilo. It is cut into tablets in laboratories in Mexico with a purity of 1% and sold in the United States at a price much higher than cocaine or heroin. Ray Donovan, head of the DEA in New York, said the Sinaloa cartel has been at the forefront of the synthetic drug sector since 2010.

The Sinaloa cartel operates as a federation of 120 clans or "little signs" that evolve with great autonomy and are difficult to trace. According to Mike Vigil (former DEA International Operations Manager), "the most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world ". His network of contacts oiled by the corruption of officials and police allows him to control ports, laboratories, badbadins and henchmen. He inspired a musical genre, the narcocorrido, grown by groups such as Los Tucanes de Tijuana and Los Tigres del Norte.

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The Sinaloa cartel is known to control drug trafficking in the states of Sinaloa, Durango and Chihuahua. It is known that he was born in 1989, under the guidance of three patrons: Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, Juan José Esparragoza Moreno (he is said to have died) and the eldest, Ismael "El Mayo "Zambada.

Succession

According to the DEA, the current leader is Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, a 70-year-old man. this maintains the style of the old "capos". He is discreet, puts business before violence, has a reputation as a negotiator and young leaders always respect him.

Zambada he has never been arrested and he hides in the mountains of the "Golden Triangle". His son, Vicente Zambada, is being held in the United States and testified against Guzmán at the New York trial.

In a second level of the Sinaloa cartel, Iván and Alfredo Guzmán, the two sons of "El Chapo". In the city of Culiacán, capital of the state of Sinaloa, they named Iván and Alfredo with the nickname of The chapitos. According to journalist Ismael Bohórquez, director of the Mexican weekly "Riodoce" published in Sinaloa, the task of Los Chapitos is to control small-scale drug sales and to organize logistics and defense, as well as A good supply of weapons.

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After the arrest of "El Chapo", there were many claimants to the throne, but they failed. This was the case of "El Licenciado" Dámaso López Núñez, former security officer at Puente Grande Prison (in the state of Jalisco), where he had facilitated the escape of "El Chapo" in 2001. He was perceived as Guzman's right hand man when he was extradited to the United States. "The Licentiate" was arrested in 2017 and testified at the New York trial. The son of "El Licenciado", Dámaso López Serrano (aka "Mini Lic") challenged the power of the children of "El Chapo". However, after the arrest of "El Licenciado", he voluntarily surrendered to the US authorities.

An uncertain future

With regard to the future of the Sinaloa cartel, two threats are looming on the horizon. One of them has to do with the task of the clandestine labs. Fentanyl kills many consumers. The fact is that the pills, because of incorrect mixtures, can contain between 0.03 grams and 1.99 grams of the drug, in the latter case it is a lethal dose.

The other threat would be the cartel of Jalisco New generation, (CJNG) who was an armed arm of the Sinaloa cartel and broke up in 2014. The dispute concerns the control of the synthetic drug market. Its leader is Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, aka "El Mencho", famous for its violence. The US Department of Justice has been providing $ 10 million for its capture since 2018.

According to US official data, the CJNG controls 100 clandestine laboratories in Mexico and sends each month to the United States. five tons of cocaine and another five tons of methamphetamine. One of his favorite bases is in Tijuana, in the Mexican state of Baja California, but it has also spread to Texas and California, USA.

CMA – PB – JPE