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...arrested.


An alleged Mexican drug kingpin suspected of flooding the United States with deadly fentanyl and who evaded authorities for decades is in US custody after he was apparently lured across the border by federal agents with another alleged leader of his cartel who was helping with his capture, according to a US law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.

Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, 76, the alleged co-founder and leader of the powerful Sinaloa cartel, was arrested in El Paso, Texas, Thursday, Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

Another alleged cartel leader, Joaquin Guzman Lopez, 38, was also arrested, he said.

Mexican officials were informed of the arrests but did not participate in the operation.

The pair allegedly oversaw the trafficking of “tens of thousands of pounds of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and fentanyl into the US along with related violence.”

That's what you might call a big f'ing deal.


https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/25/us/sinaloa-cartel-i...

actually, the only positive to come out of this will be that u.s. did not waste resources on any operation where mexico got custody.
possibly some intra-cartel clashes, but these settle before any significant 'business' is damaged.

the problem is so much bigger than these 2 symbolic figureheads arrested today.
first, the cartel infrastructure is such that sinaloa, or any of the other major half-dozen, can pick up operations as they have done resiliently over decades.

under the radar, but even worse news, is that china now has a major stake as a chemical supplier and a money launderer in the mexican drug trade. i absolutely would expect chinese groups to escalate if either side of their lucrative bookends were threatened, as both have protection via ties to the CCP.
in other words, this is a another non-military conflict with china, at least the scale of cybercrime, with a lot more dead citizens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjGIp7kdS6E

and yet people wonder why both parties want to be tough on china (unless there something in it for trump)

As long as there is demand, they will see to the supply. We can celebrate the arrests of these ruthless criminals, but -as you say- the flow won't experience more than a hiccup, if that. You want to cut their legs off, legalize, regulate, and tax. That causes other problems, but it will take much of the cartel's power away.

what?
the u.s. is going to regulate and tax toxic synthetics, some which haven't yet been concocted, and have no purpose?
we cannot even change cannabis as schedule 1-type drug for a century, with actual medical benefits and in many situations less problematic than alcohol.

So when you say China is supplying the Mexican drug cartels, do you implicate the Chinese government or whatever Chinese Mafia there is?

Why would you think that the PRC has better control of their criminal element than any other country?

it is a fairly common and substantiated geopolitical view that organized crime and authoritarian regimes have co-existing links.

https://irregularwarfarecenter.org/publications/pe...

e.g., at various times, it is believed the entirety of the N.Korea economy hinged on illegal activities.

more broadly, these regimes decide what type of local organized crime is tolerated (primarily to auth. benefit) and international crime is ignored (primarily to competing nations' detriment).
regarding specifically chinese chemical companies, they have many global customers and the CCP clearly knows and supports the part of their trade into mexico is going towards cartel drug mfg. this is why the biden admin attempts to get CCP cooperation, but ultimately can only hit these companies with sanctions unilaterally. likewise on the tolerance and participation of money laundering.

i suggest watching the entire financial times video.

Why would you think that the PRC has better control of their criminal element than any other country?

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Because the Chicom government is OK with the manufacturing of these che icals so long as they are exported. Smart if you are the Chicoms.

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