Evolving Structure of Mexican Drug Cartels

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"A businessman, and a business woman sit across from each other in negotiations. The man proposes four thousand pesos, and the woman says she can't afford that much. She counter-offers with twenty-five hundred pesos. The man agrees and leaves. This was a weekly payment for the protection of the woman's local business against the Juarez Cartel." (Lacey, M. 2010). Many critics are now making comparisons between the Mexican drug cartels, like the one mentioned above, and legitimate corporations like Netflix, or Google. There are currently seven major Mexican drug cartels. Although, the cartels may all come from different backgrounds and have different approaches towards trafficking drugs, they all share a similar business style structure to their organizations and they all have well regulated rank and file systems. These drug cartels are adapting to the loss of their much enjoyed freedom to move illegal drugs through Mexico and across the border into the United States. They are adapting by looking into new ways to make money such as: extortion, kidnapping, arms trafficking, murder for hire, and human trafficking. Many critics say these actions look a lot like diversifying their moneymaking interests. "For the commercial insurgency, border controls are perfunctory in "free trade" areas, and there is still a great demand for goods that are linked to smuggling" (PRISM Issue No 3). President Calderon's term in office has seen numerous arrests and significant cooperation with U.S. law enforcement, and intelligence activities, which has negated the freedom of movement the cartels once enjoyed. It has also prompted them to seek other venues to keep their revenue flowing. The arrests aren't without criticisms. Due to recent arrests of ... ... middle of paper ... ...al Research Service. Marosi, Richard. (2011, July 26) The Strands of the Sinaloa drug cartel web. The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jul/24/local/la-me-cartel-20110724. Logan, Samuel. (2012, February 16). A profile of Los Zetas: Mexico's second most powerful drug cartel. CTC Sentinal Volume 5 Issue 2. Retrieved from http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/a-profile-of-the-loszetas- mexicos-second-most-powerful-drug-cartel Beith, Malcolm. (2013, September 24). The current state of Mexico's many drug cartels. CTC Sentinal Volume 61ssue 9. Retrieved from http://www.ctc.usma.edu/posts/the-current-state-of-mexicos-manydrug- cartels Logan, Samuel. (2013, April 29). The Sinaloa Federation's international presence. CTC Sentinal Volume 6 Issue 4. Retrieved from http://www .ctc.usma.ed u/posts/the-sinaloa-federations-internationa !-presence

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