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(CNN) - This is a glimpse into Mexico's war on drugs. The Mexican government has been at war against drug traffickers since December 2006. At the same time, drug cartels have fought each other for control of territories.
Data: Enrique Peña Nieto, who was president from 2012 to 2018, continued the struggle initiated by President Felipe Calderón against cartels and drug-related violence. A great victory for his administration was the arrest in 2014 of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the head of one of the most powerful drug trafficking operations in Mexico, the Sinaloa cartel.
According to a report from the 2018 Congressional Investigation Service, "many sources indicate" that around 150,000 intentional homicides since 2006 were related to organized crime.
Mexican drug cartels get between 19.00 billion and 29 billion dollars annually from drug sales in the United States.
Main cartels:
The Beltrán Leyva cartel - Founded by the four Beltrán Leyva brothers: Arturo, Carlos, Alfredo and Héctor. It was previously aligned with the Sinaloa cartel; It is now aligned with the Los Zetas cartel against the Sinaloa, the Gulf and La Familia Michoacana cartels. All siblings have been killed or arrested, but the “remnants” of the group continue to operate in parts of Mexico, according to the National Drug Threat Assessment of the U.S. Drug Control Agency of 2018. Subgroups depend on alliances with the Jalisco New Generation Poster, the Juarez Cartel and Los Zetas.
The Gulf cartel - Its headquarters is Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and began in 1920. It separated from Los Zetas in 2010 and the consequences between the two groups have been described as "the most violent in the history of organized crime in Mexico," according to a 2018 Congressional Research Service Report. The cartel is now divided into small rival gangs.
Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel: it was separated from the Sinaloa cartel in 2010, it is “one of the most powerful and fastest growing in Mexico and the United States”, according to the DEA assessment. The Mexican government warned that it is one of the most dangerous cartels in the country, especially after it shot down a military helicopter in May 2015. Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho", is believed to be the leader of the group.
The Juarez cartel - Previously it was aligned with the Sinaloa cartel, and now fights against it for control of the city of Juarez and the state of Chihuahua.
La Familia Michoacana - Its headquarters are located in the state of Michoacán. Possibly it stopped operating as of 2011. It announced that it would dissolve in 2010, but some cells are still active in the states of Guerrero and Mexico, according to the report of the Congressional Research Service.
The Zetas cartel - It is made up of former elite members of the Mexican army. Initially they worked as hitmen for the Gulf Cartel, before becoming independent. The group is reputed to be particularly wild and is known for massacres, killings of civilians, for leaving body parts in public places and for publishing murders on the Internet. The group's main asset is not drugs, but organized violence, including robbery, extortion, human trafficking and kidnapping, according to the Congress Investigation Report.
The Sinaloa cartel - It is considered as the main drug trafficking organization in Mexico. It was founded and directed by Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who was arrested in 2014, escaped in July 2015 and was arrested again in January 2016. He was convicted in a United States federal court in February 2019. The cartel can now be operating "with a more horizontal leadership structure than previously thought," according to the US DEA report. UU.
The Tijuana / Arellano Félix cartel - Its headquarters are located in Tijuana. Most of the Arellano Felix brothers have been arrested or killed.
Chronology:
August 16, 2006 - Javier Arellano Felix, the alleged leader of the Tijuana cartel, is arrested on a fishing boat off the peninsula of Baja California.
December 11, 2006 - Newly elected Mexican President Felipe Calderón sends more than 6,500 Mexican soldiers to the state of Michoacán to fight drug traffickers.
2006 - In the first weeks of the government's offensive against drug trafficking, 62 people die. (Government of Mexico, April 2010)
January 2007 - The drug lord Osiel Cardena Guillén, the alleged former leader of the Gulf cartel, after being captured is extradited to the United States.
February 2007 - More than 20,000 Mexican soldiers and federal police are scattered throughout Mexico as part of President Calderón's war on drugs.
June 25, 2007 - Calderón dismisses 284 federal police commanders to eliminate corruption.
2007 - In the first full year of the war on drugs, 2,837 people have been killed. (Government of Mexico, April 2010).
January 2008 - Alfredo Beltrán Leyva, of the Beltrán Leyva cartel, is arrested by police in Culiacán, Sinaloa.
May 1, 2008 - Roberto Velasco Bravo, the director of organized crime investigation for the Federal Police, is murdered in Mexico City.
May 8, 2008 - Edgar Eusebio Millan Gómez, a Mexican federal police chief, and two bodyguards, are killed in Mexico City.
May 9, 2008 - The commander of the investigative police force in Mexico City, Esteban Roble Espinosa, is killed outside his home.
September 15, 2008 - During an Independence Day celebration in the Morelia city square, they throw grenades at the crowd, and kill eight people. The incident has been described as the first terrorist-style attack against innocent bystanders in Mexico's war on drugs.
November 1, 2008 - The acting director of the Mexican federal police, Víctor Gerardo Garay, resigns on suspicion of corruption.
2008 - 6,844 people have died in Mexico's war on drugs. (Government of Mexico, April 2010).
November 3, 2009 - The alleged leader of the Los Zetas cartel, Braulio Arellano Domínguez, is killed in a shooting with Mexican forces in Soledad de Doblado.
December 16, 2009 - Arturo Beltrán Leyva, head of the Beltrán Leyva cartel, is killed in a shooting with the Navy in Cuernavaca.
2009 - The Mexican government reports that 9,635 deaths were recorded in 2009 in the war on drugs. (Government of Mexico, April 2010).
January 2010 - Carlos Beltrán Leyva is arrested by Mexican authorities in Sinaloa. He is the third brother of the Beltrán Leyva to be captured or killed in two years.
February 25, 2010 - Osiel Cardenas Guillén, leader of the Gulf cartel until his capture in 2003, is sentenced in Texas to 25 years in prison. He is also obliged to deliver 50 million dollars to the United States.
May 26, 2010 - Pedro Roberto Velázquez Amador, who is allegedly the leader of the Beltrán Leyva cartel in San Pedro, is killed in a shooting with federal forces in northern Mexico.
June 11, 2010 - Edgar Valdez Villarreal, “La Barbie,” a US citizen, is accused of trafficking thousands of kilograms of cocaine into the United States between 2004 and 2006. He remains a fugitive, and a reward of 2 million is offered. of dollars for information that leads to their capture.
June 25, 2010 - A leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Manuel Garibay Espinoza, is arrested in Mexicali by Mexican police.
July 29, 2010 - Ignacio “Nacho” Colonel Villarreal, one of the leaders of the Sinaloa cartel, dies during a clash with the Army in a suburb of Guadalajara.
August 25, 2010 - The bodies of 72 migrants from Central and South America are discovered on a ranch in the state of Tamaulipas. It is believed that 58 men and 14 women were kidnapped by the Los Zetas cartel, and were killed for refusing to traffic drugs.
August 30, 2010 - Mexican authorities announce that they have captured the alleged drug lord Edgar Valdez Villareal, lieutenant of the Beltrán Leyva cartel. Valdez, born in the United States, is known as "La Barbie" for his blue eyes and clear complexion.
September 2010 - Mexican President Felipe Calderón tells CNN in Spanish that “We live next to the biggest drug user in the world, and everyone wants to sell drugs through our door and our window. And we live next to the biggest arms dealer in the world, which caters to criminals. ”
September 12, 2010 - One of the main leaders of the Beltrán Leyva cartel, Sergio Villarreal, is arrested in the city of Puebla.
November 5, 2010 - Antonio Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillén, aka Tony Tormenta, who is allegedly the leader of the Gulf cartel, is killed in a shooting with Mexican forces in Matamoros.
December 2010 - Mexico's attorney general, Arturo Chávez Chávez, announces a total of 30,100 victims in the four-year war on drugs.
January 2011 - The Mexican government publishes a revised total of victims of 34,612 citizens who have been killed during the four years of the war on drugs.
January 17, 2011 - Flavio Méndez Santiago, one of the original founders of Los Zetas, is captured near Oaxaca.
February 15, 2011 - US Customs Immigration and Control Service agents (ICE, for its acronym in English), Jaime Zapata and Víctor Ávila Jr., flee from a road in Mexico and are attacked by a group of armed men who open fire. Zapata dies and Ávila survives a shot wound in her leg. The Los Zetas cartel is suspected.
February 23, 2011 - Mexican soldiers arrest six members of the Los Zetas cartel, including Julian Zapata Espinoza, who is allegedly responsible for the death of the U.S. Customs Immigration and Control Service agent, Jaime Zapata .
March 5, 2011 - The alleged member of the Los Zetas cartel, Mario Jiménez Pérez, is arrested in connection with the murder of Jaime Zapata.
March 7, 2011 - The alleged leader of the Los Zetas cartel, Marcos Carmona Hernández, is arrested.
March 31, 2011 - The attorney general of Mexico, Arturo Chavez Chavez, resigns for personal reasons.
April 2011 - Several mass graves that house 177 bodies are discovered in Tamaulipas, in the same area where the bodies of 72 migrants were discovered in 2010.
April 16, 2011 - Mexican authorities announce the arrest of Martín Omar Estrada Luna, aka “El Kilo,” an alleged leader of the Los Zetas cartel in San Fernando. Estrada Luna has been identified by the authorities as one of the main suspects behind the mass graves previously discovered in April 2011.
April 29, 2011 - The former leader of a drug cartel, Benjamin Arellano Felix, is extradited to the United States.
May 8, 2011 - Twelve alleged members of the Zetas cartel and a member of the Mexican Navy are killed in a shooting on an island in Lake Falcon, after troops patrolling the area detected a camp area on the island . The alleged drug traffickers stored marijuana on the island to transport it by boat to the United States, authorities said in a statement.
May 29, 2011 - In Hidalgo, 10 police officers, including the police chief, are arrested on charges of protecting the Los Zetas cartel.
June 14, 2011 - A report from Congress shows that more than 70% of firearms seized by Mexican authorities and submitted to ATF for tracking originated in the United States. The report covers 29,284 firearms sent between 2009 and 2010.
June 21, 2011 - Mexico's federal police capture José de Jesús Méndez Vargas, also known as “El Mono”, the alleged leader of the La Familia Michoacana cartel in Aguascalientes.
July 3, 2011 - Mexican authorities arrest Jesús Enrique Rejón Aguilar, known as “El Mamito,” an alleged founding member of the Los Zetas cartel and who is allegedly linked to the death of ICE agent Jaime Zapata.
July 11, 2011 - The US government announces a plan to demand that arms dealers in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas report on the sales of semi-automatic rifles under certain conditions in an effort to curb the flow of weapons to Mexican drug cartels.
July 27, 2011 - Edgar Jiménez Lugo, known as “El Ponchis,” a 14-year-old American citizen who was suspected of having links to drug cartels, is found guilty of beheading at least four people, and He is sentenced to the maximum penalty for a minor, three years in a correctional center in Mexico.
July 30, 2011 - Mexican authorities announce that they have José Antonio Acosta Hernández in their custody. He is the alleged leader of the Line, which was suspected of being the armed branch of the Juarez cartel, and was held responsible for the death of the US consulate employee, Lesley Enriquez, and her husband Arthur Redelfs.
August 1, 2011 - Mexican federal police arrest Moisés Montero Álvarez, known as “El Coreano,” an alleged leader of the Acapulco Independent Cartel (CIDA) and allegedly linked to the murder of 20 Mexican tourists in 2010.
August 25, 2011 - At least 52 people die in an attack at Casino Royale in Monterrey, Mexico. Witnesses told investigators that up to six people entered the Casino Royale and asked the manager for money, according to Adrián de la Garza, the state attorney general for Nuevo León. When the manager refused to give them money, they set the building on fire, he said.
August 30, 2011 - Mexican officials maintain that the five suspects arrested in connection with the casino fire in Mexico are members of the Los Zetas cartel, and had planned to address the casino owners for failing to comply with extortion requirements. The suspects are identified as Luis Carlos Carrazco Espinosa; Javier Alonso Martínez Morales, alias “el Javo”; Jonathan Jahir Reyna Gutierrez; Juan Angel Leal Flores; and Julio Tadeo Berrones, alias “El Julio Rayas”.
September 1, 2011 - A Nuevo Leon state police officer, Miguel Ángel Barraza Escamilla, is arrested in connection with the fire in a casino where 52 people died in Monterrey.
September 13, 2011 - A murdered man and woman are found hanging from a bridge in Nuevo Laredo. A sign near their mutilated bodies indicates that they were killed for reporting activities related to a drug cartel on a social networking site. The sign also threatens to kill others who post "pranks on the Internet."
September 20, 2011 - At least 35 bodies are thrown into a roadway in the coastal state of Veracruz, during rush hour.
September 23, 2011 - Mexican authorities find another 11 bodies in locations throughout Veracruz.
September 27, 2011 - Five decapitated heads are found in a sack near an elementary school in Acapulco.
October 4, 2011 - The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) estimates that almost 43,000 people have died in Mexico's war on drugs since President Felipe Calderón took office in December 2006 .
October 6, 2011 - In an online video that is allegedly from the Anonymous hacker group, a masked man threatens to post information about the Los Zetas cartel for allegedly kidnapping an Anonymous member.
October 7, 2011 - The Mexican Navy announces that it has arrested eight people suspected of being involved in the deaths of 67 people in Veracruz in recent weeks.
October 12, 2011 - An alleged leader of the Los Zetas cartel, Carlos Oliva Castillo, aka “La rana”, is arrested for allegedly ordering the attack and fire of the casino in which 52 people lost their lives.
November 24, 2011 - Mexican authorities find 26 bodies inside three abandoned vehicles in Guadalajara, Mexico, one day after authorities in the state of Sinaloa found 16 charred bodies inside two trucks that had been burned.
January 4, 2012 - Benjamín Arellano Félix, a former leader of the Tijuana cartel in Mexico, pleads guilty to charges of organized crime and conspiracy to launder money. The plea agreement requires the delivery of 100 million dollars to the United States and a maximum of 25 years in prison.
January 11, 2012 - The Mexican attorney general's office publishes a statement stating that almost 13,000 people were killed in drug-related violence cases between January and September 2012. This raises the total number of victims in December. 2006 to September 2011 at a minimum of 47,000 people killed.
April 2, 2012 - The former leader of the Tijuana cartel, Benjamín Arellano Félix, is sentenced to 25 years in prison and is ordered to deliver $ 100 million after pleading guilty to charges of organized crime and conspiracy to launder money.
April 24, 2012 - Through Calderón's strategy, the Mexican government has murdered more than 40 important cartel members. The Economist notes that between 2007 and 2008, the number of drug-related murders in Mexico increased by 29%. In the next two years, it rose by 22%, and then by 28%. However, last year, there were signs of stagnation, since there was only an 8% increase. A Pew survey conducted last spring shows that 45% of Mexicans believe the government is progressing against cartels; 83% support Calderón's strategy of using the army to fight the cartels.
May 13, 2012 - Mexican authorities find at least 49 bodies beheaded and dismembered by a highway in the state of Nuevo León, between the cities of Monterrey and Reynosa.
July 7, 2012 - In an interview with CNN, President-elect Enrique Peña Nieto calls for a new debate on the war on drugs, and says that the United States must play an important role.
July 12, 2012 - A report by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee concludes that Mexico's frontal offensive against drug cartels has been "largely inefficient" and in some instances, counterproductive to reduce violence. The report recommends that the focal point of Mexico's cooperation against drugs should be the training and creation of institutions in the police forces and in the legal system.
August 31, 2012 - Eduardo Arellano Felix, a suspected high-ranking member of a drug cartel based in Tijuana, is extradited from Mexico to the United States. Arellano - Felix was arrested on October 25, 2008, after a shooting with Mexican forces.
September 3, 2012 - In his last speech by the state of the union, Mexican President Felipe Calderón defends his government's approach to fighting crime and drugs, and criticizes the United States for giving criminals “almost unlimited access " to the weapons.
September 4, 2012 - Mexican authorities announce the capture of Mario Cárdenas Guillén, also known as “M1” and “El Gordo”, a supposed leader of the Gulf cartel.
September 27, 2012 - Members of the Mexican navy capture and arrest a man who claims to be Iván Velásquez Caballero, aka "The Taliban." Velázquez Caballero is one of the main leaders of Los Zetas.
October 9, 2012 - Mexican authorities confirm that members of the Mexican navy killed Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, leader of the Zetas cartel in a shooting on October 7. Lazcano's body was stolen from a funeral home on October 8, but authorities had already taken fingerprints and photographs to confirm his identity.
December 1, 2012 - Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto takes office.
February 21, 2013 - A report published by Human Rights Watch criticizes the Mexican security forces and estimates that more than 60,000 people died in drug-related violence cases from 2006 to 2012.
July 15, 2013- Los Zetas cartel leader Miguel Ángel Treviño Morales, known as Z-40, is being detained by Mexican authorities in an operation in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas, state media reported.
August 20, 2013 - Mario Armando Ramírez, a senior member of the Gulf cartel, also known as X-20, is captured in Reynosa, near Texas.
August 20, 2013 - Eduardo Arellano Felix is sentenced to 15 years in a federal prison in the United States for his role as chief financial officer in the drug cartel.
February 22, 2014- A US official He tells CNN that Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the head of one of the most powerful drug trafficking operations in Mexico, has been arrested in Mazatlan, Sinaloa.
March 9, 2014 - The leader of a drug cartel, Nazario Moreno González, also known as “El Chayo”, “El Doctor” and “El loco”, is shot dead during an arrest attempt, according to the Mexican authorities He was one of the leaders and main founders of the La Familia Michoacana cartel. This is the second time that Mexican officials say Moreno is dead. In 2010, they announced that they had killed him.
September 26, 2014 - Armed men open fire on buses where students and soccer players were traveling in southern Mexico. Authorities say three students are among the six people killed in the violence, and 43 students remain missing.
October 1, 2014 - Mexican police captured Héctor Beltrán Leyva, leader of the Beltrán Leyva cartel, in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
October 9, 2014 - Authorities announce that federal police have captured the alleged head of the Juarez Cartel, Vicente Carrillo Fuentes.
January 27, 2015 - Mexican Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam says there is "legal certainty" that the 43 normalist students who disappeared four months ago in the Mexican state of Guerrero were killed. The Mexican authorities believe that this was a case of identity error, after alleged members of a local group confused them with drug traffickers from a rival group. The former mayor of Iguala, José Luis Abarca has been charged in the case and is awaiting trial as the intellectual author of the kidnapping and execution of the 43 students.
February 27, 2015 - Servando Gómez, leader of the Los Caballeros Templarios cartel, is arrested by Mexican authorities in the state of Michoacán.
March 4, 2015 - Los Zetas cartel leader Omar Treviño Morales is arrested by Mexican authorities in a suburb of Monterrey. Five others are arrested in a simultaneous operation.
July 11, 2015 - Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, escapes through a hole in the area of the showers of his pavilion in the Federal Prison of the Altiplano that led to an illuminated and ventilated tunnel of almost 1.6 kilometers in length. Previously, Guzman escaped from prison in 2001 in a laundry cart and evaded authorities for more than twelve years until his capture in 2014, when he was arrested at a Mazatlan hotel.
September 6, 2015 - A group of international experts said there is no evidence to support the government's version of the disappearance of the 43 normalists of Ayotzinapa. Attorney Arely Gómez González says there will be a new investigation into the case.
September 19, 2015 - Mexican authorities arrested 13 suspects in connection with the escape of 'El Chapo' Guzmán, including three senior officers of the federal prison system. Seven prison officials had arrested a week after the escape.
September 30, 2015 - The Mexican government announced that it will extradite the United States to several important drug lords to be tried, after the embarrassing escape of Joaquín 'El Chapo' Guzmán, including Edgar Valdez Villarreal, known as “La Barbie” , who has dual US and Mexican nationality and was one of the leaders of the Beltrán Leyva cartel.
October 16, 2015 - The Mexican authorities carry out an operation in the limits of Sinaloa and Durango, in order to recapture Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán. The drug lord escapes injured after falling to a small cliff.
January 8, 2016 - The president of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, announces via Twitter that Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán was captured. Hours earlier, the Secretary of the Navy announces, not to mention Guzman, that there was a confrontation with armed men in Los Mochis, Sinaloa.
January 29, 2016 - A cross-border raid by US and Mexican law enforcement officials results in the arrest of 24 members of the Sinaloa cartel. The operation also ended with the seizure of weapons and hundreds of kilos of drugs.
February 23, 2016 - Alfredo Beltrán Leyva, of the Beltrán Leyva cartel, pleads guilty to participating in an international conspiracy of narcotics before U.S. District Judge Richard Leon. In 2017, Leyva is sentenced to life imprisonment.
January 19, 2017 - The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Mexico delivers Guzmán to the US authorities.
March 14, 2017 - The attorney general of the state of Veracruz, Jorge Winckler, confirms that a mass grave containing more than 250 human skulls was discovered. The remains appear to be victims of the violence of organized crime killed in recent years.
May 2, 2017 - Dámaso López Núñez, a senior leader of the Sinaloa drug cartel in Mexico, is arrested in Mexico City.
December 19, 2017 - The U.S. Department of Justice UU. announces the extradition of Mexico to the US UU. of two alleged former leaders of the Mexican drug cartel: Mario Ramírez-Treviño, alleged former leader of the Gulf Cartel and an associate of Guzmán, and Víctor Manuel Felix-Felix, alleged leader of a Mexican money laundering and cocaine trafficking organization . Ramírez-Treviño was charged and arrested in 2013 and has been in Mexican custody since then. Felix-Felix was charged in March 2011.
February 9, 2018 - Mexican authorities capture the alleged head of the Zetas drug cartel, José María Guizar Valencia.
June 11, 2018 - “La Barbie” is sentenced to 49 years and one month in prison and a fine of $ 192,000, according to the US Department of Justice. UU ..
February 12, 2019 - Guzmán is convicted of 10 charges in federal court in New York. He faces a mandatory life sentence without parole for leading a continuous criminal enterprise, and a life sentence for drug trafficking. His lawyers say they plan to file an appeal on several issues.
August 8, 2019 - Mexican police find 19 bodies in Mexico City. Nine of the bodies are hanging from an overpass next to a banner of the drug cartel that threatens rival cartels.
October 17, 2019 - Mexican security forces clashed in prolonged shooting with suspected members of the heavily armed Sinaloa cartel in Culiacán. The Mexican authorities arrested Ovidio Guzmán López, 28, who was the son of jailed drug trafficker Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán. After being arrested, Ovidio Guzmán was released in a decision that, according to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, was taken to "protect the lives of human beings."