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Catherine Dieli

Professor Jamey Dunham

English Composition 2

30 June 2019

Annotated Bibliography

The goal at writing these essays is to become more aware of the influence of organized

crime and drug trafficking organizations. I am interested in knowing the history of how these

dangerous organizations came about and which drug cartels are most prominent today. I want to

know the social, economic, and political influence of these organizations and how they have an

affect North America. I am also curious to find out what Mexico and the United States are doing

to lessen the crime and what preventative measures they are taking to keep the drug trafficking

organizations from growing.

Beittel, June S. Mexico: Organized Crimes and Drug Trafficking Organizations. Congressional

Research Service, 2018, pp. 9-24.

https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R41576

Mexico: Organized Crimes and Drug Trafficking Organization written by June Beittel

in 2018 located in the Congressional Research Service focuses on the main Drug Trafficking

Organizations (DTO) that are ever-changing in Mexico as they face much competition in the

drug market. The Arellano Felix Organization (AFO) is a tollgate organization that has

controlled the drug smuggling route between Baja California to southern California. This DTO

was founded by Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, who was a former police officer from Sinaloa.

AFO was once one of the most dominant DTOs in Mexico as it controlled the drug trade in

Tijuana. This caused Tijuana to be one of the most dangerous cities in Mexico. Sinaloa is one of
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the oldest and most established DTO. It is mainly put together by a network of smaller

organizations. Sometimes referred to as the most powerful DTO because of their success at

corrupting public officials at local and national levels. The DEA identifies Sinaloa to be the

primary drug traffickers to the United States. The Juarez Organization, based in the border city

of Ciudad Juarez in the central northern state of Chihuahua, controlled the smuggling corridor

between Ciudad Juarez and El Paso, TX. Juarez DTO was once allied with the Sinaloa DTO, but

they turned against each other causing turf wars in Ciudad Juarez. They mainly trafficked

marijuana and cocaine but recently have been cultivating opium and producing heroin. The Gulf

DTO is based in the border city Matamoras, Tamaulipas, and other Mexican states on the Gulf

side of Mexico. They are a transnational smuggling operation with agents in Central and South

America. Los Zetas is a DTO that originally started with former elite airborne special forces

members of the Mexican Army and their main asset is not to smuggle drugs but to inflict

organized violence. They generate revenue from fuel theft, extortion, human trafficking and

kidnapping, and cause more suffering on the Mexican public than drug trafficking itself. The

Cartel Jalisco-New Generation (CJNG) is a group based in Jalisco state with operations in central

Mexico. They are considered was of the most dangerous cartels in the country and the one with

the most extensive reach. The distribute cocaine and methamphetamine.

The purpose of this writing is to explain the different Mexican cartels, where they come

from, what drugs they smuggle or crimes they inflict, and where places they hurt the most. The

audience of this piece is for the United States Congress as a report on the issues. Since this is a

report for Congress, this piece of writing had to be non-biased and factually based.
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The writer, June Beittel, is an analyst in Latin American Affairs. She writes many pieces

for research and many people cite her as a source. I know it is reliable because it is archived on a

government website.

I will use this for explaining the different cartels and how they affect North America.

This will be able to explain where the most violent places are and why they have come to be that

way.

Gootenberg, Paul. “Cocaine’s Long March North, 1900-2010.” Latin American Politics and

Society, Vol. 54, no. 1, Cambridge University Press, 2012, pp. 159-180. doi:

11.1111/j.1548-2456.2012.00146.x

https://edisciplinas.usp.br/pluginfile.php/4306830/mod_resource/content/1/Gootenberg%

20-%20Cocaine’s%20Long%20March%20North.pdf

Cocaine’s Long March North, 1900-2010 by Paul Gootenberg appearing in the Latin

American Politics and Society journal in 2012 explains the geopolitical shifts that brought drug

trafficking and violence closer to the United States. It began in the late 1800’s, when German

pharmaceutical firms promoted cocaine as an anesthetic. This drug was wildly used in anesthesia

until about 1910’s when the United States and League of Nations were trying to mark the drug as

a narcotic when many people started becoming addicted and seeking the drug out. The United

States dried up the country of medicinal cocaine and until the 1940’s the U.S. struggled to

convince the producers of cocaine the dangers it caused. As concern grew for the drug’s usage,

the industry shrank to the hub of the Huánuco Province in Peru. After World War 2, the U.S.

began a mission to eradicate all drugs and in 1948, criminalized South American cocaine in Peru

and then in 1961, in Bolivia. This criminalization began the illicit culture of cocaine in the

Huánuco Province. Transshipment began in Havana and Northern Chile and in the 1960’s, coke
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was very popular in Argentina and Brazil and was also found in big cities like New York and

Miami. In 1959, Cuba’s Fidel Castro began a social revolution that spread the cocaine through

South America, Mexico, and the United States. In 1961, the universal UN single convention drug

treaty internationally eradicated the Andean coca cultures. This is what scattered the drug

throughout. In the 1970’s, U.S. drug authorities were alarmed by the rise in this new illicit drug

trade, although up to this point the trade has been relatively nonviolent and contained to one

region. After the 1970’s, Columbians began to play a role in the cocaine trades. There are two

events that caused this shift north: one being Chilean General Augusto Pinochet’s campaign

against major Chilean cocaine traffickers. The second event was President Nixon’s “War on

Drugs” mainly targeting marijuana and heroin. This caused a market for cocaine, as it was safer

and more profitable to smuggle across the border. By the mid 1980’s, millions of U.S. users were

effected by cocaine. As pressures, from the U.S., to get rid of the drug increased, smuggling

skills and business enhanced, prices dropped, and new geographies appeared. As this new illicit

business grew and competition rose, violence worsened. As the trafficking business expanded in

the early 1990’s, the cartel’s need for legitimacy grew as well. Drug lords, specifically Pablo

Escobar, ran for office, they financed candidates, offered truces and supplied charities and social

services. As the Department of Justice came to realize this influence, they ousted the traffickers,

and with this came the attacks in Columbia, naming it the “World Murder Capital”. The cartels

began to move their businesses to Cali, north of Columbia, avoiding the Caribbean basin, which

led to more effective drug-trafficking organizations. In 1992, Harold Ackerman busted the Cali

Cartels causing alternate passages through Panama, Central America, and northern Mexico. This

shift caused a powerful boost for Mexican drug lords, who started demanding shares of the

cocaine, which started wholesale and retail drug outlets across U.S. borders and shores. By mid-
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1990’s the most profitable site for cocaine was Mexico, becoming a critical force throughout the

Mexican political economy. As profits grew, so did bribery from the traffickers to federal agents

and police. Corruption went on in the government until 2006 when Felipe Calderon was elected

as president. Calderon demanded for an all-out Mexican drug war causing more violence to

break out, rights violations, and terror considering this to be Mexico’s worst social violence since

the 1920’s.

The purpose of this writing is to outline the history of the violent crime epidemic and

how it got to where it is today. The audience for this piece is for those in academia. It has a lot of

historical context that mainly those who study Latin American studies may know more about

than the general public. This piece was written in 2012 which is around the time the President of

Mexico’s term end is and maybe the purpose of this writing is for political purposes to address

issues that are going on in Mexico and to show what hasn’t worked in the past.

The writer is Paul Gootenberg and what makes him credible is he is a historian of Latin

America who specializes in the Andean drug trade, the fields of Peruvian and Mexican history,

as well as historical sociology. Gootenberg provides all his cited sources at the end of his article

showing his information is adequate. When I google Gootenberg, all his scholarly works come

up and there is not incriminating news on him.

I will use this information to outline how the Mexican cartels have become a prominent

force in North America. I think this will help many people see that the problem is not strictly a

Mexican problem and it didn’t start out as a Mexican problem either. It will show what started

the huge wave of violence throughout North America.

Kellner, Tomas and Francesco Pipitone. “Inside Mexico’s Drug War.” World Policy Journal,

Vol. 27, no. 1, Duke University Press, 2010, pp. 29-37. doi: 10.1162/wopj.2010.27.1.29
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https://worldpolicy.org/2010/09/09/inside-mexicos-drug-war/

Inside Mexico’s Drug War by Tomas Kellner and Francesco Pipitone found in the

World Policy Journal in 2010 explains the instances where drugs, crime, and corruption have

grown along the U.S.-Mexican border to places that previously seemed safe from these

nightmares. As Columbian cartels lost control over the region by the government officials,

traffickers decided to move north into Mexico, where Mexicans demanded a percentage of the

cocaine to use their transportation services. This caused Mexicans to start their own businesses in

the cocaine trades. As they expanded their control, revenue exploded and when the earnings shot

up, violence did as well. Mexican cartels fought for more control over larger territories and

claimed the lives of many. In 2006, Felipe Calderon became president and he wanted to put a

stop to the violence. In 2010, around 45,000 Mexican troops were at war with drug cartels,

fighting an ongoing war. In Aguascalientes, a town that was once peaceful and attracting foreign

investment from big companies like Nissan, Bosch, and Texas Instruments, many gangs moved

in for its tranquility, bringing their violence and crime with them. Cartels began kidnapping

children of wealthy businessmen, demanding to be paid for the children’s freedom. Kidnapping

is an immediate source of funds than trafficking drugs. They also began to bully trucking

businesses to transport loads of drugs and if the business refused, the cartels would kill the owner

and potentially the family as well. Police find themselves outnumbered and overpowered by the

increasing number of criminals. With this increasing number of cartels, the Mexican government

is having to put more resources into their military and police force to help combat this violence.

They are having to do more background checks on Mexican cadets and cops to show they have

no shady connections with the cartels which is a problem among their police and military forces.
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The main purpose for the author’s writing this is to make the general public aware of the

rising issues going on along the U.S.-Mexican border. It was written when President Calderon

was in office, which is claimed to be the most violent time in history against the cartels, so I

think its purpose is to make people more alert of this issue.

The writers of this piece are Tomas Kellner and Francesco Pipitone. Tomas is credible

because he writes investigative articles focusing on government program abuse and fraud in the

corporate and non-profit sectors. Francesco formerly worked for Mexico's Ministry of the

Interior, the Office of the President of the Republic, and the National Human Rights Commission

as an analyst on numerous political and social issues. They posted this article in the World Policy

Journal which is published by the Duke University Press and focuses on international relations

with non-United States centric perspectives.

This piece is relevant because it gives great examples of how the cartels influence people

and businesses. It also explains what the government of Mexico has had to change in order to

combat the cartels. I can get specific examples from this piece.

“Feds Seize Longest Tunnel on California-Mexican Border.” United States Drug Enforcement

Administration, U.S. Department of Justice. 2016. www.dea.gov/press-

releases/2016/04/20/feds-seize-longest-tunnel-california-mexico-border. Accessed 30

June 2019.

Feds Seize Longest Tunnel on California-Mexican Border is on the DEA website written

in 2016. Federal officials found what was believed to be the largest drug smuggling tunnel ever

discovered. The size of the tunnel was about eight football fields long. The tunnel stretched from

Tijuana to Otay Mesa industrial park, which is five-hundred yards north of the U.S.- Mexican

border. The opening on the U.S. sized was three feet wide and was covered by a dumpster. The
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dumpster was found with a little over two-thousand pounds of cocaine and a little over eleven-

thousand pounds of marijuana.

The writer’s purpose of writing this news article is to inform the public of DEA agents’

findings. It is important for the government to report on these things because it lets the U.S.

citizens know that they are doing their jobs.

The article did not specify who the writer was of the piece I know this is a credible source

because it is coming from a government sight that specializes in drug enforcement.

I will use this piece as an example of different ways the cartels affect North America and

ways the U.S. is lessening the crime.

“Major Takedown Dismantles Multi-State Methamphetamine Network Tied to Sinaloa Cartel.”

United States Drugs Enforcement Administration, U.S. Department of Justice. 2019.

www.dea.gov/press-releases/2019/05/21/major-takedown-dismantles-multi-state-

methamphetamine-network-tied. Accessed 30 June 2019.

Major Takedown Dismantles Multi-State Methamphetamine Network Tied to Sinaloa

Cartel is located on the DEA website written in 2019. The article is about the forty-three indicted

members of a methamphetamine distribution network tied to the Sinaloa Cartel for drug

trafficking and money laundering. This network based in San Diego distributed meth to sub-

distributors all around the United-States. They distributed the drugs through Fed-Ex and the

United States Postal Service with fraudulent account to hotels, Airbnb’s and residence locations.

Law enforcement was able to track down this network through physical surveillance, obtaining

phone records, and financial documents tracking warrants on telephones. These types of

networks rely on U.S. citizens to distribute the drugs for them which in turn effects our

communities tremendously.
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This article was posted on the DEA website whose purpose is to inform the general

public of the drug related news in the United States.

This piece is coming from a government site whose reports on drug related news, this

information is a reliable source with fact-based findings.

This information is relevant because it shows what kind of influence cartels have on the

United States. This shows that they have ties to major businesses inside the U.S.

Narco State. New York, N.Y.: Films Media Group, 2009. https://digital-films-

com.sinclair.ohionet.org/p_ViewVideo.aspx?xtid=52894

Narco State is a documentary filmed in 2009 that looks at the crimes along the U.S.-

Mexican border. This video explains the hunger for drugs in the U.S. fueling the Mexican

Cartel’s business, which is one of the biggest drug markets. The cartels are able to achieve their

goals by kidnapping, home invasions, and murdering. Mexico has tried to stop the cartels by

increasing the military involvement but all it has done is increase the violence. Many cartels are

fighting for control the borders, so it is easier to smuggle drugs. Most of the kidnappings and

violence in Mexican cities involves drugs and in the past ten years these instances have happened

increasingly. It shows what both sides of the border are doing to solve this problem but are not

really getting anywhere as the increase in violence steadily rises.

The purpose of this documentary is to make aware the increasing violence along the

border. The audience for this documentary is the general public.

The National Geographic is the producer of this documentary. The National Geographic

is known to explore different regions and document what is going on in the world. This source is

reliable because it is trying to show the world as it is, it has not been known to be politically

motivated.
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This documentary shows how cartels influence people to do things for them and I think it

is relevant in explaining what both sides of the border are trying to do to stop it.

“1302- Ed Calderon.” YouTube, uploaded by Joe Rogan Experience, 22 May 2019,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=11hb2ymtsw8.

Ed Calderon was a guest on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast talking about his time that

he served for the Mexican police force in Tijuana. He began working as a police officer when

President Felipe Calderon started his term in office. The issues began after 9/11 when the U.S.

tightened the borders and the cartels needed to brainstorm on how they could get drugs into the

U.S. while also battling other cartels for border control. At this same time President Calderon

strengthened the military of Mexico causing a war between the military and cartels. Ed talks

about the immense corruption in the police force and military which caused distrust from the

citizens. He talks about how members of cartels would dress as military or police officers and

kidnap citizens. In some of these instances, non-cartel police officers were told to turn a blind

eye from this corruption. He says that corruption is not only greed based, it has a lot to do with

fear. A lot of Mexicans will view drug lords as heroes because of how much influence they have

in a community. For example, El Chapo, has helped build up communities and make them

economically well off. The people of these communities will protect these drug lord’s

whereabouts because of how much they positively impacted their community. He explains how

building a wall on the border may not work because Mexicans are problem-solving and creative.

They have already developed different ways to get drugs over the border like tunnels, drones,

and catapults. He says that this is not a Mexican problem only. Many drug lords, one being El

Chapo, have kids that were born in the United States in the 90s and soon these children will be
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taking over these cartels while also being U.S. citizens, so this soon will be an international

problem.

Ed Calderon’s purpose of doing this interview with Joe Rogan is to shed light of the

issues going on in Mexico. He has a lot of experience first-hand as a police officer with what

problems Mexico’s faces and wants more people to understand, especially people in the U.S. I

think the audience for this piece was mostly people in the U.S. because we mainly get a one

sided, politically motivated news article on the issues of Mexico.

Ed Calderon was the interviewee. He is credible because he worked as a Tijuana police

officer and saw upfront what is going on with Mexico and cartels. He has adequate information

because he is the one that experienced it, and no one is telling him to speak a certain narrative.

I will use this information to discuss the corruption and influence of Mexican cartels

have on North America. I will also use it as a guide to help figure out what may be done to

combat these issues.