A sinister ‘super cartel’ alliance is much bigger than authorities previously thought – and is winding its way across international borders. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) and the ‘Los Chapitos’ faction of the Sinaloa Cartel – two of Mexico‘s most feared and violent gangs – are believed to have clubbed together to form a ‘super cartel’.
Haunting footage circulating on social media this week showed the moment several armed men, allegedly composed of cartel members from CJNG and Los Chapitos, also known as La Chapiza – took two men prisoner. In the clip, one armed man declared there was a new “alliance between the New Generation Cartel and La Chapiza”. That alliance, however, might be larger than previously believed.
US officials say both the CJNG and the Sinaloa Cartel have an alliance with Colombia’s Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia People’s Army (FARC – EP).
Donald Trump‘s Justice Department also says it has issued indictments for Colombians Iván Jacobo Idrobo Arredondo, 39, and Juan Diego Palta Montero, 26.
The justice department claims the two are “narco-terrorists”, a commander and apprentice who are linked to FARC-EP, which the US claims has links to three other terrorist groups.
The department said in a statement: “The FARC-EP partners with other terrorist organizations, including the Sinaloa Cartel – which is headed by El Chapo’s son Ivan Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar – the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), and the Nueva Familia Michoacana.” South and Central American officials have also indicated that CJNG is linked to a series of other organisations, extending the potential alliance even further.
These include the Border Commandos, the Gulf Clan, and the National Liberation Army (ELN), a Colombian leftist group turned cocaine trafficking ring.
Pedro Sánchez Suárez, Colombia’s Minister for Defence, indicated as early as March 2024 that cartels had started fostering connections between Mexico and Colombia. He said: “The Sinaloa cartel buys the cocaine sold to them by armed groups in Cauca.” The minister was echoed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who suggested the Sinaloa Cartel is “the current leader of the ELN”.
Many of the cartels now forming or strengthening links have been blacklisted and labelled as terrorist organisations by the US as the Trump administration attempts to tackle the cross-border drugs trade.
Among those on the Trump blacklist are some known to also operate in the US, such as the Gulf Cartel, which primarily operates out of Mexico in Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, and Veracruz. But officials have tracked the organisation to more than a dozen south-eastern US states.
These include Republican bolthole Texas, Oklahoma, Democrat-led California, and much of the rest of the US southern flank. The Drugs Enforcement Administration 9DEA) believes drug and human trafficking “represents significant revenue” for the organisation.
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