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117-652: In 2014, the cartel kidnapped 43 students from Ayotzinapa College in Iguala , Guerrero. A witness confirmed that soldiers in the Mexican Army were involved in the kidnapping, by interrogating the students at the army base in the town of Iguala and then handing them over to the cartel. Much of what is known about the gang comes from investigations into the disappearance of the Ayotzinapa student teachers, and 23,000 text messages from BlackBerry communications among

234-585: A Washington, D.C. judge a failed operation to capture alleged kingpin Ovidio Guzmán López was carried by the Mexican National Guard , in which fourteen people died (mostly from the armed forces and cartel enforcers and one civilian bystander). Guzmán was released after approximately 700 cartel enforcers, armed with .50 caliber rifles, Rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and 40 mm grenades took multiple hostages, including

351-609: A body of independent experts which monitors the implementation of the Convention for the Protection of all Persons against Enforced Disappearance by the States parties, and submitted the case of the killing and disappearances of their loved ones to the specialized international watchdog panel, further raising international media attention to their plight. Groups that helped investigating the students' disappearances on behalf of

468-493: A bus carrying them to Mexico City. They shot the bus windows killing six students. Witnesses that survived the ordeal described they were taken to the Mexican army base in town, and then the commander decided who would be killed or left alive. The mayor was then arrested a few months later on November 4, 2014, by PGR and SEIDO agents. 2014 Iguala mass kidnapping On September 26, 2014, forty-three male students from

585-661: A failure with no major drug lord captures, and reported abuse and repression in rural zones. During the 1970s and early 1980s, Colombia 's Pablo Escobar was the main exporter of cocaine and dealt with organized criminal networks all over the world. While Escobar's Medellin Cartel and the Cali Cartel would manufacture the products, Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo 's Guadalajara Cartel would oversee distribution. When enforcement efforts intensified in South Florida and

702-476: A helicopter to search for them. The 43 students, however, were never found. A number of theories have been proposed to explain the disappearance (and what was by 2023-4 assumed to be the killing) by a drug cartel of such a large number of unarmed civilians who were training to be teachers and had "nothing to do" with organized crime. The history of left-wing activism and radicalism at the local teacher training college students attended aroused suspicion, but it

819-404: A legal framework to the military grade forces that have been doing police work in the last years. He promised not to use arms to suppress the people, and made an announcement to free political prisoners. His approach is to pay more attention to the victims of violent crime and he wants to revisit two previously taken strategies. In 2019, the promised Mexican National Guard was created. Despite

936-465: A number of other sources, tens of thousands of people in Mexico have gone missing since 2006, a problem that started with a wave of violence unleashed by the "War on Drugs" declared by President Felipe Calderón and his mobilising of the Mexican armed forces to fight organized drug traffickers. While this led to the arrest of high-level cartel leaders, rather than decapitating the drug networks, it led to

1053-837: A person in a meeting with President Peña Nieto saying "we're going to beat the hell out of the CNTE guys" (" Les vamos a partir la madre a los de la CNTE "). On September 26, 2014, at approximately 6:00 p.m. (CST), more than 100 students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College in Tixtla, Guerrero, traveled to Iguala, Guerrero , to interrupt a DIF conference presented by María de los Ángeles Pineda Villa , then-first lady of Iguala, and following that to commandeer buses for an upcoming march in Mexico City, The students had previously attempted to make their way to

1170-577: A resignation. Moreover, one account stated that Pineda had been seen that day at the Acapulco offices of PROTUR, Guerrero's tourist promotion body, in a private meeting with State Governor Ángel Aguirre Rivero . Eyewitnesses reportedly saw Pineda "worried" and "in a hurry". On September 30, 2014, Abarca asked for a 30-day leave of absence which was granted by the Iguala city council. His absence came amid pressure from other members of his political party,

1287-536: A rival's operations to the Mexican or U.S. government's Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). While many factors have contributed to the escalating violence, security analysts in Mexico City trace the origins of the rising scourge to the unraveling of a longtime implicit arrangement between narcotics traffickers and governments controlled by the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which began to lose its grip on political power in

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1404-747: A small share of worldwide heroin production, it supplies a large share of the heroin distributed in the United States. Since 2003 Mexican cartels have used the dense, isolated portions of U.S. federal and state parks and forests to grow marijuana under the canopy of thick trees. Billions of dollars’ worth of marijuana has been produced annually on U.S. soil. "In 2006, federal and state authorities seized over 550,000 marijuana plants worth an estimated 1 billion dollars in Kentucky 's remote Appalachian counties". Cartels profited from marijuana growing operations from Arkansas to Hawaii. A 2018 study found that

1521-495: A surge in violence as lower-level chiefs competed to replace former bosses. Rather than introducing an incorruptible security force to replace corrupt local police, it led to the corruption of the military. Eschenbacher states that the interior ministry's official database registered 111,896 people as missing as of October 2023, while Guillermoprieto gave a "low-range official estimate" of 80,000 disappeared from 2006 to early 2024. The U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances called

1638-469: A threat to the gang's control of the area. Guerreros Unidos likely believed that some of the students were members of a rival gang known as Los Rojos . With that information, Casarrubias ordered his subordinates to kill the students. Investigators believe that a gang member known by his alias "El Chucky" or "El Choky" took part in the killings. He was suspected of collaborating with Francisco Salgado Valladares, one of Iguala's security chiefs, in kidnapping

1755-455: A victory. The police and gangsters killed the bus driver, a teenage player, and a woman bystander before realizing their mistake. Opponents of capitalism and globalism have called the torture and disappearance of the 43 students fueled by the collaboration between all levels of Mexican government and narcos Mexican state-sponsored terrorism and a direct result of global trade, like NAFTA and Plan Mérida. Guillermoprieto writes that

1872-460: A video taken from a drone operated by Mexican navy and found by later investigators in 2021 recorded suspicious activity by military vehicles at the trash dump one month after the crime and shortly before Attorney General Murillo gave a press conference claiming to have found remains of the students at the trash dump. Amnesty International described the theory as having been "repeatedly debunked" by "international experts". As of 2024, fragments of

1989-443: A woman enter and exit, resulting in them mounting an investigation and surveillance operation on it, in which they would arrest Abarca and Pineda at around 2:30 a.m. (CST) on November 4, 2014. They were found with eight dogs. Neither of them resisted arrest. Abarca confessed that he was tired of hiding and that the pressure was too much for him. His wife, on the other hand, showed her disdain for law enforcement. The arrest

2106-506: Is an all-male school that has historically been associated with student activism . Guerrero teachers, including the students from Ayotzinapa, are known for their " militant and radical protests that often involve hijacking buses and delivery trucks." The appropriation of vehicles was, according to the students, routine and temporary, and according to other sources, such as the New York Times, "largely tolerated" by bus companies of

2223-629: Is estimated that in the first eight months of 2005, about 110 people died in Nuevo Laredo , Tamaulipas as a result of the fighting between the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels. The same year, there was another surge in violence in the state of Michoacán as La Familia Michoacana drug cartel established itself, after splintering from its former allies, the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas . On December 11, 2006, newly elected President Felipe Calderón , from

2340-473: Is no indication the students are alive, but as of 2024, only three students' remains have been identified and their deaths confirmed. While tens of thousands have gone missing during the Mexican drug war , the 43 missing have become a cause célèbre due to the persistent activism and demands for an explanation by their parents and relatives. Official obstacles put in the way of independent investigations of

2457-424: Is not clear that the students were targeted for their political beliefs. Some think that they angered Guerreros Unidos by refusing to pay extortion money. Another theory is that the buses hijacked by the students contained drug cartel products or that a rival cartel had infiltrated the student group. Others believe that there was a link between the students' disappearance and the influential wife of Iguala's mayor. On

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2574-548: The 2000 Mexican election , when the right-wing PAN party gained the presidency and started a crackdown on cartels in their own turf. In 2000, Vicente Fox, from the right-wing PAN party, became the first Mexican president since the Mexican Revolution not to be from the PRI; his presidency passed with relative peace, having a crime index not too different from that of previous administrations, and Mexican public opinion

2691-401: The Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College disappeared after being forcibly abducted in Iguala , Guerrero, Mexico, in what has been called one of Mexico’s most infamous human rights cases. They were allegedly taken into custody by local police officers from Iguala and Cocula in collusion with organised crime , with later evidence implicating the Mexican Army . Officials have concluded there

2808-527: The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), who found the findings "scientifically impossible". Another investigation (by journalist Anabel Hernández ) alleged that the commandeered buses were transporting heroin, without the students' knowledge, and the Mexican Army intercepted the drugs on behalf of the traffickers - the students being killed to eliminate witnesses. There are also reports of military personnel monitoring

2925-401: The Mexican war on drugs ; Spanish: Guerra contra el narcotráfico en México , shortened to and commonly known inside Mexico as the war against the narco ; Spanish: Guerra contra el narco ) is an ongoing asymmetric armed conflict between the Mexican government and various drug trafficking syndicates . When the Mexican military intervened in 2006, the government's main objective

3042-492: The Ministry of Public Security . The state government said that the 280 municipal police officers in Iguala had been called in for questioning about the incidents. All but 22 of them were released without charge. State prosecutor Iñaky Blanco Cabrera stated that the 22 officers detained had used excessive or deadly force against the students. The investigations concluded that 16 of the 22 police officers had used firearms against

3159-745: The Tijuana , Beltrán-Leyva , Juárez and Los Zetas cartels. Another chose alliances with the Gulf and Sinaloa Cartels . It splintered off from another gang, los Rojos (“the Reds”). It established itself in Guerrero state, near the Ayotzinapa campus. The faction that chose sides with the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels rivals formed Guerreros Unidos with the remains of the Beltrán Leyva Cartel. Before

3276-430: The 43 students might have become another uninvestigated group among the tens of thousands of disappeared Mexicans but for the persistence of their parents and relatives. Unforgiving, stubborn, and extremely vulnerable, the families marched once a month through central Mexico City, putting themselves in front of television cameras, shouting, gathering at the entrance to government buildings, and refusing to budge, demanding

3393-779: The Abarcas due to her friendship with Yazareth and her presence on social media. At 5:10 p.m. on November 5, 2014, Abarca was transferred to the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 1 (commonly referred to as "Altiplano"), a maximum-security prison in Almoloya de Juárez , State of Mexico. He was imprisoned for his pending homicide charge, organized crime, and forced disappearance charges. A judge ordered for Pineda to remain under federal custody for 40 days in order to gather more evidences against her. On December 15, her federal custody detention

3510-641: The Caribbean, the Colombian organizations formed partnerships with the Mexico-based traffickers to transport cocaine by land through Mexico into the United States. This was easily accomplished because Mexico had long been a major source of heroin and cannabis , and drug traffickers from Mexico had already established an infrastructure that stood ready to serve the Colombia-based traffickers. By

3627-494: The Democratic Revolution (PRD), named Pact for Mexico . The bill aimed to reform Mexican public education, introducing a competitive process for the hiring, promotion, recognition, and tenure of teachers, principals, and administrators and declared that all previous appointments that did not conform to the procedures were null. Some teachers opposed the bill, claiming standardized tests that do not take in account

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3744-778: The Education Reform suffered head injuries and a broken arm after being pelted with stones. The attack was blamed on the inhabitants of the Tepito neighborhood of Mexico City, although teachers blamed the Federal Government. In January 2014, the governor of the State of Mexico, Eruviel Ávila Villegas , sent a bill to the local Congress proposing to sanction those teachers who were actively protesting and not attending their jobs with fines and jail time. In August 2014, journalist Carlos Loret de Mola claimed to have heard

3861-553: The Guerrero state police killed seventeen farmers and injured twenty-one others during a protest in an event known as the Aguas Blancas massacre . The massacre led to the creation of the Popular Revolutionary Army (Spanish: Ejército Popular Revolucionario ), which is believed by some state officials to retain some political influence in Guerrero. Students claim to have no ties with such groups, and that

3978-750: The Mexican Interior Ministry solely responsible for public security and the creation of a national military level police force called the National Gendarmerie . In December 2017, the Law of Internal Security was passed by legislation but was met with criticism, especially from the National Human Rights Commission , accusing it gave the President a blank check . Andrés Manuel López Obrador ,

4095-550: The Mexican army, and used real estate and other "traditional" methods to launder money. On 26 September 2014, students from Ayotzinapa College were assisting a protest in Mexico City to commemorate the 46th anniversary of the Tlatelolco massacre . Under orders from the mayor, Iguala Municipal Police, Federal Ministerial Police , Mexican Federal Police , various members from SEDENA , and Guerrero State Police carjacked

4212-502: The PAN party, dispatched 6,500 Mexican Army soldiers to Michoacán , his home state, to end drug violence. This action is regarded as the first major deployment of government forces against cartels, and is generally viewed as the starting point of the Mexican drug war. As time passed, Calderón continued to escalate his anti-drug campaign. By 2008, there were about 45,000 troops involved along with state and federal police forces. The government

4329-457: The PRD, who asked him to resign in order to facilitate investigations. Before the official session was over at the city council, federal agents arrived asking for Abarca, but he had already left, resulting in them raiding his house. Rumors suggested that he had fled the country, but investigations concluded that he had left Guerrero with his family, but was still in hiding somewhere in Mexico. Flores

4446-751: The President from the Center-left National Regeneration Movement party, took office on December 1, 2018. One of his campaign promises was a controversial "strategy for peace", which would give amnesty to Mexicans involved in drug production and trafficking as a way to stop the drug trade and the resulting turf violence. His aides explained that the plan was not to pardon real criminals, like violent drug cartel members, but to prevent other people from following that path, especially low-income people, farmers forced into drug cultivation by cartels, and young people that may end up in jail for drug possession. Obrador pointed out that

4563-512: The San Juan river in Cocula, reportedly on orders from a man known only as "El Terco". "El Gil" then sent a text message to Casarrubias Salgado confirming the completion of the task. "We turned them into dust and threw their remains in the water. They [authorities] will never find them", the text read. Initially, 57 students were reported missing; fourteen of them, however, were located after it

4680-523: The Sinaloa Cartel. Los Zetas also instilled terror against journalists and civilians of Nuevo Laredo. This set a new precedent which cartels later mimicked. All these activities by Mexican criminal organizations were not widely reported by the Mexican media, although key conflicts took place, including the Sinaloa Cartel attacks and advance on the Gulf Cartel's main regions in Tamaulipas . It

4797-494: The Sinaloa cartel and the Jalisco New Generation cartel. The dominant PRI party ruled Mexico for around 70 years until 2000. During this time, drug cartels expanded their power and political influence, and anti-drug operations focused mainly on destroying marijuana and opium crops in mountainous regions. There were no large-scale high-profile military operations against their core structures in urban areas until

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4914-546: The United States is produced in Colombia (followed by Bolivia and Peru ) and that the main transit route is through Mexico. Drug cartels in Mexico control approximately 70% of the foreign narcotics flow into the United States. Mexican cartels distribute Asian methamphetamine to the United States. It is believed that almost half the cartels' revenues come from cannabis. Cocaine, heroin, and increasingly methamphetamine are also traded. Although Mexico accounts for only

5031-556: The abandoned property was Noemí Berumen Rodríguez, who was arrested by the authorities that day in Santa María Aztahuacán, Iztapalapa, and believed to have aided the couple in their hiding by lending them her house. She was a friend of the couple's 25-year-old daughter Yazareth Liz Abarca Pineda, who was taken into custody along with her parents. However, Yazareth was only considered an eyewitness and did not face criminal charges. Authorities were able to link Berumen with

5148-451: The abduction as they wanted to prevent them from disrupting campaign events held in the city, although neither of them were put on trial for the students' disappearance. Soon after the kidnapping, suspicions were raised concerning the potential involvement of José Luis Abarca, he mayor of Iguala; in the past, he had been accused of direct participation in the torture and murder of an activist, while his wife, María de los Ángeles Pineda Villa,

5265-411: The availability of drugs has slowly increased locally since the 1980s. In the decades before this period, consumption was not generalized – reportedly occurring mainly among persons of high socioeconomic status , intellectuals and artists. As the United States of America is the world's largest consumer of cocaine, as well as of other illegal drugs, their demand is what motivates the drug business, and

5382-584: The bill of secondary laws. Students of the Rural Teachers College of Ayotzinapa joined the protest against the reform. In September 2013, the police retook the Zócalo square using water cannons and tear gas. Business organizations of Baja California, Estado de Mexico, and Chiapas demanded decisive action against teachers on strike, as well as politicians from the PRD and PAN, and academics. In October 2013, three teachers protesting against

5499-427: The bodies in a huge pit before fueling the corpses with diesel, gasoline, tires, wood and plastic. To destroy all evidence, the suspects also burned the clothing the students had on them. The fire lasted from midnight to around 2:00 and 3:00 p.m. the next day. Once the fire had subsided, the suspects returned to the site and threw dirt and ashes to cool down the remains. They then filled up eight plastic bags, smashed

5616-434: The bones, and threw them in the river on orders from a Guerreros Unidos member known as "El Terco". At the press conference, a video re-enactment of how the bodies were transported was shown, alongside several video interrogations of the suspects, as well as video of teeth and bones recovered at the site. Murillo Karam said that the remains were badly burned, making DNA identification difficult. In order to properly identify

5733-423: The buses that picked up the student protestors. Bullets struck the bus and hit two taxis. The bus driver, a football player, and a woman inside one of the taxis were killed. The next morning, the authorities discovered the corpse of a student, Julio César Mondragón, who had attempted to run away during gunfire. He was tortured before dying of brain injuries. In total, 6 people were killed and 25 wounded. After

5850-421: The case have also provoked social unrest and international protests including protests leading to the resignation of the governor of Guerrero. Before their disappearance, the students were preparing to commemorate the anniversary of the 1968 Tlatelolco massacre , following a tradition where they commandeered several buses to travel to Mexico City . The police set up roadblocks and fired weapons to intercept

5967-462: The case, and that 44 of them were policemen of Cocula and Iguala. He said that 16 police officers from these two municipalities were still being sought, along with 11 other probable suspects. Mexican authorities also claimed that José Luis Abarca Velázquez, the mayor of Iguala and a member of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), with his wife, María de los Ángeles Pineda Villa , masterminded

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6084-849: The co-founder of the first major Mexican drug cartel ; the Guadalajara Cartel , an alliance of the current existing cartels (which included the Sinaloa Cartel , the Juarez Cartel , the Tijuana Cartel , and the Sonora Cartel with Aldair Mariano as the leader). After his arrest, the alliance broke and high-ranking members formed their own cartels, fighting for control of territory and trafficking routes. Although Mexican drug trafficking organizations have existed for several decades, their influence increased after

6201-554: The commission. Among those incarcerated in connection for the crime as of early 2024 are the leader of the United Warriors cartel José Ángel Casarrubias Salgado, known as "El Mochomo", (sentenced to life in prison in the U.S), and former federal attorney general Jesús Murillo Karam (under house arrest in Mexico City as of early 2024). The Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College in Tixtla, Guerrero , Mexico, founded in 1926,

6318-431: The corpses with diesel, gasoline, tires, wood and plastic. They also destroyed the students' clothing in order to erase evidence. The fire most likely lasted from midnight until 2:00 or 3:00 pm. The gang assigned guards throughout the day to make sure that the fire was kept alive. When the fire had gone down, the suspects threw dirt in to cool the pit. They then placed the remains in eight plastic bags and dumped them in

6435-400: The criminal groups that wanted to impose dominance in their towns, entering a new phase in the Mexican war on drugs. This strategy, allegedly proposed by General Óscar Naranjo , Peña Nieto's security advisor from Colombia, crumbled when autodefensas started to have internal organization struggles and disagreements with the government, as well as infiltration by criminal elements, that deprived

6552-418: The day of the clashes, she was to give a speech to local dignitaries and some believe the students were targeted because it was feared they could disrupt the event. The 23,000 text messages between the cartel, police, and government officials obtained by investigators in 2022 also suggest an explanation for their killing, according to prosecutors, according to journalists Natalie Kitroeff and Ronen Bergman. In

6669-637: The demise of the Colombian Cali and Medellín cartels in the 1990s. By 2007, Mexican drug cartels controlled 90% of the cocaine entering the United States. Arrests of key cartel leaders, particularly in the Tijuana and Gulf cartels, have led to increasing drug violence as cartels fight for control of the trafficking routes into the United States. Federal law enforcement has been reorganized at least five times since 1982 in various attempts to control corruption and reduce cartel violence. During

6786-467: The distribution, as well as the transportation of cocaine, and became formidable traffickers in their own right. In recent years, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Gulf Cartel have taken over trafficking cocaine from Colombia to the worldwide markets. The balance of power between the various Mexican cartels continually shifts as new organizations emerge and older ones weaken and collapse. A disruption in

6903-551: The drugs, according to text messages collected by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. The gang had many police on its payroll. According to a sworn deposition of a member of Guerreros Unidos (who eventually testified against the gang), “The purpose of every person who belongs to the organization [is] to send drugs to Chicago, and to keep watch and do what is necessary. ... That is why there should be support by public officials like police officers at every level.” The gang also employed many lookouts to keep track of movements by

7020-454: The end of the 1960s, Mexicans started to smuggle drugs on a major scale. In the 1960s and 1970s, Mexico was part of both Operation Intercept and Operation Condor , developed between 1975 and 1978, with the pretext to fight against the cultivation of opium and marijuana in the "Golden Triangle", particularly in Sinaloa . The operation, commanded by General José Hernández Toledo, was

7137-473: The end of the Mexican war on drugs, stating that he would now focus on reducing spending, and direct its military and police efforts primarily on stopping the armed gasoline theft rings —locally called huachicoleros — that had been stealing more than 70 thousand barrels of oil, diesel and gasoline daily, costing the Mexican state-owned company Pemex around 3 billion dollars every year. On October 17, 2019, based on an extradition request sent to Mexico by

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7254-524: The findings of this investigation and the missing student's parents expressed skepticism. It rained on the night of the attack, making it unlikely a fire could not have consumed the student's bodies; there was a lack of any trace of remains at the trash dump where the bodies were allegedly incinerated; the attorney general's group claimed that the forty-three corpses" had been incinerated by the Guerreros Unidos gang using only "five gallons of fuel”;

7371-665: The gang members obtained by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration . In December 2009, a drug cartel lord of the Beltrán-Leyva Organization , Arturo Beltrán Leyva was shot and killed by the Mexican Marines, splintering the Beltrán-Leyva Organization into smaller operations. Guerreros Unidos was founded in 2010 as two factions from La Familia Michoacana merged an alliance with different cartels. One faction chose sides with

7488-482: The government forces the ability to distinguish between armed-civilian convoys and drug-cartel convoys, forcing Peña Nieto's administration to distance from them. Peña Nieto's handling of the 2014 Iguala mass kidnapping and the 2015 escape of drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán from the Altiplano maximum security prison sparked international criticism. A great part of Peña Nieto's strategy consisted in making

7605-426: The government of President Enrique Peña Nieto , concluded corrupt municipal police from Iguala and neighboring towns, following orders from the local mayor, had turned 43 of the students over to the local drug cartel , Guerreros Unidos ("United Warriors"), who killed the students and destroyed their remains, and that Federal police and military played no part in the killings. This was disputed by some experts, such as

7722-494: The housing unit where military families live in Culiacan. The cartels used burning vehicles to block roads, a tactic taken from militant protesters, with the event described as a mass insurrection. Obrador defended the decision to release Ovidio Guzmán, arguing it prevented further loss of life, and insisted that he wants to avoid more massacres. He further stated that the capture of one drug smuggler cannot be more valuable than

7839-439: The kidnapping of the 43 students, it was suspected of attacking a bus of Ayotzinapa activists on 11 December 2011, with Guerrero state militia and police. According to The New Yorker magazine, the "specialty" of Guerreros Unidos was smuggling drugs in hidden compartments it fitted in passenger buses traveling to Chicago, Illinois in the United States. In Chicago, a contact of the group (Pablo Vega), would unload and distribute

7956-618: The large number of disappeared and very small number of investigations of the disappearances "alarming", and expressed disapproval of the "almost absolute impunity" of kidnappers and killers of the disappeared. In February 2013, President Enrique Peña Nieto published an education bill in the Official Journal of the Federation in agreement with the pact signed by the three main political parties, Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), National Action Party (PAN) and Party of

8073-536: The late 1980s. The fighting between rival drug cartels began in earnest after the 1989 arrest of Félix Gallardo, who ran the cocaine business in Mexico. There was a lull in the fighting during the late 1990s but the violence has steadily worsened since 2000. According to researchers, as of 2023 there are an estimate of 175,000 people working for the drug cartel. The head of the U.S drug enforcement reported that there are an estimate of 45,000 members associates and brokers spread over more than 100 countries working under

8190-431: The lives of innocent civilians, and that even though they underestimated the cartel's manpower and ability to respond the criminal process against Ovidio is still ongoing, During 2019, the federal forces deployed 8,000 troops and police reinforcements to restore peace in Culiacan. This strategy of avoiding armed confrontations while drug organizations have continued violent altercations has been controversial. One of

8307-402: The mayor. The details of what followed during the students' clash with the police vary. According to police reports, the police chased the students because they had hijacked three buses and attempted to drive them off to carry out the protests and then return to their college. Members of the student union, however, stated that they had been protesting and were hitchhiking when they clashed with

8424-497: The members which directed authorities to the location of the bags. Murillo Karam stated that the three suspects admitted to having killed a group of around 40 people in Cocula on September 26, 2014. The suspects stated that once the police handed over the students to them, they transported them in trucks to a dumping ground just outside town. By the time they got there, 15 students had died from asphyxiation. The remaining students were interrogated and then killed. The suspects dumped

8541-521: The messages also demonstrated that while the gang was powerful enough to have police and army in its employ, its operations were less than tight and competent; drug shipments were lost, operatives disappeared, members' water were cut off when bills weren't paid. The night of the disappearance, members of the Guerreros Unidos and the police accidentally attacked a bus of a junior-league soccer/football team returning home to Chilpancingo to celebrate

8658-493: The mid-1980s, the organizations from Mexico were well-established and reliable transporters of Colombian cocaine . At first, the Mexican gangs were paid in cash for their transportation services, but in the late 1980s, the Mexican transport organizations and the Colombian drug traffickers settled on a payment-in-product arrangement. Transporters from Mexico usually were given 35% to 50% of each cocaine shipment. This arrangement meant that organizations from Mexico became involved in

8775-699: The militarization of the drug war. Consequently, defense spending has surged by 87% between 2012, Calderón's last year in office, and 2022. Although the number of deployed soldiers is higher, available data indicates that they assume a more restrained role. They engage in fewer confrontations, seize fewer firearms, and prioritize non-confrontational strategies to deter criminals. This has resulted in lower seizures of weapons and fewer arrests of alleged criminals. Additionally, President López Obrador has broadened their duties, such as overseeing vaccine distribution and addressing irregular migration flows. The U.S. State Department estimates that 90 percent of cocaine entering

8892-541: The missing students, but on the same day four additional graves, with an unknown number of bodies, were discovered. On October 27, 2014, the authorities arrested several members of Guerreros Unidos; according to officials, two of them received a large group of people from other gang members in Iguala on the night the mass abduction took place. Their testimonies helped the authorities locate new mass graves in Cocula, Guerrero , about 17 km (10 mi) from Iguala. The area

9009-449: The months before the abduction, the wiretaps demonstrated that the cartel "had grown increasingly paranoid, beset by deadly infighting and scrambling to defend its territory as rivals pushed in". Because the cartel used passenger buses to smuggle drugs into the U.S., when dozens of young men arrived in Iguala on buses, the traffickers saw it as an intrusion by the enemy and were triggered to attack them. Journalist Alma Guillermoprieto notes

9126-402: The national justice systems. By the end of President Felipe Calderón 's administration (December 1, 2006 – November 30, 2012), the official death toll of the Mexican drug war was at least 60,000. Estimates set the death toll above 120,000 killed by 2013, not including 27,000 missing. Since taking office in 2018, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador declared that the war was over. His comment

9243-511: The new government's planned strategy changes, during the first two months of the new presidency the violence between drug trafficking organizations sustained the same levels as previous years. On July 15, 2022 authorities captured Rafael Caro-Quintero , a former leader of the Guadalajara cartel, but lost fourteen soldiers in an aircraft crash in the remote mountains near Sinaloa's border with Chihuahua. On January 30, 2019, Obrador declared

9360-726: The only thing they have in common with them is socialist ideology. In addition, in Guerrero, where the bus companies are assumed to pay protection money , student campaigns are seen as threatening to organized crime . In December 2011, two students from the Raúl Isidro Burgos Rural Teachers College of Ayotzinapa were gunned down and killed by the Guerrero state police during a rally on the Cuernavaca to Acapulco federal highway . According to Alma Guillermoprieto of The New Yorker magazine, Stefanie Eschenbacher of Reuters news service, and

9477-547: The past approaches failed because they were based on misunderstanding the core problem. According to him, the underlying issue was Mexico's great social disparities which previous governments' economic policies did not reduce. For law enforcement, he promised to hold a referendum for the creation of a temporary national guard, merging elite parts of the Federal police , Military police, Navy , Chief of Staff's Guard and other top Mexican Security agencies, intending to finally give

9594-481: The police to members of the Guerreros Unidos , a criminal organization in Guerrero which splintered from the Beltrán Leyva cartel. One of the trucks used to transport the students was owned by Gildardo "El Cabo Gil" López Astudillo, a high-ranking leader of the gang. "El Cabo Gil" then called Sidronio Casarrubias Salgado, the top leader of Guerreros Unidos, and told him that the people he had in custody posed

9711-419: The police. As the buses sped away and the chase ensued, the police opened fire on the vehicles. Two students were killed in one of the buses, while some fled into the surrounding hills. Roughly three hours later, escaped students returned to the scene to speak with reporters. In a related incident, unidentified gunmen fired at a bus carrying players from a local soccer team, which they may have mistaken for one of

9828-433: The practice puts students and teachers at odds with local officials. Other protest tactics used by the students include throwing rocks at police officers, property theft, road blockings, and taking over toll booths to demand payment. Local authorities in Guerrero tend to be wary of student protests because of historic and suspected ties with leftist guerrillas or rival political groups (see Mexican Dirty War ). In 1995,

9945-529: The previous administrations' approach to public security through militarization, campaigned on the promise of removing the military from the streets and returning them to the barracks. However, under the López Obrador administration, deployments and military expenditures have reached unprecedented levels. The current number of soldiers deployed for security duties is 76% higher than during Felipe Calderón 's presidency, whom López Obrador holds responsible for

10062-507: The previous policy of attacking drug-trafficking organizations by arresting or killing the most-wanted drug lords and intercepting their shipments. In the first 14 months of his administration, between December 2012 and January 2014, 23,640 people died in the conflict. In 2013 Mexico saw the rise of the controversial Grupos de Autodefensa Comunitaria (self-defence groups) in southern Mexico, para-military groups led by land-owners, ranchers and other rural inhabitants that took up arms against

10179-400: The reduction in drugs from Colombia contributed to Mexican drug violence. The study estimated, "between 2006 and 2009 the decline in cocaine supply from Colombia could account for 10%–14% of the increase in violence in Mexico." Illicit drug use in Mexico is low compared to the United States, but is on the rise. With Mexico's increased role in the trafficking and production of illicit drugs ,

10296-618: The remains of three of the 43 missing students—Alexander Mora Venancio, Jhosivani Guerrero de la Cruz, Christian Alfonso Rodríguez Telumbre—have been identified by forensic specialists. Mexican drug war [REDACTED] Mexico Consulting and training support by: Non-state armed groups: [REDACTED] Popular Revolutionary Army (EPR) [REDACTED] Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) Mexican cartels : Weakened and defunct cartels: [REDACTED]   Mexico [REDACTED] EPR : Events: Topics: The Mexican drug war (also known as

10413-621: The remains, the federal government turned to a team of internationally renowned forensic specialists from the University of Innsbruck in Austria for help, though there was no definite timeframe for the results. The families of the students, however, did not accept the statements of the Attorney General and continue to believe that their sons are still alive. They said that they would not accept that their children were dead until it

10530-545: The return of their sons. Within weeks, the number forty-three was painted on walls, buses, windows, doors—everywhere in Mexico, and, for a time, throughout Europe and the Americas. On February 13, 2015, a delegation of parents who traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, with support from a coalition of human rights NGOs, attended the public hearing of the United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED),

10647-436: The same period as result of his militaristic anti-drug policy. In 2012, newly elected president Enrique Peña Nieto , from the PRI party, emphasized that he did not support the involvement of armed American agents in Mexico and was only interested in training Mexican forces in counter-insurgency tactics. Peña Nieto stated that he planned to deescalate the conflict, focusing in lowering criminal violence rates, as opposed to

10764-512: The same period, there have been at least four elite special forces created as new, corruption-free soldiers who could do battle with Mexico's endemic bribery system. Analysts estimate that wholesale earnings from illicit drug sales range from $ 13.6 to $ 49.4 billion annually. The U.S. Congress passed legislation in late June 2008 to provide Mexico with US$ 1.6 billion for the Mérida Initiative as well as technical advice to strengthen

10881-431: The shootings, eyewitnesses said that students were rounded up and forced into police vehicles. Once in custody, the students were taken to the police station in Iguala and then handed over to the police in Cocula. Cocula deputy police chief César Nava González then ordered his subordinates to transport the students to a rural community known as Pueblo Viejo. At some point, while still alive, the students were handed over by

10998-579: The socio-economic differences between urban and under-equipped rural schools would affect students and teachers from economically depressed regions such as Guerrero. In May 2013, teachers belonging to the Coordinadora Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación (CNTE) union began rallies and strikes across Mexico, protesting in the Zócalo of Mexico City in a sit-in against the Reform and

11115-429: The state capital Chilpancingo , but state and federal authorities blocked the routes there. In Iguala, the students had plans to solicit transportation costs to Mexico City , approximately 295 km away, for the anniversary march of the 1968 student massacre in Tlatelolco . However, on their way there, the students were intercepted by the Iguala municipal police force at around 9:30 pm, reportedly on orders of

11232-424: The strongest critics of the new strategy and a firm proponent of continuing the armed struggle is former President Felipe Calderón, who originally started the military operations against traffickers in 2006. Calderón's militaristic strategy to capture cartel heads has also been criticised by local and foreign experts, as well as by multiple media outlets. President López Obrador, known for his strong criticism of

11349-482: The students' situation but refraining from helping them. After President Andrés Manuel López Obrador came to office in 2018, he announced that a " truth commission " would lead a new investigation regardless of where the investigation led. The investigation led to the arrest of a dozen soldiers and a former attorney general, but the army and navy continued to hide information, and on 21 February 2024 parents of missing students announced they would cease dialogue with

11466-479: The students, but what happened during and after the stopping of their buses remains unclear. Among the many explanations for the students' disappearance include that the buses hijacked by the students contained drug cartel products or that a rival cartel had infiltrated the student group. There have been several investigative efforts to uncover what happened. An early investigation - dubbed "the historic truth" - under Mexican Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam of

11583-417: The students. According to investigators, the students were taken to a dumpster in the outskirts of Cocula. After reaching the site it is likely that 15 students had died of suffocation and the other students were then killed by Patricio Reyes Landa, Jonathan Osorio Gómez and Agustín García Reyes. These three suspects then dumped the bodies in a pit, and some other suspects known only by their aliases burned

11700-547: The students. They were imprisoned at the state penitentiary Social Reintegration Center of Las Cruces in Acapulco , Guerrero. A few days later they were transferred to the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 4 (also known as "El Rincón"), a maximum-security prison in Tepic, Nayarit , under aggravated murder charges. On 8 December 2014, Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam stated that at least 80 people had been arrested in

11817-401: The system, such as the arrests or deaths of cartel leaders, generates bloodshed as rivals move in to exploit the power vacuum. Leadership vacuums are sometimes created by law enforcement successes against a particular cartel, so cartels often will attempt to pit law enforcement against one another, either by bribing corrupt officials to take action against a rival or by leaking intelligence about

11934-413: The vicinity. Most of the buses are usually returned after the protests conclude. However, it was not always popular with the public as it would leave passengers of the commandeered buses stranded. Law enforcement generally tolerated this tactic despite frequent complaints from owners and transport users. Although federal agents have tended not to actively confront students for the appropriation of buses,

12051-581: The victims’ families included: On September 28, 2014, members of the Office of the General Prosecutor in Guerrero arrested 22 police officers for their involvement in the shooting and disappearance of the students. Police chief and Iguala's Director of Public Security, Felipe Flores Velásquez, turned in firearms, police vehicles, time shifts information, and policemen involved in the incident to

12168-427: Was also issued an order of appearance, but he was not located. Protesters demanding justice for the victims marched in several cities. At that time, Abarca still benefited from immunity under Mexican law, which protects elected officials from prosecution unless they commit a serious crime. In Abarca's case, he was protected from prosecution of common crimes, but not from federal charges. On October 18, 2014, it

12285-533: Was an alarming increase in violent deaths related to organized crime: more than 15,000 people died in suspected drug cartel attacks since it was launched at the end of 2006. More than 5,000 people were murdered in Mexico in 2008, followed by 9,600 murders in 2009; 2010 saw more than 15,000 homicides across the country. By the end of Calderón's presidency his administration statistics claimed that, during his 6-year term, 50,000 drug related homicides occurred. Outside sources claimed more than 120,000 murders happened in

12402-463: Was confirmed through Twitter by the Federal Police spokesperson José Ramón Salinas early that morning. Once in custody, they were taken by law enforcement to the federal installations of SEIDO , Mexico's anti-organized crime investigation agency, for their legal declaration. At the time of their arrest, Abarca and Pineda were among Mexico's most-wanted. The woman seen entering and exiting

12519-805: Was cordoned off by the Mexican Army and Navy before the forensic teams arrived to carry out their investigations. On November 7, 2014, the family members of the missing students had a conference in the military hangar in Chilpancingo National Airport with the Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam . In the meeting, authorities confirmed to the families that they had found several bags containing unidentified human remains. According to investigators, Patricio "El Pato" Reyes Landa, Jonathan "El Jona" Osorio Gómez, and Agustín "El Chereje" García Reyes were

12636-490: Was criticized, as the homicide rate remains high. Due to its location, Mexico has long been used as a staging and transshipment point for narcotics and contraband between Latin America and U.S. markets. Mexican bootleggers supplied alcohol to the United States' gangsters throughout Prohibition in the United States , and the onset of the illegal drug trade with the U.S. began when prohibition came to an end in 1933. Near

12753-583: Was extended to 20 more days. She was sent to the Federal Social Readaptation Center No. 4 in Nayarit state on January 4, 2015. Berumen was bailed from prison a few days after her arrest. A mass grave, believed to contain the charred tortured bodies of 28-34 of the students, was discovered near Iguala on October 5, 2014. However, forensic tests revealed that none of the 28 bodies from the first mass grave corresponded to

12870-401: Was found that they had returned to their families or had made it back safely to their college. The remaining 43 were still unaccounted for. Student activists accused authorities of illegally holding the missing students, but Guerrero authorities said that none of the students were in custody. Believing that the missing students had fled through the hills during the shootings, authorities deployed

12987-439: Was in constant communication [with the police], giving them orders to not fall for provocations." He also claimed he was not aware of the students that were missing or of the investigation. He pledged that he would not resign and agreed to cooperate if he was investigated. That day, Abarca met with Jesús Zambrano Grijalva , former president of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), who requested him to formally petition

13104-495: Was initially successful in detaining drug lords. Drug-related violence spiked markedly in contested areas along the U.S. border such as Ciudad Juárez , Tijuana , and Matamoros . Some analysts, including U.S. Ambassador in Mexico Carlos Pascual , argued that this rise in violence was a direct result of Felipe Calderón's military measures. Since Calderón launched his military strategy against organized crime, there

13221-490: Was known to be the sister of several known members of the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel . In response, on September 29, 2014, he claimed that he could not have been responsible because he was attending a conference and after-party when the clashes took place. Following this, he claimed to have left to dine with his family at a restaurant, only hearing of the attack when his personal secretary called him. "After that, I

13338-621: Was mainly optimistic with the regime change, with Mexico showing a decline in homicide rates from 2000 to 2007. One of the Fox's administration's strongest criticisms arose from its management of the peasant unrest in San Salvador Atenco . Los Zetas , the armed wing of the Gulf Cartel, based in Nuevo Laredo, escalated violence to unprecedented levels in the summer of 2003 through gruesome violence and military-like tactics against

13455-453: Was proven scientifically by independent investigators, since they fear that the government is attempting to close the case in order to counter public outrage. Murillo Karam stated that 74 people had been arrested since the case started and another 10 had arrest warrants. He said that until the situation of the students is confirmed, the case remains open and the government formally considers the students "disappeared". Doubts were raised about

13572-477: Was revealed that Guerreros Unidos gang leader Sidronio Casarrubias Salgado was arrested by Mexican authorities. So as to narrow down the search for Abarca and Pineda, law enforcement would locate all the properties owned by the couple and their families. Authorities eventually concentrated on three properties in Iztapalapa , including one thought to be abandoned. In said abandoned property, they regularly saw

13689-462: Was to reduce drug-related violence. The Mexican government has asserted that their primary focus is dismantling the cartels and preventing drug trafficking . The conflict has been described as the Mexican theater of the global war on drugs , as led by the United States federal government . Violence escalated after the arrest of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo in 1989. He was the leader and

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