Photo: Alfredo Estrella / AFP / Getty Images
By: The opinion Published Sep 22, 2023, 12:14 pm EDT
Almost daily there is news of attacks on drug traffickers, hitmen killed, leaders detained, but the drug cartels in Mexico continue to operate normally, as if nothing affected them, a situation that has led experts to wonder how many people work for them. criminal organizations, and a study published in the journal Science gives the surprising answer.
This study establishes that drug cartels are the fifth employer in Mexico, Every week they recruit between 350 and 370 people, this to “replace” those who were discharged either due to death or arrests. According to calculations, there are currently around 120 weekly deaths related to criminal organizations.
So, in active, There are 175,000 people on the drug trafficking payrollfigures obtained with a mathematical model based on different data.
These numbers somewhat translate the violence experienced in Mexico, since according to the site La Silla Rota, of all the cartel workers, 17.9% belong to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) the most violent in the Latin American country today. Previously, the head of the United States DEA, Anne Milgram, said that the four-letter cartel has a payroll of 45,000 people in 100 countries.
He Sinaloa Cartel has 8.9% of the members of these organizations, followed by the New Michoacan Family, with 6.2%; he Northeast Cartel, with 4.5%; the Unión Tepito, with 3.5%, and the remaining 59% of cartel members line up in smaller groups.
The people on the drug payroll
But, who works for drug traffickers? Of course, not all of them are the eccentric and millionaire leaders who have inspired fictions; among the ranks of organized crime are farmers who grow poppies, gunmen who guard methamphetamine and fentanyl laboratories, as well as bosses who run global smuggling networks.
It is worth remembering that Mexican cartels are no longer dedicated solely to drug traffickingthey ventured into other crimes that were equally lucrative and harmful to society such as extortion, kidnapping, fuel theft and migrant trafficking.
With all this panorama, there is an estimate of 150 existing cartelssome of them are small regional bands, which can be autonomous.
Reactions to the study
The study was carried out by Rafael Prieto-Curiel, a postdoctoral researcher at the Mathematical Institute of the University of Oxford; Gian Maria Campedelli, scientist at the University of Trento, and the late Alejandro Hope, expert on security issues in Mexico
For some experts, the study has major gaps, considering the obtaining of data questionable, as they argue that There is much that is unknown about organized crimeaccording to the Los Angeles Times.
In addition, there are those who believe that the drug market is changing and with this it could be established that fewer people are required, but the study considers that labor can be used to defend against rivals or intimidate the armed forces. .
Keep reading:
– The DEA estimates that the Sinaloa Cartel and the CJNG have more than 45,000 members.
– This is how the “narco schools” of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel work to recruit young people.