The last time we checked on the massive fentanyl problem in this country, federal officials had charged a California police union executive director for allegedly running a drug ring from her home and using her office computer and UPS account to order and distribute fentanyl and other drugs.
Now it’s time for a little good news. The leading Mexican fentanyl cartel trafficking to the US has sent a strong order to its members to stop moving opioids into this country.
The order comes as the Sinaloa Cartel has expressed concerns about the US law enforcement pressures and future arrests of its top leaders.A faction of the cartel known as Los Chapitos, the group led by the four sons of the notorious drug lord Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán recently issued the order, according to the Wall Street Journal.The decision to lay low comes as the Biden administration has pushed the Mexican government to be stricter with the cartel that has been feeding the illegal drug into the country and causing countless deaths.
The order is pretty clear from the cartel: Continue shipping and die.
For the many people in this northwestern Mexican region who make a living producing and smuggling an opioid that has killed tens of thousands of Americans, the message was clear: stop or die. In June, when the shift away from fentanyl began, three bodies covered with blue pills of the drug appeared on the outskirts of Culiacán.The Chapitos’ decision to wean themselves from fentanyl trafficking and production comes after a series of high-profile blows against the crime group in recent months.Chapitos leader Ovidio Guzmán was captured in January during a daylong gunbattle with Mexico’s security forces that killed at least 29 people, including nine soldiers and a Mexican army colonel.
Of course, that doesn’t mean the cartel won’t continue offering other products.
The Sinaloa operative said the cartel leaders want U.S. law enforcement to focus anti-fentanyl crackdown efforts on the rival Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Mexican and U.S. officials were skeptical the ban was more than short-term PR.In the meantime, the Sinaloa operative “hopes an upsurge in the demand for Mexican brown heroin or a more refined product known as China White will tide him over the end of fentanyl,” the Journal reported. “And he said trafficking in guns from the U.S. is another option” if that doesn’t work.
It will be interesting to see how much of a difference this order makes in this country, especially in the long run.
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