Why Mexico’s Drug Cartels Are Growing Stronger

What’s happening: Criminal organizations south of the border are wreaking havoc on the Mexican population as President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's “hugs-not-bullets” policy emboldens drug kingpins.

• Catch up: President Obrador assumed office in 2018 and implemented a non-retaliatory policy on the drug cartels competing for control. Critics interpreted this as accommodating gangs in hopes of quelling violent crime and reducing death threats. Gang arrests fell from 21,700 in 2018 to 2,800 in 2022 as cartel violence has grown more pervasive.

Cartel operations: Mexico's drug cartels are notoriously violent criminal organizations headed by drug lords who war against each other to control the global drug trade. President Obrador's offensive withdrawal aided the expansion of cartel enterprises largely responsible for importing the deadly fentanyl crisis ravaging the United States.

• Narco-economics: The cartels operate a similar business model to big box stores such as Walmart: they have exclusive relationships with their “suppliers” that allow them to keep prices stable and generate mass revenue.

• Rivalry: There are around 200 organized crime gangs in Mexico, but most of the groups are allied or financed by the two largest and most powerful cartels: the Sinaloa and Jalisco New Generation cartels.

Government collusion: Due to fear of the cartels, city officials across Mexico are appointing gang members to governmental positions. Additionally, political killings rose from 94 in 2018, President Obrador's election year, to 355 in 2023. Allegations of ties between Obrador and drug cartels are spreading, although he refutes these claims.

Why it matters: The Mexican government's failure to curb cartel violence has driven Mexican families to immigrate to the United States at a record rate — almost 230,000 family members entered through the southern border in 2023, heavily contributing to the ongoing southern border crisis.