International
What are the six Mexican cartels designated as terrorist groups by the United States?
The US Government officially designated six Mexican drug trafficking cartels as terrorist groups on Thursday, an order that complies with a decree signed by US President Donald Trump during his first day in office, on January 20.
Through a document from the Federal Registry of the United States it was announced that the Sinaloa Cartel (CDS), the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), the Northwest Cartel (CDN), the Gulf Cartel (CDG), La Nueva Familia Michoacana (LNFM) and Carteles Unidos (CU) are the drug trafficking organizations identified as terrorists.
In Mexico, for decades, these drug cartels have generated violence and have networks that expand to the United States, Central America, South America and Europe, in addition to criminal cells dedicated to other crimes such as human trafficking, kidnapping and extortion.
Also known as the Pacific Cartel and founded in 1989, it is one of the oldest in Mexico, it is based in the state of Sinaloa (northwest) and is considered the largest and the one with the greatest presence in the United States.
It was led by capo Joaquín “el Chapo” Guzmán, who was considered the most powerful drug trafficker in the world and was sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States. After Guzmán’s capture in 2016, Ismael ‘el Mayo’ Zambada remained at the head of the organization until his arrest in US territory in 2024.
Currently, the organization lives a confrontation, since September 2024, between the criminal cells of Los Chapitos and Los Mayos, after the delivery in the United States of co-founder Zambada, which has caused more than 800 homicides in Sinaloa.
Former armed arm of the Sinaloa Cartel to fight the Zetas, it became independent of the parent organization and began operating in 2011 under the leadership of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes “el Mencho”, one of the most wanted criminals in Mexico and the United States, with a reward of up to 15 million dollars for information about his whereabouts.
It is the fastest growing poster and one of the most violent in Mexico. Based in the city of Guadalajara, it operates practically throughout the country.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the CJNG distributes cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl throughout the United States.
Active since the 1980s, he had great influence in the north and east of the country, but weakened by splits and currently focuses on the state of Tamaulipas and, according to reports, has a presence in the state of Quintana Roo, in the Mexican Caribbean.
Based in Tamaulipas, a state bordering the United States, the CDG dominated the decade of the 1990s, under the command of its former leader Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, who served a sentence in the United States and was extradited to Mexico to serve prison sentences for various crimes.
The Zetas were the military arm of the Gulf Cartel but split from the organization, with which they had a bloody war in 2010 for control of northeastern Mexico and achieved the dominance of drug trafficking in much of the country. In 2016, the Zetas fractured and gave rise to the Northeast Cartel.
This drug trafficking gang is based in the city of Nuevo Laredo (Tamaulipas) and its influence covers the states of Nuevo León, Coahuila and San Luis Potosí.
It is a violent organization based in Michoacán, on the Mexican Pacific coast, operating in the states of Guerrero, Morelos and the State of Mexico. Its precedent, the Michoacana Family was the group that expelled the Zetas from Michoacán, during the first decade of the 21st century.
The organization was precisely one of the objectives of President Felipe Calderón (2006-2012) in his declared ‘War on Drug Traffic Coding’ that boosted violence in Mexico.
The organization was weakened by the death of its leader, Nazario Moreno González “el Chayo” in 2014, and by the internal split of the Knights Templar, who have also been diminished by the arrest or death of their leaders.
According to the US State Department, this cartel is a violent organization that was formed from an alliance of several cartels and other criminal groups in the state of Michoacán.
The criminal organization involves the Tepalcatepec Cartel, the Abuelo Cartel and the Los Reyes Cartel. According to investigations, the Tepalcatepec Cartel has Juan José ‘El Abuelo’ Farías as leader; and the Los Reyes Cartel has Luis Enrique Barragán Chávez, alias ‘Wicho de Los Reyes’, with influence in the Tierra Caliente region (southwest).
Its main objective is to prevent the arrival of the CJNG to the Michoacán region.
International
Maduro urges UN to intervene for venezuelan migrants detained in El Salvador
Nicolás Maduro, who was sworn in for a third term in January following his controversial re-election, urged United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk to intervene on behalf of Venezuelan migrants detained in El Salvador after being deported from the United States.
During a broadcast on the state-run Venezolana de Televisión (VTV), Maduro claimed these Venezuelans were “kidnapped”, forcibly disappeared, and held in “concentration camps.”
He also criticized U.S. President Donald Trump and El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele for failing to release the list of migrants deported on March 16, who were allegedly accused of belonging to the transnational gang Tren de Aragua, which originated in a Venezuelan prison.
“Reports say there are 238 Venezuelans kidnapped in prisons, in concentration camps, in El Salvador. A week after they were taken and thrown into these camps, neither the U.S. government nor Nayib Bukele have published the list of those they have kidnapped in El Salvador,” Maduro stated, calling it a “forced disappearance.”
International
Canada updates U.S. travel advisory amid immigration policy changes
In a coordinated action with several European allies, Canada has updated its travel advisory for citizens visiting the United States, citing changes in immigration policies and law enforcement under President Donald Trump’s administration.
Germany, the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Finland have issued similar warnings, highlighting stricter border screenings, tighter visa restrictions, and new federal guidelines that particularly affect transgender and non-binary travelers.
These advisories reflect growing diplomatic concerns over how the recent U.S. policy shifts are impacting foreign visitors, especially tourists and long-term travelers. Additionally, this marks a rare instance in which multiple NATO allies publicly warn their citizens about travel to the United States.
International
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to meet with Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum on friday
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem will meet with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum next Friday.
According to statements made to Fox News, the Trump administration official will travel this week to El Salvador, Colombia, and Mexico.
On Wednesday, Noem is scheduled to meet with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, with whom she will tour the mega-prison built to detain gang members in the country.
On Thursday, she will visit Colombia, where she will hold talks with President Gustavo Petro and top law enforcement officials.
On Friday, Noem will be in Mexico, where she is expected to meet with President Claudia Sheinbaum and Foreign Affairs Secretary Juan Ramón de la Fuente.
The meetings with Latin American leaders take place amid ongoing U.S. pressure on regional governments to accept deported migrants.
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