Mexican Cartels: How the World's Most Powerful Crime Groups Became Militarized Units

With advanced weapons and tactics at their disposal, Mexican cartels are more militarized ever before. However, a military response still may not be the best bet at combating them.

The Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) routinely outfits their operatives with high-grade weapons, armor, and uniforms. Source

In the early hours of January 5, 2023, 32-year-old Ovidio Guzman Lopez slept in his home with his wife, mother, and three daughters following a party there the day before. The family arrived at the luxurious compound in December to celebrate Christmas and likely chose it due to its defensible location. The residence, located on a hilltop with sweeping vistas, sits some 40 minutes outside Culiacan, the capital of the Mexican state of Sinaloa. Guzman had ample reason to be suspicious: a significant figure in the Sinaloa cartel and a suspected overseer of its fentanyl production and trafficking operations, the U.S. government placed a bounty of over $5 million on his head. The youngest son of infamous former Sinaloa boss Joachim “El Chapo” Guzman, the younger Guzman was also a high-profile target for Mexican authorities. 

Then came mayhem. The Mexican military dispatched planes and helicopters and hundreds of soldiers precisely to capture Guzman, approaching by land and air and spraying the compound with bullets without notice. For over ten hours, the Mexican military engaged in a firefight with Guzman’s henchmen. Bullets eviscerated the front door and destroyed much of the main hall, leaving a scene of broken glass and blood-stained furniture. Soldiers then apprehended a fleeing Guzman – who had an anti-aircraft gun and 46 other weapons in his bedroom alone – as he attempted to reach a secret tunnel located at the back of the property. 

Authorities airlifted Guzman to a maximum security in Mexico City just as further carnage got underway. At the airport, cartel gunmen clashed with security forces on the tarmac, grounding planes as passengers ducked inside them: this was apparently to prevent military aircraft from taking off and landing. Similar to the unsuccessful attempt to arrest Guzman and the battle that ensued in 2019, the Sinaloa Cartel employed advanced weapons and military tactics to combat the Mexican armed forces. These measures included a convoy of 25 vehicles mounted with military-grade 50 caliber machine guns that prompted the army to call in Blackhawk helicopters. It was only after nine days of heavy fighting that the Sinaloa cartel withdrew its force of some 5,000 militants. The clashes killed 29 people, including ten soldiers. 

This incident, and others like it, demonstrate the growing militancy of Mexico’s multibillion-dollar drug cartels. With Mexican authorities now increasingly treating these organizations as a military rather than a law enforcement matter and many U.S. politicians talking of doing the same, the stage is being set for an all-out confrontation with groups armed with advanced weaponry and skilled in battlefield tactics.