The Sinaloa cartel is prohibiting the production and trafficking of fentanyl in its territory after coming under increasing pressure from U.S. law enforcement.
The cartel, previously led by imprisoned drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzman, has become the leading exporter of fentanyl. The “Chapitos” – the group led by the four sons of “El Chapo” – have transformed the Sinaloa cartel into a global empire as they managed the supply of narcotics ranging from Mexican heroin to Colombian cocaine, to fentanyl.
WSJ News Exclusive: Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel, the leading exporter of fentanyl to the U.S., has banned trafficking of the opioid amid intense U.S. pressure https://t.co/DuKEOy1Gt7 pic.twitter.com/a5tm1YCccb
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) October 16, 2023
“In Sinaloa, the sale, manufacture, transport or any kind of business involving the substance known as fentanyl, including the sale of chemical products for its elaboration, is permanently banned,” said one of several banners hung on billboards and overpasses in Culiacan. “You have been warned. Sincerely yours, the Chapitos.”
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The Chapitos’ move to distance themselves from fentanyl trafficking and production follows a string of significant setbacks faced by the criminal organization over the past few months.
In January, Chapitos leader Ovidio Guzmán was captured during a prolonged gunfight with Mexico’s security forces. The confrontation resulted in the death of 29 lives, including nine soldiers and a Mexican army colonel.
The United States then issued indictments in April against the four Guzmán brothers and around two dozen of their associates.
Law enforcement officials told the Wall Street Journal that this ban from the cartel won’t mean anything. Officials shared that the group was greatly mistaken if they thought banning fentanyl production would get them off the hook from all their crimes. Guzmán was extradited to the U.S. in September.
A Sinaloa cartel operative who used to deal in chemical precursors needed to make the synthetic opioid, said the Chapitos are primarily leaving the business because they want the U.S. to shift its crackdown efforts to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, their chief rival and leading fentanyl producer.
Roughly a dozen people have been kidnapped and gone missing in Sinaloa within the last 10-14 days, most of whom are linked in the fentanyl manufacturing business.
The midlevel Sinaloa cartel operative confirmed that the group is killing those who won’t follow their new rule.Until a few months ago, he said, he oversaw roughly 25 fentanyl labs.
“Now I’m destroying them,” he said. “Some stopped producing. Others kept producing, and we are killing them. Others have fled.”
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