What Is The US Strategy For Capturing The Big Drug Lords In Mexico?

Mica for cartelinsider.com

The way in which the United States Government has managed to bring prominent members of drug trafficking in Mexico to justice has changed. During the seventies and eighties, it was common for agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to pose as criminal operators in order to infiltrate the structure of criminal organizations.

Such was the case of Enrique ‘Kiki’ Camarena, who investigated the now defunct Guadalajara Cartel as an undercover agent. He was assassinated in 1985 along with pilot Alfredo Zavala, due to the information he had gathered. Rafael Caro Quintero was identified as one of the masterminds behind the homicide.

Nearly 40 years after the assassination that sparked friction between the governments of both countries, the US strategy for capturing drug lords has been renewed. Now, the tactic does not involve undercover agents from the DEA or the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), but rather relies on informants, collaborators, and protected witnesses.

Former DEA agent Mike Vigil commented in an interview for the Rio Doce weekly that it is no longer necessary for personnel from US agencies to infiltrate criminal organizations in order to know their modus operandi and identify the highest profile operators.

“Now the agents don’t have to infiltrate into criminal organizations, because it’s people who are within the same cartels who inform where their leaders are, where they move, through which routes, what type of vehicles they use,” Vigil told journalist Miguel Ángel Vega.

In addition to informants, there is also the Witness Protection Program of the Department of Justice, which provides protection to individuals who possess information or evidence related to a crime, in this case money laundering, drug trafficking, possession of firearms, or membership in a criminal enterprise.

Regarding protected witnesses (mostly former drug traffickers), Vigil said, “they are revealing the growing drug cartels, how they operate, and what type of drugs they move.” One particular case is that of Néstor Isidro Pérez Salas, also known as ‘El Nini’. He was first identified by informants as the head of security for the sons of Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán (former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel). Once identified, charges were brought against him based on photos, videos, and sensitive information.

In exchange for the shared information and data, these witnesses or informants reach an agreement with the American justice system to avoid receiving severe penalties. They are also offered large amounts of money, the amount of which varies depending on the drug trafficker the informant can provide information about. In other words, the more relevant it is to the United States, the larger the payments are.

Among the most prominent protected witnesses who have provided sensitive information about the Sinaloa Cartel, for example, are Reynaldo Zambada (brother of Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada) and Dámaso López Serrano, also known as ‘Mini Lic’.

“Reynaldo Zambada testified against Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán in his trial in New York. ‘El Mini Lic’, on the other hand, would have shared relevant information about the sons of ‘El Chapo’, better known as Los Chapitos, one of whom (Ovidio Guzmán) has already been captured and is currently in the United States.”

Both Reynaldo and Dámaso collaborated with the neighboring country and are currently free in US territory, despite receiving different sentences for drug trafficking.

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Mica

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