This Was The First DEA Operation Against Mexican Drug Trafficking.

Mica for cartelinsider.com

During the last few years, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has focused its efforts on confronting the main cartels in Mexico, such as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) or the Sinaloa Cartel. In this regard, the question arises: what was the first operation carried out by the anti-drug agency against Mexican drug trafficking, and how was it conducted? Here, we explain it to you.

The origins of the DEA date back to the early 1970s, when the increasing availability of controlled medications and drug consumption – mainly heroin – in US territory alerted the government.

In his book, “The Last Narco: El Chapo,” journalist Malcolm Beith recounts that on June 7, 1971, then-president Richard Nixon declared that drug abuse had reached national emergency levels, leading him to propose taking action.

During the next two years, the USA developed a plan to create an agency responsible for enforcing laws and regulations on controlled substances within its territory.

The DEA finally saw the light on July 1, 1973, and with it, the war against drug production in Sinaloa began. This entity was seeing the growth of the most powerful future drug traffickers in Mexico.

By the time the DEA began its operations, drug production in Sinaloa had already become the predominant part of “a national business,” according to Beith.

“Cocaine was brought in from Colombia on ships and planes, and the Sinaloans transported it in trucks to the other side of the border with the United States. Sometimes, they used light planes. Marijuana and cocaine were gaining rapid acceptance and drug trafficking was booming,” he noted in his work.

Under this context, and just one year after its creation, the DEA publicly accused Mexican drug traffickers of controlling 75% of the heroin market in the United States and announced the first action against the illegal business.

The data indicates that on January 26, 1974, the DEA launched the SEA/M Operation (Special Enforcement Activity in Mexico) to combat the production of opium and heroin, but it wasn’t until 1976 that the agency was able to reach an agreement with the Mexican government to launch a joint program to eradicate the poppy in the infamous ‘Golden Triangle’: Operation Trizo.

“Helicopters donated by the Department of State were used to drop herbicides along the mountains of Durango, Chihuahua and, of course, Sinaloa, which was the main target of the operation. After a year, approximately 90 square kilometers of poppy had been completely destroyed,” Beith explained.

But far from causing any harm to the main Mexican drug traffickers, the DEA and the Mexican government caused thousands of communities to be abandoned, leading to a serious economic crisis in the northwest of the country.

Years later, US agents would admit that no major producer was arrested, although the DEA maintained that 4,000 members of criminal organizations would face justice.

In 978, five years after its launch, the DEA ended Operation Trizo at the request of President José López Portillo.

Unbeknownst to them, this would cause Mexico’s first drug trafficking organization to appear on the map: the Guadalajara Cartel.

Thanks for reading!

Mica

Email: mica@cartelinsider.com

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