According to the U.S. Department of Justice, the recent arrests of two notorious Sinaloa Cartel kingpins pushes the U.S. further along in the fight against the deadliest drug threat to the country; fentanyl.
On Friday, NBC 7 spoke to research experts on the drug trade and asked about the impact that such takedowns actually have on the flow of drugs across the border. They said that, while high-profile arrests are impactful in a symbolic way in America's effort to fight the drug trade, realistically in the short term, they actually are more likely to spur more violence in Mexico as other cartel leaders fight for control.
The FBI announced Thursday that both Sinaloa cartel founder Ishmael “El Mayo” Zambada and Joaquin Guzman Lopez — the son of the cartel's infamous co-founder and former boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman — oversaw the trafficking of tens of thousands of pounds of drugs into America.
Laura Calderon, who works with the University of San Diego research initiative Justice in Mexico, told NBC7 that the arrests are certainly a great blow in the name of the rule of law but that they might not leave a mark on the overall drug trade, since plenty of other cartels have gotten into synthetic drugs too.
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Gone are the days where cartels worked closely with farmers in rural areas. Now the drug trade is decentralized and its deadly products are easily created in many labs in urban locations.
"I think it matters to say we are not like we're not allowing this, we're not allowing the Sinaloa Cartel to just hold its power forever and not suffer any consequences," Calderon said. "I think it matters in terms of serving justice and actually doing something against criminals.... We also know that other organizations started working with fentanyl because it's very profitable, and it's easy to make, and it's pretty, like, low cost. So other organizations are trying to do it too.”
Cecilia Farfan Mendez with the University of California's Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation, said there is room long-term for much more collaboration. She also believes that pushing a narrative that Mexico's drug cartels are poisoning America isn’t necessarily inaccurate, but it does shift the focus away from the very real and problematic U.S. demand.
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“And you have a cohort of users who specifically seek out fentanyl," Mendez said, "and while it is absolutely true that some people have unfortunately died because they did not know that's what they were using, there are also a group of users who want that. And so that means that you also have to provide services for them."
Mendez also said Mexico has a lot of work to do to bring its justice system up to par so that criminals face similar consequences to what they encounter in America, and that an unequal process of justice doesn’t lend itself to collaboration and a widespread impact on cartels and their power.
Both Zambada and Guzman have been indicted previously . They face multiple charges in connection with the organized cartel, fentanyl manufacturing and trafficking.
