Juárez Cartel: Difference between revisions

| founded by = [[Rafael Aguilar Guajardo]], [[Pablo Acosta Villarreal]], [[Amado Carrillo Fuentes]], [[Vicente Carrillo Fuentes]]

| territory = '''Mexico:'''<br /> [[Chihuahua (state)|Chihuahua]], [[Ciudad Juárez]]<br /> Various Mexican cities including: [[Aguascalientes (city)|Aguascalientes City]], [[Tijuana]], [[Saltillo]], [[CDMX]], [[León, Guanajuato|León]], [[Guadalajara, Jalisco|Guadalajara]], [[Monterrey]], [[Puebla City]], [[Cancún]]<br /> [[Sierra Madre Occidental]] states: [[Nayarit]], [[Jalisco]], [[Aguascalientes]], [[Sinaloa]], [[Zacatecas]], [[Durango]], and [[Sonora]]<br /> '''United States:'''<br /> [[Texas]], [[New Mexico]], [[Arizona]], [[Oklahoma]]

| allies = [[La Línea (gang)|La Línea]] (lead faction)<br>[[Beltrán-Leyva Cartel]] (defunct) <br>[[Barrio Azteca]]<br>[[Los Zetas]]<br>[[Oaxaca Cartel]] (defunct)<br>[[Cali Cartel]] (defunct)

The '''Juárez Cartel''' ([[Spanish language{{langx|es|Spanish]]: ''Cártel de Juárez''}}, {{IPA|es|ˈkaɾtel ðe ˈxwaɾes|pron}}), also known as the '''Vicente Carrillo Fuentes Organization''', is a [[Mexican people|Mexican]] [[drug cartel]] based in [[Ciudad Juárez]], [[Chihuahua (state)|Chihuahua]], across the [[Mexico–United States border|Mexico—U.S. border]] from [[El Paso, Texas]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Sinaloa Cartel: responsible for 84% of "narco" homicides|url=http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2010/10/sinaloa-cartel-responsible-for-84-of.html|newspaper=[[Borderland Beat]]|date=October 31, 2010}}</ref> The cartel is one of several drug trafficking organizations that have been known to decapitate their rivals, mutilate their corpses and dump them in public places to instill fear not only intoin the general public but also intoin local law enforcement and their rivals, the [[Sinaloa Cartel]].<ref>{{cite news | author=Bill Conroy | title=Juarez murders shine light on an emerging 'Military Cartel' | date=December 6, 2008 | publisher=NarcoSphere | url=http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/bill-conroy/2008/12/juarez-murders-shine-light-emerging-military-cartel | access-date=2010-03-08 | archive-date=2014-04-15 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140415105318/http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/bill-conroy/2008/12/juarez-murders-shine-light-emerging-military-cartel | url-status=dead }}</ref> Its current known leader is [[Juan Pablo Ledezma]]. The Juárez Cartel has an armed wing known as [[La Línea (gang)|La Línea]], a Juárez street gang that usually performs the executions and is now the cartel’s most powerful and leading faction.<ref>{{cite news|title=Mexican police: Drug gang leader says he ordered 1,500 killings|url=http://articles.cnn.com/2011-07-31/world/mexico.drug.arrest_1_lesley-enriquez-consulate-employee-drug-gang?_s=PM:WORLD|newspaper=CNN|date=July 31, 2011|access-date=2011-09-20|archive-date=2012-10-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011044657/http://articles.cnn.com/2011-07-31/world/mexico.drug.arrest_1_lesley-enriquez-consulate-employee-drug-gang?_s=PM:WORLD|url-status=dead}}</ref> It also uses the [[Barrio Azteca]] gang to attack its enemies.<ref name=pasoans>{{cite news|title=Background: Barrio Azteca gang|url=http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_17579333?source=pkg|access-date=30 June 2012|newspaper=[[El Paso Times]]|date=3 October 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.istoday/20130122212948/http://www.elpasotimes.com/ci_17579333?source=pkg|archive-date=22 January 2013}}</ref>

The Juárez Cartel was the dominant player in the center of the country, controlling a large percentage of the [[cocaine]] traffic from Mexico into the United States. The death of [[Amado Carrillo Fuentes]] in 1997 was the beginning of the decline of the Juárez cartel, as Carrillo relied on ties to Mexico's top-ranking drug interdiction officer, division general [[Jesús Gutiérrez Rebollo]].<ref name=briefs >[http://tech.mit.edu/V116/N64/gutierrez.64w.html Mexican Drug Czar Fired, Charged With Drug Corruption] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161207191618/http://tech.mit.edu/V116/N64/gutierrez.64w.html |date=2016-12-07 }}.</ref><ref>[http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/10/27/mexico.drugs.ap/index.html Cartel worker reportedly spied on DEA in Mexico] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081029235947/http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/10/27/mexico.drugs.ap/index.html |date=2008-10-29 }}</ref>

Guajardo was eventually betrayed and murdered by Amado in 1993 andby Amado, who became the leader of Juarez. Amado brought his brothers and later his son into the business. After Amado died in 1997 following complications from plastic surgery, a brief turf war erupted over the control of the cartel, with Amado's brother, [[Vicente Carrillo Fuentes]], becoming leader after defeating the Muñoz Talavera brothers.{{citation needed|date=February 2013}}

Prior to 2012, the Juárez Cartel controlled one of the primary transportation routes for billions of dollars worth of illegal drug shipments annually entering the United States from Mexico. Since then, however, control of these areas has shifted to the [[Sinaloa Cartel]].<ref name=ioqpcv>[http://www.globalpost.com/dispatches/globalpost-blogs/que-pasa/which-cartel-king-mexico Which cartel is king in Mexico?] January 5, 2012</ref> On September 1, 2013, the Mexican forces arrested Alberto Carrillo Fuentes, alias ''Betty la Fea'' ("Ugly Betty"), in the western state of [[Nayarit]]. He had taken the leadership of the organization in 2013 after his brother Vicente Carrillo Fuentes (fugitive until his arrest in October 2014) retired following a reported illness.<ref>{{cite news|title=Mexican forces seize drug kingpin Alberto Carrillo Fuentes, alias 'Ugly Betty' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/mexico/10280466/Mexican-forces-seize-drug-kingpin-Alberto-Carrillo-Fuentes-alias-Ugly-Betty.html |access-date=2 September 2013 |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |date=2 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108105347/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/mexico/10280466/Mexican-forces-seize-drug-kingpin-Alberto-Carrillo-Fuentes-alias-Ugly-Betty.html |archive-date= 8 January 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Hernández|first=Anabel|title=Betty la Fea, el nuevo capo de Juárez|url=http://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=341742|access-date=2 September 2013|newspaper=[[Proceso (magazine)|Proceso]]|date=11 May 2013|language=es|archive-date=2 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130902185008/http://www.proceso.com.mx/?p=341742|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The Mexico City home sold for more than $2m (£1.6m) andwith the proceeds will gogoing to Mexico's public health service and its fight against coronavirus.

Since March 2010, it is alleged that the major cartels have aligned into two loosely allied factions, one integrated by the Juárez Cartel, the [[Tijuana Cartel]], [[Los Zetas]], and the [[Beltrán-Leyva Cartel]]; the other faction integrated by the [[Gulf Cartel]], the [[Sinaloa Cartel]] and the now disbanded [[La Familia Michoacana|La Familia Cartel]].<ref>{{cite news | author=JEREMY ROEBUCK | title=Violence the result of fractured arrangement between Zetas and Gulf Cartel, authorities say | date=March 9, 2010 | newspaper=The Brownsville Herald | url=http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/say-109525-arrangement-violence.html | access-date=2010-10-23 | archive-date=2010-03-13 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100313174618/http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/news/say-109525-arrangement-violence.html | url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2019, it was revealed that notorious Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman put a bounty on Juarez Cartel leader [[Juan Pablo Ledezma]] for ending the Juarez Cartel's alliance with his Sinaloa Cartel.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.unionjalisco.mx/articulo/2019/12/18/viral/el-jl-el-hombre-mas-odiado-por-el-chapo | title=UN1ÓN &#124; JALISCO: Noticias de Jalisco en tiempo real| date=18 December 2019}}</ref>

A fictionalized version of the [[List of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul characters#Mexican drug cartel|Juárez Cartel]] plays a major role in the [[AMC (TV channel)|AMC]] television series ''[[Breaking Bad]]'' (2008 - 20132008–2013) and its prequel ''[[Better Call Saul]]'' (2015 - 20222015–2022).

The origins of the Juárez Cartel and its former leaders have also been portrayed in the drama web series ''[[Narcos: Mexico]]'' (2018 - 20212018–2021).

A fictional Juarez Cartel appears in [[Tom Clancy]]'s novel ''[[Against All Enemies (novel)|Against All Enemies]]'' (2011). It is secretly led by Mexican billionaire Jorge Rojas, who derived the name from its original founder Enrique Juarez. Juarez had established a pharmaceutical company in which Rojas is an investor. Rojas later arranged to produce black-market versions of pharmaceutical drugs, turning in more profit. After Juarez objectsobjected to the production, Rojas later had him killed in a skiing "accident" which allowed him to take over the company and turn it into a full-fledged drug cartel that made him one of the richest men in the world.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Clancy |first1=Tom |title=Against All Enemies (with Peter Telep) |pages=521–524}}</ref>