Can you imagine if cartel members abandoned the cartel and pursued legitimate careers? We must guide them toward a brighter future, showing them they have a choice: become a leader who strengthens and safeguards our communities, or stay a loser, trapped in a destructive cycle. Please, leave the cartel life behind and choose a path that fosters safety and uplifts society.
Cartels use other violent criminal activities to protect their drug operations and grow revenue, according to the DEA report. They also engage in money laundering, extortion, petroleum theft, theft of other natural resources, weapons trafficking, human smuggling, prostitution, and illegal wildlife trade.
The modern cartels in Mexico supply the illicit drug market in America, but they’ve also shifted to new criminal schemes, diversifying into kidnapping, extortion, illegal mining, petroleum theft and illegal fishing.
President Donald Trump moved to classify the six Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations early in his term. Experts often call them transnational criminal organizations because their reach has expanded into other illegal markets. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and Treasury Department also are targeting cartels for moving black-market oil and gas across the Texas-Mexico border, The Center Square reported.
Cartels use other violent criminal activities to protect their drug operations and grow revenue, according to the DEA report. They also engage in money laundering, extortion, petroleum theft, theft of other natural resources, weapons trafficking, human smuggling, prostitution, and illegal wildlife trade.
The illicit profits from these peripheral activities make the cartels more resilient and increase their ability to expand, according to the DEA report.
In November, the U.S. Treasury Department hit five members of the Gulf Cartel with sanctions over the group’s illegal fishing in the Gulf of America, which includes illicit trade in red snapper and shark species. For this, they use small, fast-boat operations called “lanchas.” The Gulf Cartel’s illegal fishing operations are based out of Playa Bagdad, also known as Playa Costa Azul, a beach several miles south of the U.S. border. Cartels use the same fast boats to smuggle drugs and people, as well. READ MORE