Los 12 grupos criminales de la era López Obrador
El País — Mexico edition
Los 12 grupos criminales de la era López Obrador
El País — Mexico edition Spain / Mexico · July 18, 2021 International press piece distilling the CIDE 148-groups mapping into the twelve criminal organizations most active during the López Obrador administration. Photo: El País / Prisa
12 Nuevos Grupos — La Evidencia
The CIDE Drug Policy Program study documented the emergence of 12 new organized crime groups in Mexico — all born during the López Obrador administration. Since mid-2018, the research detected these new cartels distributed across much of the country, spanning both coasts, and in several cases competing for the same territory as already-established organizations. The findings directly contradicted the official government position at the time the article published.
At commemorative events marking the third anniversary of Morena’s electoral victory, López Obrador had stated: “No creo que se hayan creado nuevos grupos en estos dos años y medio.” In the same address he acknowledged the existence of only three organizations: “El cartel Jalisco, el del Pacífico (Sinaloa) y el de Guanajuato. Los que ya habían. Los que estamos enfrentando.”
Photo: Presidencia de la República
Data vs. Doctrine
The gap between the CIDE count and the president’s count was not a rounding error. AMLO named three organizations; the research identified twelve new ones alone — on top of the 148 already mapped. The policy frame that accompanied the denial was equally telling: despite the creation of the Guardia Nacional and the formal legalization of military street patrols, the administration had pivoted security strategy toward non-confrontation, captured in the governing slogan “Abrazos, no balazos.” El País’s piece used the CIDE data to make the contradiction legible for a global Spanish-language readership — evidence that the criminal landscape was actively expanding at the same moment the government was arguing it was not.
Citation
El País. (2021, July 18). Los 12 grupos criminales de la era López Obrador. El País — Edición México.