Radiografía del narco en México: así están distribuidos los 148 grupos criminales que operan en el país
Infobae México
Radiografía del narco en México: así están distribuidos los 148 grupos criminales que operan en el país
Infobae — México edition (International Press) April 17, 2021 · Argentina / Mexico Photo: AFP / Getty Images
148 Grupos, 32 Estados
My core finding: in 2019, Mexico’s most violent year in recent history, criminal organizations became smaller, not larger. I counted at least 148 criminal groups, many entirely regional, competing for territory nationwide, a finding the federal government had never aggregated.
CJNG appears in 28 of Mexico’s 32 states, the most dispersed actor in the country. The Sinaloa Cartel holds 15 states with 11 armed wings: fewer territories, deeper infrastructure. Michoacán and the Valley of Mexico peak at 20 to 24 distinct cells each, the densest clusters in my dataset.
La Radiografía
What sets this piece apart: its visual register, state-by-state charts that reframed my 148-group count for a pan-Latin American audience, plus the open-source method behind it (communiqués, banners, three-source confirmation). The DEA’s own framing sits alongside my data: CJNG expanding through “willingness to participate in violent acts,” Sinaloa recognized as the most powerful single organization. Two strategies, one dataset.