Meeting with a member of one of the most powerful criminal networks in the world

Meeting with a member of one of the most powerful criminal networks in the world

For nearly two decades, Mexican authorities have been waging a battle against drug cartels, with limited results.

And for over five decades, various US presidents have declared wars on drugs.

But amid fresh waves of cartel violence and pressure from Trump in the form of threatened US military intervention and higher import tariffs, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has adopted a more head-on approach to tackling the issue.

Around 10,000 members of Mexico’s National Guard have been sent to their northern border, in part to stop the flow of narcotics from entering the US. And hundreds of soldiers are believed to have joined preexisting armed forces, marines, National Guards and law enforcement already stationed in Sinaloa state, home to the infamous Sinaloa drug cartel previously led by the notorious drug lord Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán.

In a new distinctive report, CNN International Correspondent Isobel Yeung sits down with a member of the Sinaloa cartel, at a nondescript house in a residential area on the southern side of Culiacán city. It’s a neighborhood that’s known to be populated by cartels.

Sinaloa is one of the most powerful and feared criminal networks in the world — and one the US government recently designated a foreign terrorist organization.

It took weeks to reach this man, verify his identity, and persuade him to talk with CNN.

He says he produces fentanyl — the synthetic opioid that has become the most common drug involved in overdose deaths in the United States.

“Of course, of course, things are sad,” says the man, who didn’t give his real name. “[But] you have to continue… Families have to eat,” he shrugs.

Business these days is not good, the cartel member says, acknowledging that the Sinaloa Cartel itself has been significantly weakened by the military’s actions.

But they can still survive. Only small quantities of the drug can be produced, he explains, as the group needs to stay nimble in case the authorities carry out impromptu raids.

For this report, Yeung also embedded with a unit of the Mexican military tasked with disrupting the drug trade.

Crammed into a Blackhawk helicopter with the soldiers, the challenges of this mission can be seen in the sprawling landscape below.

Sinaloa state stretches out for over 22,000 square miles, and the soldiers scour the mountainous terrain beneath them for any signs of tracks, electrical wires or water supplies that could lead to a hideout where drugs are produced.

Given that these operations have mostly moved out of the city and are now tucked away somewhere in this vast countryside, they’re much harder to spot.

Fields of marijuana and poppies (used to make heroin) are more visible, but the synthetic drug labs can pop up anywhere and often require only rudimentary equipment, so their operation is not visible from the military’s helicopters or drones.

On a visit to one recently discovered meth lab, it was apparent that a small team of cartel employees had been working at the site up until the day before.

The military rarely catch the culprits, who likely scarper as soon as they see the helicopter landing.

Left behind are parts of a reactor and big plastic containers of liquid meth, along with piles of perishable food, water and even a pair of jeans — signs that they’d been camped up in this area for several days.

Mexican soldiers wearing gas masks and white Hazmat suits smash through the remaining equipment in sweltering 96-degree Fahrenheit heat, stopping occasionally to mop up sweat pouring from their faces.

A sign was nailed to a post at the entrance of the lab. It read “To make a deal: Cell phone”: an open invitation for any willing soldier to write their phone number and look the other way, presumably in exchange for a payout.

“This literally never happens,” insists Brigadier General Porfirio Fuentes Vélez. “I see the government’s commitment in addressing [the issue of drugs]. We know it’s a very serious problem because there’s a market that demands a lot of synthetic drugs. But criminals are increasingly producing less… because the strategy of the current Mexican president is to strengthen the coordination of all agencies at the federal, state, and municipal levels.”

But off the record, almost everyone we speak to acknowledges that corruption is widespread. In fact, the security chief who oversaw a previous crackdown was later convicted in US federal court for taking millions of dollars from the Sinaloa cartel.

Tarini Kumar | CNN Communications

E: tarini.kumar@cnn.com | W: cnn.com