Mexican Cartel Essays and Notes is a collection of twenty-three Small Wars Journal articles supplemented by operational and tactical notes covering a variety of cartel-related subjects.
El Centro
SWJ El Centro, or "downtown" in Spanish, is our town square for analysis and discussion of Latin America's guerilla wars and criminal insurgencies. More about El Centro here.
Recent El Centro Journal Articles and SWJ Blog Posts:
"An audacious band of citizen militias battles a brutal drug cartel in the hills of central Mexico."
Small Wars Journal El Centro Senior Fellows John P. Sullivan and Robert J. Bunker new book: Studies in Gangs and Cartels.
Narco-Politics: How Mexico Got There and How It Can Get Out by Pamela F. Izaguirre, Council on Hemispheric Affairs.
No matter how much the cartels tried, and continue to try, to hide their evil acts with continued threats against journalists, a group of citizens emerged to fill in the gap of local cartel coverage - narcobloggers…
Cartel Car Bombings in Mexico by SWJ-El Centro Senior Fellows Robert Bunker and John Sullivan, Strategic Studies Institute.
SWJ-El Centro Fellow Robert Killebrew has a new op-ed at War on the Rocks. In the piece, Colonel Killebrew assesses the convergence between TCOs and the IRGC/Quds Force in the Western Hemisphere.
Associated Press reports "U.S. law enforcement officials expressed outrage over the release from prison of Mexican drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero". AP and news links.
Mexican Cartels Hiring US Soldiers as Hit Men - Joseph J. Kolb, Fox News.
How Caribbean Organized Crime is Replacing the State by Lillian Bobea, InSight Crime. "In Caribbean countries criminal groups have established clear-cut alliances with political parties and sectors of the state."
Los Zetas’ ‘Way of Combat’ by Antonio Sampaio at Kings of War. "Los Zetas’ strategic thinking remains a powerful influence over criminal actors."
On the Arrest of Mexican Drug Kingpin Z-40 - Houston Chronicle Op-Ed by SWJ El Centro Fellow Nathan Jones.
This tactical note was prompted by discussions and inquiries related to the February 2013 Los Zetas sniper incident.
Ruthless Mexican Drug Cartel Recruiting in the U.S.; Los Zetas Looks to Prisons, Street Gangs by Jerry Seper, Washington Times.
Cartel violence is bleeding into the Pacific Northwest.
This second Small Wars Journal-El Centro anthology captures the important debate on the crime wars and criminal insurgencies taking place in Mexico and other regions of the Americas.