Cartels & armed groups

Largest fentanyl-trafficking organization. US OFAC-designated. Internal civil war erupted after Mayo Zambada's controversial transfer to US custody.

Fentanyl-focused faction of Sinaloa Cartel. Treasury sanctioned for fentanyl precursor imports.

Traditional Sinaloa faction. Less involved in fentanyl historically.

Most expansionist Mexican cartel. Known for downing of military helicopters and use of armed drones.

Successor to Los Zetas. Nuevo Laredo plaza. Notorious paramilitary discipline.

One of MX's oldest cartels, now reduced to feuding factions in Reynosa, Matamoros, Río Bravo. March 2023 kidnapping of 4 Americans by Escorpiones triggered factional purge.

Armed wing of remnant Juárez Cartel. Linked to 2019 LeBarón family massacre.

Sinaloa cell in Sonora; key Sonora-Arizona corridor controllers.

Coalition of Tepalcatepec/Aguililla self-defense remnants resisting CJNG expansion.

Rebranded faction of original LFM. Strong in Tierra Caliente.

Component of Cárteles Unidos coalition.

Remnant CDG cells, often allied with CJNG against rivals.

Dominant CDG faction in Reynosa.

March 2023 kidnapping of four US citizens (two killed) caused major US-MX diplomatic incident.

Guatemalan transit cartel with US OFAC designations.

Family-based clan; multiple extraditions weakened operations.

Rivera Maradiaga family — extradited & cooperating with US authorities. Testimony helped convict Tony Hernández.

Largest Colombian narco-paramilitary. Heavy mid-2024 'paro armado' shutdowns in Antioquia.

Centered on Caborca, Sonora. Long-running war with Chapitos for control of Sonora-Arizona corridor.

Name refers to the sun insignia worn by Venezuelan generals. Functions less as a unified cartel than as a state-tolerated trafficking corridor in which senior officials facilitate cocaine flows from Colombia through Venezuela to the Caribbean and West Africa. Maduro government denies its existence. US State Dept lifted some sanctions in 2023 oil deals but reimposed several in 2024.

Controls the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta — coca cultivation, marijuana, cocaine logistics to Caribbean shipping routes. Heavy tourism extortion in Santa Marta and Tayrona Park. Ongoing clashes with Clan del Golfo for Caribbean transit corridors. US Treasury OFAC sanctioned for narcotics trafficking 2021.

Financial and logistics arm of CJNG — handles money laundering through mining concessions, real estate, and shell companies. The Gonzalez Valencia family married into CJNG leader 'El Mencho's' family. US Treasury designated Los Cuinis a Transnational Criminal Organization 2015.

Sonora-based armed faction operating in the Caborca-Sásabe-Sonoyta corridor. Affiliate of the Caro Quintero / Caborca clan; involved in migrant-smuggling extortion at the Arizona border and routine ambushes on Mex 2.

Severely degraded in El Salvador post-Bukele crackdown (>75,000 detained). Still active in Guatemala and Honduras.

Split into Sureños and Revolucionarios. Same Bukele crackdown impact as MS-13.

US OFAC sanctioned (2024). Cells reported in Chile, Peru, Colombia, USA. Trump admin invoked Alien Enemies Act for deportations.

Pro-Maduro armed civilian groups operating with state tolerance; key in 2024 post-election repression.

Major buyer of South American cocaine for European markets. Operates through Ecuadorian and Colombian ports.

Long-running Russian-speaking criminal presence in Baja California focused on real-estate money laundering and Russian-language sex tourism operations in Tijuana, Rosarito, and Cabo. Distinct from but coordinates with Mexican cartels for cocaine moving onward to Russia/Europe and for protection of laundering infrastructure. Notable cases include US indictments of Russian nationals operating through Mexican shell companies and crypto exchanges. Increased presence post-2022 due to Russian capital flight.

Primary supplier of fentanyl and methamphetamine precursor chemicals from China (mainly Hubei and Guangdong labs) to Mexican cartels. Operate 'fei chien' / mirror-transfer underground banking to repatriate cartel proceeds — US Treasury sanctioned multiple Sun Yee On & 14K-affiliated facilitators 2023–2025. DEA's 'Hydra' investigations documented Sinaloa and CJNG dependence on Chinese broker networks for chemical sourcing and dollar laundering.

Globally dominant cocaine wholesale buyer. Operates ~150 'ndrine (family clans) with permanent envoys (brokers) embedded in Colombian and Ecuadorian port cities (Buenaventura, Guayaquil, Esmeraldas) negotiating directly with Clan del Golfo, ELN, and FARC dissidents. Italian DDA and Europol estimate 'Ndrangheta moves more cocaine than the Sicilian Mafia and Camorra combined.

US Treasury and DEA have designated Lebanese-diaspora networks in Latin America as Hezbollah financiers since the early 2000s. Colombia's La Guajira (particularly Maicao) hosts a long-running Lebanese-Colombian trading community used for trade-based money laundering — cocaine proceeds laundered through textile, food and electronics imports. DEA's Project Cassandra (2008–2017) documented direct ties between Hezbollah's Business Affairs Component and Colombian cocaine flows.

Loose networks of Israeli nationals operating in Latin American cocaine transit and money-laundering, historically linked to Abergil and Zaken families. Multiple high-profile arrests in Panama, Cartagena, Tulum. Frequently operate through Israeli-owned real estate, restaurants, and private-security firms in tourism corridors. Mexican Federal Police arrested Israeli operatives in CDMX in 2019 for assassination of a rival in Plaza Artz Pedregal.

Last major guerrilla group. Petro government Total Peace talks suspended after 2024 attacks.

Refused or abandoned 2016 peace deal. Active across southern Colombia & Venezuelan border zones.

Splinter from FARC peace process. Operates with apparent Venezuelan state tolerance.

Prison-rooted gang allied with Sinaloa. Linked to August 2023 Ciudad Juárez riot/escape.

Guerrero highlands group; opium-poppy economy.

Guerrero rival to Los Tlacos.

Cancún beach club retail-drug operations.

Belize City urban gang.

Belize City rival gang.

Panamanian urban pandilla.

Panama City rival to Bagdad.

Sinaloa-aligned. Drove Ecuador's port-city violence explosion.

Largest Ecuadorian gang by membership. CJNG-aligned splinter from Choneros.

Esmeraldas-based; Albanian-mafia connections for cocaine export.

Loose federation of armed groups controlling Venezuela's Arco Minero del Orinoco (Mining Arc) — illegal gold mining in Bolívar and Amazonas. Operate with apparent state tolerance, taxing miners (vacuna) and clashing with ELN incursions seeking the same mines. Linked to widespread mercury contamination and indigenous Pemón displacement. Major source of laundered gold exiting via Curaçao and Dubai.

One of several 'Trenes' (literally 'trains' — large prison-rooted gangs) that emerged after Venezuela's penitentiary system collapse. Operates across the central Venezuelan plains (Guárico, Apure, Anzoátegui). Smaller scale than Tren de Aragua and locally focused, but same prison-to-territory model.

Prison gang founded in Texas state prisons, now a transnational armed wing aligned with La Línea (Juárez Cartel). Major actor in the 2008–2012 Ciudad Juárez homicide wave. Designated a Transnational Criminal Organization by US Treasury 2010. Carried out the 2010 US consulate murders in Juárez.

Esmeraldas-based gang that split from Los Choneros. Engaged in the 2023–2025 Ecuadorian port-zone war for control of cocaine container shipments out of Guayaquil and Esmeraldas. Linked to multiple prison massacres.

Ecuadorian gang allied with Los Lobos in the broader anti-Choneros coalition. Smaller membership but participates in port-city violence.