Host: Luis Horacio Najera is an independent journalist and crime analyst and he joins us in studio. How are you doing, sir?

Luis Horacio Najera: Good. Thank you.

Host: All right. Let's get a clear picture of the cartels. Reach. This map shows the spread of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, better known as CJNG across Mexico. Yellow marks, areas where they have a presence, while red highlights regions where their influence is much stronger. As we can see, most of central Mexico is shaded in red with additional pockets of activity in several northern and southern states.

Luis Horacio Najera: Their footprint is extensive.

Host: Just looking at this map here, what separates CJNG from other cartels?

Luis Horacio Najera: Okay, based on what I've seen, I can tell you the best way to describe this particular group and its leader. Now, this is disruptors. They disrupted the ecosystem of organized crime in Mexico. How? First, you can see they have a strong presence by doing alliances, by taking over. And one of the particular characteristics of this group is insane violence, extreme and insane violence. That's one key element. The second one is they diversify activities or sources of revenue. They are producing fentanyl, but they are also extortion. They are also doing charging. They have people embedded in the government. For instance, a few months ago, the mayor of the Tequila town where the tequila is produced, he was arrested because he was... it was known that he acted as an accountant for the group while being the mayor.

Host: Okay, so conflicts there.

Luis Horacio Najera: Exactly. So they embedded into the government. The other characteristic very notable is they mastered the use of social media. You know, these gruesome videos, but they also mastered social media in order to influence certain narratives. Of course, taking advantage of violence and the government. So the whole ecosystem. So I would say that those are characteristics that in my analysis, I can describe this group as disruptors.

Host: How did cartels in general become so prolific in Mexico?

Luis Horacio Najera: First of all, the location. Mexico is a strategic place because in the 80s, when the US shut it down the route from Colombia to the US using the Caribbean, Pablo Escobar and all these old guys from the from the 80s, then the Colombians said, okay, we need another route. Oh, there's Mexico there, and they have a huge border. So that's, that's and of course, there was already drug lords here. Right? The other thing is weak institutions. The government is weak and it's even weaker now. And as I mentioned, the Jalisco Nueva Generacion group mastered the the way to get embedded into the government. In my analysis, I consider since 2018, Mexico is under the co-governance between organized crime and the government. And this co-governance is consensual, which means they agree to do that.

Host: I want to shift focus from Mexico to Canada now.

Luis Horacio Najera: Yes.

Host: Late last year, the RCMP named the CJNG just one of seven cartels here in Canada. Give us an example of the kinds of activities they're involved in here that I think a lot of people are probably surprised. Would be surprised to hear that cartels are operating here in Canada.

Luis Horacio Najera: They have been here for a while, a while. We documented that in our book with Peter Edwards. They smuggled, of course, the main sources, smuggling drugs into the country. Now they have also it is known that they have some kind of. Exporting the know-how of drugs in the way we saw in Vancouver this mega lab for fentanyl. It has a significant component of way of doing things in the Mexican way. So transferring knowledge, you can say so. And also they have they use Canada. Canada is extremely important in two ways for organized crime. One is the location because from Vancouver to China is super close, from Newfoundland to Europe is really close. But also it's the money laundering cleaning funds because unfortunately the the system here in Canada is not used to deal with these kind of people and they are taking advantage of that real estate land and all these things.

Host: All right. I want to bring up the map again on February 22nd, President Steinbaum ordered a mission to capture Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, or El Mencho in Tapalpa, which led to his death. For our viewers want to look sort of just on the west side of Mexico City. As a response, we saw images of Puerto Vallarta, a popular tourist destination for Canadians, with just northwest of Tapalpa erupting in violence, cars burning. There's speculation that the death of a cartel leader could mean more activity in Canada. And I am curious, Luis, does Canada have a responsibility to address cartel operations in Mexico, or does this rest with the Mexican president?

Luis Horacio Najera: The responsibility comes from being a trade partner as a very strategic trade partner, but also Mexico is the it's a place for a bunch of Canadians go there. They have property there, they live there. So somehow there's this big connection. There's also the migrant workers from Mexico coming into Canada, so that that's the human factor. But I think as a as a regional partner, Canada has also a responsibility to help Mexico. Prime Minister Carney recently announced a new plan and a big investment in security training. That's good. But I think the the missing part here is the political part, which means maybe a closed doors. You don't have to do it in public, but it will be good if the Canadian government sits with the Mexican government and says, you know what, you need to do something because this is getting out of hand and it's affecting me. So what the fact that you are dismantling the judicial courts, that you are getting rid of transparency, you are not helping journalists, you are not protecting your journalists, and you are ignoring the mothers of people who disappeared. So those kind of things are important. And I think that that's a significant element that the Canadian government can do, hopefully, to kind of remove the conscience in the political system in Mexico.

Host: There's something that we will have to watch. Luis, I really appreciate your time and your insights. Thank you so much.

Luis Horacio Najera: Thank you.