The Juarez Cartel is a Mexican drug cartel, based in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, sharing a boarder with El Paso, Texas.  Ciudad Juarez is considered Mexico’s most violent city, and almost all of its violence is attributed to the drug and cartel wars.  This cartel controls one of the primary routes drug traffickers use to distribute billions of dollars’ worth of illegal drugs to the United States. The Juarez cartel has one of the most ruthless armed wings, La Linea which corrupt officers that many times perform murders and executions.  The corruption and ruthlessness of this cartel, which severely affects Mexico, is portrayed in the following 2 articles.


The effect of corruption related to Mexican government officers only enables the cartels to continue to grow stronger.  Recently, 10 Mexican Federal Cops were indicted for extortion and kidnapping.  “Judge Carlos Miguel Garcia Treviño formally accused the officers Wednesday after finding sufficient evidence of their involvement in crimes that also included causing bodily injury, abuse of authority, illegal weapons possession and crimes against health.”  A businessman from Juarez, Mexico stated the policemen kidnapped him and demanded a $5,000 payment.  If the businessman didn’t pay, he said the police officers told him they would plant drugs on him, as well as beat him and steal his bank cards.  This level of corruption related to cartels, particularly the Juarez cartel makes it nearly impossible to stop their illegal activities.  In attempt to combat the corruption, “Some 5,000 federal forces have been sent to Ciudad Juarez, which has been battered in recent years by a turf war pitting the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels with backing from local street gangs.”  These federal officers were sent to replace notoriously corrupt local cops.

The Juarez cartel and its enforcement wing, La Linea have been noted as one of the most ruthless in Mexico.  Luckily, Mexican authorities recently arrested a high ranking leader of the Juarez cartel.  Atonio Acosta Hernadez, one of Mexico’s most wanted criminals, was arrested with collaboration from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Mexican federal police anti-drug unit.  During investigation, Acosta “said he ordered the killings of about 1,500 people, mostly in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua’s capital.”  Acosta was also accused of being connected with the massacre at a house party which killed 15 people and a car bombing outside a police station.  Although the arrest of Acosta is encouraging, the federal government realizes bringing down the cartels is an ongoing battle, much of which is uphill.