Drugs, particularly cocaine, that come from South America – Colombia, Ecuador or Venezuela – and seek to reach Mexico and the United States, historically cross Central America – Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala – by air or sea.
In recent years, according to a former anti-narcotics official from the Public Ministry (MP), routes have changed to avoid being detected on Guatemalan soil.
According to the source, the air route was one of the most used for transporting goods during the governments of Jimmy Morales and Alejandro Giammattei.
“In those years, Alta Verapaz, Retalhuleu and Suchitepéquez became the epicenter for transporting cocaine by air, which was then taken by land to municipalities in Chiapas, Mexico, which continued its journey to the United States,” explained the former anti-narcotics official.
However, he added that this changed because some structures in Chiapas detected that it was better to secure the shipments in their territory.
“The dispute over control of the Chiapas area has changed the way things are done. Now shipments fly from Alta Verapaz to Mexican soil on the borders with Huehuetenango and San Marcos,” he explained.
But this is nothing new. The route used was designed in 2018, when a structure was detected transporting cocaine from Alta Verapaz to Retalhuleu, Suchitepéquez and Huehuetenango.
Background
One of the first cases that served to identify the members of this structure occurred on December 7, 2019.
On that occasion, the landing of an aircraft without legal authorization in the national territory and coming from South America was reported. The incident occurred in Chisec, Alta Verapaz.
The Army reported that day that the Guatemalan Air Force (FAG) detected the violation of national airspace and following the investigation they found vehicles, weapons and packages with cocaine in the village of Mucbilhá, between Rubelsanto and Tierra Blanca, Chisec.
That day, 751 packages of cocaine and a rifle registered in the name of members of the criminal structure were seized. Almost a year later, on November 9, 2020, amidst restrictions due to Covid-19, the illegal entry of a jet into Guatemalan territory was reported.
The vehicle was loaded with cocaine and landed on a clandestine airstrip in the village of El Chico, in the municipality of Champerico, Retalhuleu. Authorities seized 1,028 kilos of cocaine, valued at more than US$14 million.
This drug, like the one from Chisec, had a Disney logo, which reinforced the fact that it was from the same company. The drugs that were on this plane came from Venezuela.
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The drug trafficking group’s plan was for the aircraft, as they usually did on other occasions, to land in the area and then, in coordination with a community leader and members of the population, they would carry out surveillance, unloading, safekeeping and transfer of the drugs.
The leaders of this structure were Magner López Mejía alias Mapa and/or Magner and Jorge Luis Rodríguez López, alias Mosco, who have already been extradited to the United States on drug trafficking charges.
Better to Chiapas
The dispute over territory in Chiapas, a state made up of 124 municipalities, has led the Sinaloa and Chiapas-Guatemala cartels to clash for two years.
This dispute caused Guatemalan groups such as Los Huistas, who operate in Huehuetenango, and Los Pochos, in San Marcos, to reorganize to define new forms of trafficking.
One of them was to prevent aircraft leaving Alta Verapaz or Baja Verapaz from landing in Retalhuleu, Suchitepéquez, San Marcos or Huehuetenango.
The option, says the former anti-narcotics official, was for them to arrive directly on Mexican soil and especially in the municipality of Acapetahua, Chiapas.
According to Mexican media, in 2023, the Ministry of National Defense (Sedena) reported the location of more than 25 planes carrying drug shipments.
The landings were reported in Tapachula and Acapetahua. In 2024, the number will reach 10 planes.
Chiapas and Guatemala Cartel
In Chiapas, since last year, there has been talk of a new cartel made up of Mexican and Guatemalan citizens.
The notes in the Chiapas press have named them the Chiapas and Guatemala Cartel (CCYG).
Before the video of June 26, which shows around twenty dead people, another case was reported on March 31.
In another video that circulated on social media, and in which members of this Cartel can be seen with their faces covered with balaclavas and with rifles and other long weapons, they sent a message to the state authorities of Chiapas.
In it, they denied the presence of the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel (CJNG) in Chiapas and accused the authorities of fabricating a “narrative for political and security reasons.”
They say that in recent years they have been fighting once morest the Sinaloa Cartel, who have taken over “the Chiapas plaza” since 2016.
In fact, between March 23 and 31, major areas of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, the capital of Chiapas, have been the scene of clashes between criminal organizations fighting for control of the territory for drug trafficking, human trafficking, arms trafficking, and other crimes.
According to the newspaper El Sol de México, there are more than six criminal groups operating in Chiapas, including the so-called Maíz, the Motonetos, the San Juan Chamula Cartel and Sentimientos de la Nación, among others.
According to El Sol de México, Maíz is one of the first criminal groups in which Guatemalan citizens have been associated. They are now also mentioned in the Chiapas – Guatemala cartel.
It is in this cartel that former members of the Guatemalan Army are mentioned once more, but this time, as was done in 2007 and 2010 with Los Zetas, in addition to other members such as paratrooper Oscar Rolando Guitz Can, 29 years old, who is supposedly one of the seven Guatemalan fatalities following a massacre that occurred on Wednesday, June 26.
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