The Strategic Implications of the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación

• Main Author: Nathan P. Jones
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Henley-Putnam University 2018-04-01
• Series: Journal of Strategic Security
• Subjects: Gangs and criminal organizations; Governance and rule of law; Homeland security; Mexico; Narcotics trafficking; Nonstate actors
• Online Access: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/jss/vol11/iss1/3/
• ISSN: 1944-0464; 1944-0472

Most security analysts now view the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) as the most powerful organized crime group (OCG) in Mexico. This article explores the strategic/security implications of the rise of this new and aggressive group by providing an in-depth historical case study. The case study shows that the CJNG is a highly resilient and geographically dispersed entity that draws upon the experience of its members, which studied under the tutelage of the Milenio and Sinaloa cartels. Since 2015 the CJNG has begun “adopting orphan” criminal cells left in the wake of the US and Mexican kingpin strategy and the resulting OCG fragmentations. This demonstrates the limits of kinetic strategies in the drug war as the Mexican drug trafficking system appears to be reconsolidating under the CJNG. Policy reform areas such as legal reform implementation, penal system capacity building, and tax reform goals are discussed.