Mexican news agency El Universal has completed an investigation claiming that the Drug Enforcement Agency facilitated cocaine shipments for a Mexican drug cartel. Between 2000-2012, the ultraviolent cartel Sinaloa provided information about rival gangs to the DEA in exchange for the privilege of shipping billions of dollars worth of cocaine into the US through Chicago. The head of the cartel was identified as Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. According to Business Insider magazine, Guzman controls 80 percent of the drug market in Chicago. Because Chicago is a major road hub, Guzman used an extensive network of distribution to flood the streets of Chicago and other cities with marijuana, meth, heroine and cocaine. Court documents by a DEA agent and the US Justice Department confirm this connection. The US District court in Chicago has been receiving evidence and testimony regarding this case from the DEA and the Justice Department. Due to arrests of several high ranking Sinaloa cartel operatives, the DEA cut a deal in one case leading to the seizure of a 23 ton shipment of cocaine by a rival cartel. Through these records, it was shown that the DEA met with the cartel more than fifty times since 2000. This means that the deal to ship drugs into the US covers both Republican and Democratic administrations.
In 2009, Jesus Vicente Zambada-Niebla (a.k.a. “El Vicentillo”) was arrested by Mexican Marines and while in custody was visited by DEA agents. These visits and subsequent deals are also tied to the infamous “Fast and Furious” gun running operation. Through “Fast and Furious” military grade weapons were shipped to Mexican drug cartels, some of these guns were used to murder DEA agents. The entire nation is aware of the intense violence on Chicago streets, but it was Bloomberg news who reported that it was the Mexican cartels pushing heroin in Chicago that was causing much of this violence. Now the DEA and Justice Department are scrambling to come up with a coherent explanation and have refused to issue a statement. Coming on the heels of Obama’s statement regarding decriminalization of marijuana, these recent cartel and DEA deals are bound to provoke discussion.
