Drug Overview

The smuggling and transshipment of large quantities of marijuana and powder cocaine remain the principal drug problem in the West Texas HIDTA region; however, the amount seized decreased from 2004 to 2006. This decrease could be attributed to three factors: an increase in law enforcement presence in the HIDTA region, which may have displaced smuggling activities to other areas of the Southwest Border, where law enforcement activity is lower; the struggle for control of the El Paso/Juárez plaza, which could have forced DTOs to shift smuggling routes to less volatile areas of the border; or changes in smuggling methods that may have enabled DTOs to better conceal smuggling activities from law enforcement. Cocaine and marijuana smuggled through the HIDTA region are distributed in drug markets throughout the country, and the quantity of these drugs smuggled from the area to market areas in the eastern United States is increasing, particularly in Atlanta.³

Source: West Texas High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.

Heroin, methamphetamine, other dangerous drugs (ODDs), diverted pharmaceuticals, and precursor chemicals are also smuggled into and transshipped from the West Texas HIDTA region; however, the quantities are well below those seized in other areas along the Southwest Border. Methamphetamine smuggling and transshipment, in particular, are increasing but have not risen to levels found in Arizona, California, and South Texas. A large portion of methamphetamine seized in West Texas is transported from Arizona, California, and New Mexico through the HIDTA region by Mexican DTOs rather than across the U.S.–Mexico border in West Texas. Furthermore, drug production in the West Texas HIDTA region is limited because of the ready supply of drugs smuggled from Mexico.

Drug Trafficking Organizations

Mexican DTOs, which maintain sophisticated command and control centers in Mexico, are the primary organizational threat to the region. They exert nearly total control over drug trafficking operations through the El Paso/Juárez plaza. The West Texas HIDTA has identified 6 Mexican DTOs as well as 157 multistate and 526 local DTOs that conduct drug trafficking activities in the area.⁴ Contributing to the magnitude of this threat is the ease with which Mexican DTOs adapt to law enforcement efforts to detect and dismantle their operations. Mexican DTOs manage sophisticated smuggling, transportation, and distribution networks that compartmentalize duties, employ advanced security and communications techniques, and use violence and intimidation to deter law enforcement authorities, control organization members, and secure smuggling territories. These DTOs use their own financial resources as well as those of corrupt Mexican businessmen and government officials to conduct their trafficking activities; law enforcement reporting reveals that Mexican DTOs have also enlisted corrupt U.S. officials to assist in their drug trafficking operations, but to a much lesser extent.

Over the past few years, the structure of Mexican DTOs operating in the El Paso/Juárez plaza has changed from traditional hierarchical organizations to much more efficient organizations composed of decentralized networks of interdependent, task-oriented cells. For example, one cell may be responsible for transporting drug shipments across the U.S.-Mexico border, another for transporting drugs to U.S. markets, and another for laundering drug funds. The variety of relationships that these individual cells can have with one another as well as their insular nature, particularly for organizational heads, renders these DTOs more difficult for law enforcement to dismantle than DTOs with a traditional hierarchical structure. In addition, if the head of the DTO or cell leaders are identified and arrested, the decentralized, interdependent nature of these DTOs ensures that they can continue to operate unimpeded.

A number of Mexican DTOs are struggling for control over the El Paso/Juárez plaza. Because this struggle is ongoing, a dominant DTO has not yet been established. However, several DTOs are at the forefront, including the Vicente Carrillo-Fuentes Organization, also known as the Juárez Cartel, which previously dominated the plaza; Armando Corral-Herrera Organization; Ismael Zambada-García Organization; Juan José Esparragosa-Moreno Organization; Joaquin Guzman-Loera Organization; and Arellano-Felix Organization, commonly referred to as the Tijuana Cartel.

Mexican DTOs have strengthened their control over drug trafficking operations in the region by forming working alliances with various prison gangs, street gangs, and outlaw motorcycle gangs (OMGs) to transport, stash, and package illicit drugs and to assist in money laundering activities. Mexican DTOs take advantage of the organizational networks that these gangs have established to distribute drugs in the area. For example, Barrio Azteca, the most dominant and violent prison gang in El Paso, has a historic working relationship with the Juárez Cartel.

End Notes

3. Atlanta, which has recently emerged as a national distribution center for cocaine, marijuana, and methamphetamine, is a distribution hub for illicit drugs destined primarily for the eastern and central United States.
4. Multistate DTOs are organizations or groups of 5 to 15 individuals who operate in the United States and Mexico. These DTOs typically operate outside the Southwest Border area and assist other DTOs in drug trafficking and money laundering activities; however, they usually specialize in one type of activity, such as transportation of drugs through checkpoints. Local DTOs are organizations of 5 to 12 individuals who operate in the United States and Mexico. They generally operate within the Southwest Border area and assist larger DTOs in various drug trafficking and money laundering activities.

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