Milenio Cartel

Milenio Cartel
Founded early 1990s−present
Founding location Uruapan, Michoacán, Mexico
Years active 1999-2012
Territory Mexico : Michoacán, Colima, Jalisco, Mexico City, Puebla, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas
United States : California, Oregon, Texas, Illinois, North Carolina, Maryland
Ethnicity Mexican
Criminal activities Drug trafficking, money laundering, murder and arms trafficking.
Allies Los Zetas, La Resistencia[1][2]
Rivals Sinaloa Cartel, Gulf Cartel, Knights Templar Cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel [1][2]

The Milenio Cartel, or Cártel de los Valencia, is an drug cartel originally based in Michoacán, Mexico, now relocated in Jalisco.

History

The Milenio cartel first appears in the late 1970s when the Valencia family, an avocado farmer family started to grow cannabis and opium poppy in Jalisco and Michoacan, and started selling this drugs to bigger cartels. By the mid 1990s they had close connections with Colombian traffickers like Fabio Ochoa Vásquez of the Medellin cartel and by the early 2000s they were working with synthetic drugs provided by Zhenli Ye Gon. By this time the cartel had taken several hits from the government, like the 2003 capture of their leader Armando Valencia, so in order to protect their structure the new leader, Óscar Nava Valencia, associated with the Sinaloa cartel, and the Milenio cartel became a branch of what was known as the Sinaloa federation, under the direct orders of Ignacio Coronel Villarreal.[3][4][5][6][7]

Luis Valencia Valencia and Óscar Nava Valencia took control of the cartel after the arrest of Armando Valencia Cornelio on August 15, 2003.[8] The cartel operates in at least six Mexican states: Michoacán, Colima, Jalisco, Mexico City, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas, where it produces marijuana and heroin. Another relative and close associate is Oscar Nava Valencia.

On October 28, 2009, Oscar Nava Valencia (El Lobo) was captured after a gun battle with Mexican Army troops in the municipality of Tlajomulco de Zuniga, Jalisco. Oscar Nava and his brother, Juan Nava Valencia were responsible for the planning and smuggling of cocaine shipments from South and Central America to the port of Manzanillo, Colima from where it was smuggled into the United States.[9]

After the arrest of Oscar Nava Valencia, his brother Juan Nava Valencia took over the leadership of the Milenio Cartel until May 6, 2010 when he was arrested in Guadalajara during an operation by the Mexican Army.[9]

Fracture

With the 2009 capture of Óscar Nava Valencia, leader of the Milenio cartel, and the death of Ignacio Coronel Villarreal, of the Sinaloa cartel federation, a power vacuum emerged and the Milenio broke in to smaller factions, being the most notable La Resistencia, headed by Ramiro Pozos El Molca and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) headed by Nemesio Oseguera El Mencho, and started a turf war for the control of the region.[10][11][12][13][14][15]

La resistencia formed a brief alliance with Los Zetas, the CJNG reunited with the Sinaloa cartel, and other remnants of the milenio that splintered from the Sinaloa Cartel[1] went independent and reached a working agreement with La Familia Michoacana,[16] but when la Familia was disbanded in 2011,[17][18] the Milenio Cartel relocated to Guadalajara and forged an alliance with Los Zetas Cartel.[2]

On January 29, 2011, Oscar Nava Valencia was extradited to the United States to face charges of conspiracy and drug trafficking in the Southern District of Texas.[9] He was sentenced to 25 years in prison on January 8, 2014.[19]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Decomiso récord de metanfetaminas en México: golpe ’histórico’ a narcos". ABC Digital (in Spanish). February 10, 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "El narco en México recurre a violencia sin precedentes: ONU". El Informador (in Spanish). February 29, 2012. Retrieved March 8, 2012. Se trató de una venganza de la alianza del cártel del Milenio y "Los Zetas", en contra de los llamados Matazetas o del cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación.
  3. ↑ http://noticias.univision.com/article/1614775/2013-07-25/america-latina/colombia/murio-juan-david-ochoa-fundador-cartel-medellin
  4. ↑ http://www.excelsior.com.mx/opinion/2012/03/13/jorge-fernandez-menendez/817937
  5. ↑ http://www.elsiglodetorreon.com.mx/noticia/45001.detiene-pgr-al-narcotraficante-armando-valen.html
  6. ↑ http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/estados/64414.html
  7. ↑ http://www.informador.com.mx/jalisco/2010/198195/6/el-camino-de-el-lobo.htm
  8. ↑ "Milenio Cartel Drug Lord Sentenced to 47 Years in a Mexican Prison". Hispanic News Network. February 8, 2010. Retrieved September 19, 2010. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 ""El Lobo" extradited to the U.S.". Borderland Beat. Retrieved January 30, 2011. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  10. ↑ http://www.zocalo.com.mx/seccion/articulo/diversifica-mencho-mercado-del-narco-1391193491
  11. ↑ http://www.cronica.com.mx/notas/2012/689809.html
  12. ↑
  13. ↑ "Cayó líder del 'Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación'". Univision (in Spanish). 15 July 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
  14. ↑ Cartels unite in the fight against Los Zetas 20 September 2011
  15. ↑ "La Sedena presenta al presunto líder del cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación". CNNMéxico (in Spanish). 12 March 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
  16. ↑ "La Familia: Another Deadly Mexican Syndicate". Zimbio. February 19, 2009. Retrieved September 19, 2010. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  17. ↑ "Templarios dominan Michoacán, donde habrá elecciones el día 13". Excelsior (in Spanish) (Excelsior). November 2, 2011. Retrieved February 10, 2012. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
  18. ↑ "Surgieron cuatro grupos del narco en 2011; el chapo es el mas poderoso". Narcotrafico en Mexico (in Spanish). August 7, 2011. Retrieved February 11, 2012.
  19. ↑ "Dan 25 años a ex colaborador de 'Nacho' Coronel en EU". Milenio (in Spanish). 8 January 2014. Archived from the original on 9 January 2014. Retrieved 9 January 2014.