Guide Note:

The Gulf Cartel is one of the largest drug trafficking groups in Mexico. Its current main rival is the Sinaloa Cartel.

Fast Facts:

1. Base of operations: Matamoros, Tamualipas State, Mexico¹
2. Security Detail: "Los Zetas"²
3. Major figures: Osiel Cardenas, Carlos Landin Martinez³
4. Under pressure from rival Sinaloa Cartel
5. Rivalry has led to steadily increasing violence in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico

In the 1980s, the United States began closing off drug trafficking routes in the Caribbean. This weakened the large Colombian cartels, and soon, cocaine and other drugs began to be sold wholesale to Mexican cartels, such as the Gulf Cartel. These Mexican cartels then grew in power.⁴

The Gulf Cartel's main rivals are the Sinaloa Cartel, the Juarez Cartel, and the Tijuana Cartel. ⁴ As the Sinaloa Cartel has become weaker, the other cartels have sought to consolidate their power over their rival's turf, and this has resulted in bloody clashes in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua.⁵