The Corporate Sinaloa Federation

It's been happening in a big way in the Sinaloa Federation for the past six months and plans are underway to 'work' through the holiday break.

Feliz Navidad in Canada

WORK? No not that kind of work. They won't be moving drugs during the break - at least not many. They continue to establish their Canadian infrastructure and will be spending a piece of the holidays there in order to 'work while the sun shines' -- sorta -- to prepare for 2013 when you're going to see at least half of the methamphetamine products sold by the Sinaloa Federation and particularly by Joaquin Guzman Loera (Chapo) pushed not from Mexico, but to the United States through Canada. Even though the route is farther, the scrutiny is an order of magnitude less and they know how SLOW government moves. 

Experimentation with Canadian routes has been very successful beginning in April 2012 and continuing to the present day.

Chapo has visited Canada twice in the past six months that I'm sure of, and he may have slipped under my radar a couple more times. He's been up there visiting friends, making plans and trying to build a new (if not novel) system that maximizes profit by minimizing risk.

Jesus Malverde, SantoNarco

I don't know if anyone noticed, but ...the cash that used to flow from the US to Mexico, across the International Border is drying up. The first rule of investigation is to follow the money. But the Sinaloa Federation has, in a sense, gone cashless. Most of the profits from drug sales in the US are now being moved through banking channels. Only a fraction is crossing into the plazas. There are a couple of reasons for this, but the bottom line is that it's simply less expensive for the narcos to do this. 

Since the Sinaloa Federation accounts for at least 80% of the drugs moved from Mexico into the US, somebody should pay attention to this. I doubt that the RCMP reads this blog, but maybe they should because there will be more specifics on the "Northern Route" popping up here and there as I'm disposed to blog it.

There will still be cocaine shipments, but the principal Mexican narcos (meaning Chapo, Mayo and Mencho) are convinced that they are better off dealing in cheap, very high quality methamphetamine. Anticipate a sharp decline in cocaine shipments to the US. It's business and supply and cost with an eye toward profit, drive this market. That should raise the price of cocaine, and when that happens, you'll see the independents move that more because of the same supply and demand situation. For the moment, the Sinaloa Federation is going corporate and that means that they are going to allow the independents to take the big risks while they focus on the surer thing.