Assist to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

This is a very brief investigative primer for any Canadian authorities who are looking for Mexican cartel operators within their country. I doubt that any RCMP types will read this blog, but if they do, they can consider this.

Joaquin Guzman Loera (El Chapo) is running the majority of the Canadian Traffic from the Mexican side of things. There were cells of Los Caballeros Templario (based in Washington State, US) but now that they're allies, I'm lumping them into one big pot.

This is important to know, because Chapo is a micromanager. He didn't last as long as he has nor grow in both personal wealth and power through the hemisphere by being stupid. Which means that they won't be making mistakes that the bush league narcos make. 

If you're accustomed to working on Asian targets (who almost religiously follow the same low key profile), you're going to feel at home working on these cartels.

Automobiles - Don't expect to see these guys driving around in Ferraris. The vehicle of choice for running around and being cool is usually the pick-up truck. They will also drive nondescript sedans simply because they don't attract attention. However, because they're from Sinaloa for the most part, you will see "Sinaloa Crap" on the cars. Stickers, Virgin of Guadalupe or Santa Muerte statues. You need to learn the difference between the two. Regular Catholic Mexicans usually have the Virgin of Guadalupe icons on their dash. If you find anything to do with Senora de los Sombras, Nino Negro Santa or the Holy Death (Santa Muerte) (different names for the same saint), you have a narco on your hands.

Restaurants - Everyone wants food and culture that reminds them of home close at hand. They need a place to hide in plain sight and the leaders want to hold court. So you'll find some really good Mexican restaurants popping up. Remember, it doesn't need to be a hole in the wall because these cartels have a lot of money to spend. Look for Sinaloa, Jalisco or Michoacan style cooking. If you can't tell the difference between Sonora, Quintana Roo and Jalisco style cooking - do your homework. They will hang out where they are comfortable.

Homes - They will live well and they will live on land with a buffer around it. They will have ranches and those ranches will have runways cut on them. Expect over ten ranches in any area where the narcos are active. They'll set them up with equipment, barns, sorting pens for livestock, etc. and they will leave them dormant until they're needed. Usually one one will be active at a time. That's just how they roll. It's a shell game.

Clothing - The well healed narcos will dress 'Mexican upscale casual' - short hair, expensive dress shirt, usually worn outside (not tucked in), nice slacks and nice shoes. The Sinaloa Cowboys, who work on the ranches (bottom feeders) will dress the way that they did when they were home. Do some homework on those dress patterns. These guys won't deviate from what they are comfortable wearing.

Family Life - Most wealthy Mexican men have more than one wife. The wealthier and more powerful, the more wives. It's not uncommon for a narco to have one Casa Grande (the first wife) and half a dozen Casa Chicas (the subsequent girlfriend). Mexicans don't wear condoms so those women all have children. Alert your family support people to keep a sharp eye out for women from Mexico who apply for welfare benefits and aid for their children. They almost all will. Narcos have money but they are cheap in terms of spending that money on the Casa Chicas. This information can be exploited and it's possibly the best single method of finding out who the narcos are. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

Mexican Weddings - Track them, cover them, photograph the people who show up, collect license plate numbers. They are political affairs within the community and they are LARGE. It will help you to understand who is there. The important people will usually travel in Humvees or Suburbans. Some may be armored - but I'm not sure that they have a lot of armored vehicles in Canada. If you find one, the occupant is important.

Good Luck

If anyone wants more they can e-mail me. If you do e-mail me, please provide your RCMP/Law Enforcement affiliation because I will vet you before I contact you.

Mexican Threat to Canadian Security

This blog has outlined the development of the Sinaloa Federation's presence in Mexico beginning in earnest about two years ago and intensifying ever since then. I'm not going to rehash what I've written in this blog. If you're interested enough, you can scroll down and read it to establish that for yourself.

CONTEXT AND PRECEDENCE

1. Immigration

Mexican Immigration to Canada in 2005 was the first phase of the establishment of the Mexican drug trade that we are seeing in a mature environment in Canada today. Joaquin Guzman Loera (El Chapo) bought his first ranch in Mexico in 2005. Mexican citizens began to enter Canada 'fearing for their lives' and were accepted by the Canadian government as refugees. This trend continued unabated until July 2009, when the Canadian Government instituted a requirement that Mexican citizens traveling to Canada obtain a visa.  Mexican refugee claimants, represent 25% of the total Canadian asylum petitions. Even though 90% of those are ultimately rejected, refugees/asylum applicants continue to stress the over taxed Canadian system. 

What do cartel members awaiting adjudication from Canadian authorities do while on parole status? They traffic narcotics and receive public assistance payments from a generous and naive Canadian system.

2. Trafficking Trends

Historically, the primary conduit for the conduct of the smuggling operations were well organized Asian gangs on the Canadian side of the border. That balance tipped beginning in 2010 when very well trained, experienced Mexican traffickers entered the business of trafficking through Canada into the US began to switch on. Canada is the path of least resistance. Canada is also not the market. Canada has 34 million citizens. California alone has 38 million residents. The drug cartels will sell to Canadians, but the market is a small fraction of the size of the US so cocaine, methamphetamine products and opiates bound for Canada usually re-enter the US.

3. Kind and Gentle Canada

Canada is no stranger to organized crime. Their efforts against motorcycle gangs, the Italian Mafia, and more recently in their history, against Asian gangs has been moderately effective. They are NOT ready for the destabilizing effect on society that is being fashioned by highly-organized, violent criminal cartels from Mexico. 

Many drug cartels, including the Sinaloa Federation use contract intelligence people from the former Soviet Union including Ukranian GRU and KGB operators. They are not Asian gangs and they are not bikers. They are PROFESSIONALS. Canada isn't ready. Reliance on USGOV agencies such as the FBI or the Customs and Border Protection Service is thin because they themselves are ham handed when it comes to interdicting or impacting drug cartels. The US track record is not impressive.

4. Impact on Legal Trade

The US has begun to react to the new threat from Mexican Cartels moving narcotics through Canada by "thickening" their border defenses. Trade between Canada and the US has decreased by twenty percent over the past five years. Part of this is due to the security barriers that also impact legitimate trade by simply making it 'harder' to do business. And I'm not only writing about this difficulty, I've experienced it. 

TODAY

DDG 283 HMCS Algonquin

Canada has participated in the North American Maritime Security Initiative (NAMSI) and last year the HMCS Algonquin participated in counternarcotics patrol work in the US Mexico Pacific Border area. It was a symbolic step (at best). None of it addressed the endemic corruption in Mexico and the folly of relying on Mexican Navy (SEMAR) allies for accurate and timely support. That's not to say that all of SEMAR is corrupt. It's not. Enough is to make it (and the rest of MEXGOV) unreliable (I'm trying to be kind here).

Canada is trying to implement a species of trilateral security to protect its interests and while that is the only way to proceed, what they are doing is not having ANY impact on the Sinaloa Federation's operations within its borders. The Canadians need to up their game if they want to play in the big leagues.

The only game in town is HUMINT. It's expensive, it's exhausting, it's difficult, but no other method is likely to work. The RCMP won't be able tell the players without a program and Canada either enters the Great Game or they reap the whirlwind.