THEY ARE ONE

They Are One

A government leak confirms the entanglement of the cartel and the Mexican state

To understand the Mexican government, one must understand the cartel. To understand the Mexican cartel, one must understand the government. The dynamic between the licit government and the illicit cartel shape the systemic corruption on which Mexico is built.

From small-town municipal elections to federal officials, cartel and government entanglement is rife. Even in towns with fewer than 500 citizens, voters approach an election already knowing which candidate is backed by which cartel. At the federal level, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is seen greeting the mother of El Chapo—one of the most powerful drug traffickers in the world— then dismisses it as a mere greeting to an older woman.

Too often Mexico is defined by the harmful narrative that its violence stems solely from cartels. Officials blame organized crime for sky-high murder rates and Mexico’s status as the deadliest country in the world for journalists. However, bloodshed in Mexico is much more nuanced. It is prominent and deadly because it is deeply integrated. It comes not only from the cartel, but also from the government.

A recent leak of internal documents from the Mexican Ministry of National Defense confirmed this interconnection. The leak showed direct evidence of military involvement with the cartel—a fact that came to no surprise to the Mexican people. As Guacamaya, the group that leaked the documents, said on Twitter, “They did not need us to hack to know something that is evident, in Mexico the government and the narco are one.”

Even though the leak just confirmed these suspicions, it has still led to investigations of the government, posing a threat to the power nexus between the cartel and the state. In this nexus, journalists’ work becomes as crucial as it is perilous.

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On Thursday, September 29, approximately four million confidential documents were obtained through an illegal breach of la Secretaría de Defensa Nacional (SEDENA), the Mexican Ministry of National Defense. Guacamaya, a prominent hacktivist group that has been active in several Latin American countries, orchestrated what is now being considered one of the largest leaks in the country’s history.

The SEDENA leak comes at a critical time in Mexico, in which the state of democracy has shifted since the beginning of López Obrador’s presidential term in 2018. His administration has attempted to take control of the national institute that oversees elections, surveilled journalists, and deployed more military forces in police tasks. This leak holds great significance for not only the status quo, but also the future of the country beyond López Obrador’s Morena party.

The emails and official documents revealed critical evidence tying the Mexican military to drug cartels. Documents showed that the No. 1 Military Camp in Mexico City facilitated the sale of illegal arms to drug cartels. A report outlined two cases of corrupt military members who served as arms suppliers to these cartel. One of these members is a ranked colonel, described to cartels as “que gusta de dinero y le entra a todo”—one who likes money and is willing to do anything for it.

Other internal reports unveiled various cases of corruption within the Ministry of Defense, including an active agent’s role as facilitator between leaders of the Jalisco Cartel and various government authorities. Military members were even assigned to recruit public officials to expand cartel networks of corruption. The López Obrador administration has redefined the illicit and licit nexus in the Mexican military.

There are even cartels that were created by former military officers. Los Zetas, a criminal syndicate, is a prime example: started by former special forces soldiers who had served as enforcers for the Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas has established itself as one of the most dangerous cartels in the country.

Thus, suspicions regarding the military’s covert actions were already well-established in Mexican society. However, the leak provided tangible evidence to initiate formal investigations. Following revelations from the SEDENA leak, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Mexico has begun looking into the infamous culiacanazo, the failed attempt by the Mexican National Guard to capture El Chapo’s son.

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The relationship between the licit and illicit in Mexico creates an immensely dangerous environment, particularly for those who would expose the truth. Journalists and activists on the front lines of media outlets are disappearing and being brutally murdered, while the López Obrador administration glosses over them with a dismissive fatalism.

When journalists are critical of his government, President López Obrador has personally exposed their private information, calling the public eye to them and putting their lives and their families’ lives at risk. He attacks journalists to evade questions about important issues, particularly the surge in homicides and violence against journalists throughout his tenure.

In daily press conferences, known as Mañaneras, the escalation of the president’s war on journalists is clear. Journalists have demanded action from the president—at least a condemnation of the violence they are experiencing—and have been met constantly with indifference that ridicules their experiences and villainizes their careers. In 2019, for example, journalist Lourdes Maldonado López attended a daily press conference to ask for support and protection because she feared for her life. Her requests were dismissed. In January 2022, she was killed.

“Journalists who do their job wholly and aggressively are always going to come in conflict with power. It is inevitable. The question is how power is going to respond to that,” Brown University professor and journalist Stephen Kinzer said in an interview with the College Hill Independent. In Mexico, that response is becoming exceedingly clear. The role of the journalist has always been crucial for accountability in Mexican politics, and will only continue to be so in a country that is becoming increasingly militarized.

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The Guacamaya leak highlights the urgency of scrutinizing Mexico’s deepening militarization. It is no longer a question of what could happen if Obrador decides to militarize Mexico, it is now unquestionably confirmed that it is happening. Militarization is the first step for a leader to gain total control over all armed forces. A government becomes centralized and any separation of government sectors dissolves. There should be deep fear for what lies ahead when the military that was just exposed for being in active negotiations with cartels—serving as their enforcer gang, providing them with weapons and information—is only gaining more and more control in the country.

Additional documents confirmed that, in 2019, the Mexican Army bought software to surveil journalists. The software has given military intelligence access to journalists’ electronic devices to keep tabs on their correspondences. The López Obrador administration has continuously denied allegations regarding any government surveillance of journalists—claiming that this government is different from previous administrations who did engage in this surveillance. The president has refused to provide any explanation following this exposure.

While the relationship between the government and the cartel is known, Mexican citizens are consumed by a culture that is built on keeping quiet. There is a hushed knowledge of the corruption that is woven into the political and social fabric of the country, but the widespread threats facing citizens prevent public recognition of it. Both the government and the cartel are kept safe by this fear of speaking out. It is not a matter of being ignorant to negotiations occurring between the government and the cartel, but a function of a culture nourished by fear that allows these negotiations to be accepted as the norm.

Journalists exist outside this culture—they challenge it the moment they write about an issue that isn’t supposed to be written about, accepting the consequences that are sure to follow. They sign a contract by committing to a career in journalism, even with the provision that an interview, a story, or even a simple question could be what gets them killed. Mexico would not be the most dangerous country in the world for journalists if their role was not so critical.

The possibility of losing absolute control is threatening to the government and for the cartel, as is the publication of the conversations they hold behind closed doors. It is no coincidence that those exposing and challenging the government’s corrupt actions—which greatly benefit the cartel—are the most targeted in the country.

The revelation of documents in the SEDENA leak illustrates the sheer enormity of power the López Obrador administration has handed to the military—a military that has been operating illicitly and upholding the nation’s corrupt roots. The fate of democracy in Mexico now depends on both the government and the cartel: who will assert control over the other and where the Mexican citizen will be left standing.

ARIANA PALOMO B'25 still craves her hometown elote.