HomeNewsBrief4 of Mexico's Cartels Operate in Panama: Officials
BRIEF

4 of Mexico's Cartels Operate in Panama: Officials

BELTRAN LEYVA ORG / 17 SEP 2013 BY MARGUERITE CAWLEY EN

Panama's intelligence sources have identified four major Mexican cartels operating in that country, another sign of the widening reach of Mexico's criminals across the region, and of Panama's importance as a regional depot for drug traffickers.

According to Panama's La Prensa, these groups are: the Sinaloa Cartel, the Juarez Cartel, the Zetas and the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO). Intelligence reports and officials have confirmed that these cartels operate in the country, says the paper, using it as an operational base to transport cocaine to Mexico and the United States.

One sign of this is recent violence committed in the style of Colombian or Mexican hired assassins, Panamanian prosecutor Geomara Guerra told La Prensa, with dead bodies dismembered or showing signs of torture. Officials believe the Sinaloa Cartel and the Zetas may be killing off rivals in the country as they move more deeply into Central America.

In 2012, then-Attorney General and current Supreme Court judge Jose Ayu Prado said 100 Mexican prisoners held in Panama were accused of membership in drug cartels. Alleged Mexican criminals arrested in Panama include 16 Sinaloa Cartel members caught in 2007 with 19.5 tons of cocaine, the newspaper says. Members of the Zetas and the Juarez Cartel have also been caught moving cocaine through the country.

In 2010, jailed capo Edgar Valdez Villareal, alias "La Barbie," also testified that the BLO moved cocaine through Panama to Mexico.

InSight Crime Analysis

The evidence collected by La Prensa is another indication that the connection is deepening between Mexican organized crime and Panama, an important hand-off point for north-bound drug shipments, as well as a traditional money laundering hotspot.

Earlier this year, an alleged link between Colombia's Rastrojos and Mexican Cartels was arrested in Panama, and more recently, Colombian officials intercepted a FARC-owned cocaine shipment allegedly destined for Sinaloa Cartel contacts in Panama. Mexican capos have also been reported to do business in Panama, including captured Gulf Cartel boss Andres Vieda Duque, alias "El Duque," and La Barbie. The cousin of Panama's President Ricardo Martinelli was arrested in Mexico and charged with money laundering in 2009, but was later absolved.

SEE ALSO: Coverage of Panama

The Sinaloa Cartel and the Zetas have shifted much of their operations into Central America, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). One major battleground is Guatemala, but the Sinaloa Cartel also operates in El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, and the Zetas in Belize.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

CRIMINAL MIGRATION / 25 JUN 2021

Prosecutors in Honduras say they will ask Nicaragua to extradite an alleged MS13 leader who has been on the lam…

ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME / 27 JUL 2022

When the Chinese fishing fleet was discovered near Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands, its vessels were not all flagged to China. Some…

BELTRAN LEYVA ORG / 19 MAY 2022

Cocaine processing has taken root on European soil, Mexican and Dutch synthetic drug traffickers have partnered up, and a new…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela Coverage Continues to be Highlighted

3 MAR 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-director Jeremy McDermott was the featured guest on the Americas Quarterly podcast, where he provided an expert overview of the changing dynamics…

THE ORGANIZATION

Venezuela's Organized Crime Top 10 Attracts Attention

24 FEB 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published its ranking of Venezuela’s ten organized crime groups to accompany the launch of the Venezuela Organized Crime Observatory. Read…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime on El País Podcast

10 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime co-founder, Jeremy McDermott, was among experts featured in an El País podcast on the progress of Colombia’s nascent peace process.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Interviewed by Associated Press

3 FEB 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s Co-director Jeremy McDermott was interviewed by the Associated Press on developments in Haiti as the country continues its prolonged collapse. McDermott’s words were republished around the world,…

THE ORGANIZATION

Escaping Barrio 18

27 JAN 2023

Last week, InSight Crime published an investigation charting the story of Desafío, a 28-year-old Barrio 18 gang member who is desperate to escape gang life. But there’s one problem: he’s…