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Osiel Cárdenas Guillén
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Osiel Cárdenas Guillén

Mexican drug lord
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Osiel Cárdenas Guillén was a prominent Mexican drug lord who played a significant role in the leadership of the Gulf Cartel. He is known for recruiting former members of Mexico's special forces to form the enforcement arm known as Los Zetas in 1997. This group became notorious for its violent tactics and eventually broke away from the Gulf Cartel in 2010 to operate as an independent criminal enterprise. Cárdenas Guillén was arrested in 2003, and following his arrest, Los Zetas became more directly involved in drug trafficking and expanded their activities to include human smuggling, kidnapping, extortion, and arms trafficking. The rise of Los Zetas is seen as a symptom and cause of the increasing militarization of the Mexican drug wars.1

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2 Britannica Sources
  1. Sinaloa cartel
  2. Los Zetas

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