Is the Mexican Government in League with the Sinaloa Cartel?

The Mexican government is facing increasing allegations that it is in collusion with the most powerful cartel in the country, the Sinaloa Cartel. Despite the fact that it is responsible for more than 45% of the drug trade in Mexico, the Sinaloa Cartel, run by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, has faced relatively few arrests compared with the competing cartels in the country.

President Calderon, who based his platform on the war against drug cartels, has been accused by many of working with Guzman to help the Sinaloa Cartel gain a monopoly on the drug trade by eliminating many of his competitors, perhaps thinking that it will end the violence associated with the wars between the cartels. It has also been posited that the Sinaloa Cartel has been been facilitating the arrests of many of it's enemies so that Calderon looks good in his fight against organized crime, and at the same time, strengthening its position in the drug trade.

Some have pointed to the Merida Intiative as evidence of the relationship between the government and the Sinaloa Cartel. The Merida Initiative is a security cooperation between the United States and the government of Mexico with the aim of combating the threats of drug trafficking, transnational crime and money laundering. To support the Merida Initiative, the U.S. Congress passed legislation in late June 2008 to provide Mexico with $400 million to fight organized crime. Ironically, some of this money has been distributed to the very people that it was given to fight. Among the most eyebrow-raising recipients were three siblings of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and the brother of Guzman's onetime partner, Arturo Beltran Leyva, as sited in the LA Times article "Mexico farm subsidies are going astray", by Tracy Wilkinson. Also ironically, when Arturo Betran-Leyva had a falling out with El Chapo, he was killed by government forces.

El Chapo's success at staying at large for since his breakout of a maximum security prison in 2001 has also led some experts to suggest that Guzman's influence extends high into the Mexican police and government.

Click on here to watch a video on the topic by Al Jazeera.

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