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A senior Sinaloa Cartel leader, speaking anonymously, told CNN senior national correspondent David Culver that President Donald Trump’s efforts have indeed made business more difficult for their organization.
The Trump administration has pledged to take down the cartels that have been bringing crime through America’s southern border. A drug cartel is a criminal group where drug lords coordinate to produce and distribute illegal drugs. The cartels have been involved in the trafficking of guns, weapons, and people for years, and now reportedly are claiming that Trump’s efforts are working.
A high-ranking member of the Sinaloa Cartel spoke with CNN while wearing goggles, a mask, and a baseball cap to hide his identity.
“From killing to coordinating smuggling operations, he says he’s done it all,” Culver reported.
“Do you think what President Trump has been doing has been making your job tougher?” the reporter asked the cartel member.
“Oh yeah,” he responded. “Yeah.”
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The senior cartel member confirmed that Trump’s return to power has made their business operations significantly more difficult. (GETTY IMAGES)
“So it’s becoming more difficult, you think?” Culver inquired.
“Yeah,” the senior member said.
Culver reported how Trump’s enforcement has massive implications for the cartels, organizations, which he described as growing “increasingly desperate.”
“You heard that cartel boss say that his job is getting tougher. And because of that, officials say cartels are now charging much more to get migrants across. It‘s jumped from about $6,500 a person that they were charging earlier this year to now nearly $10,000 that they‘re charging, according to the deputies,” Culver said. “A lot of migrants simply cannot afford that.
He added that as a result, those crossing now often find themselves deeply in debt to the cartels.
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A truck on fire is seen on the streets of Culiacan, Sinaloa State, Mexico, on September 11, 2024. Elements of Mexico’s National Guard were deployed in the state of Sinaloa, in the northwest of the country, amid an escalation of violence that authorities attribute to internal struggles within the Sinaloa Cartel. (Ivan Medina/afp via Getty Images)
Earlier in the interview with the anonymous cartel boss, Culver asked, “When you see, for example, the impact of violence and everything that is caused from the cartel movements, from essentially your employer, do you feel like you‘re part of this problem?”
“Yeah,” the gang member agreed, arguing that he sees it as a matter of self-defense. “You have something wrong to me, I do something bad to you.”
The cartel member said his reason speaking to the news was to warn people that this kind of life path is not a good one.
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Enforcement of America’s southern border has been Trump’s flagship issue since he first announced his candidacy in 2015. (AP/Evan Vucci)
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After noting he ultimately does what he has to do for the organization, Culver pressed him about why he doesn’t choose to leave this life behind and do something else. The cartel member responded that once one joins an organization like this, they cannot get out.
