Brutal Mexican Jalisco New Generation Cartel now ‘outgun El Chapo’s criminal empire’

El Chapo's once mighty cartel is now operating in the shadow of the CJNG.

He said: "The federal Mexican forces have far more military capacity and firepower than the cartels.

"The issue is that they are stretched thin across the county containing the 'criminal insurgency' taking place and now having to respond to the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic in Mexico.

"The CJNG presently appears to be a greater force than the Sinaloa Cartel throughout Mexico and overseas is now eclipsing it.

"Still, the Sinaloa Cartel is stronger in some of its core territories such as Culiacan and extended regions."

I’ve been tracking propaganda videos for some years now with their kill teams/enforcers getting more and more sophisticated in terms of training and equipment

Dr Robert J Bunker

In July footage emerged showing dozens of uniformed gunmen posing in Mexico with military-grade weapons near armoured pickup trucks emblazoned with the initials of the Jalisco drug cartel.

The country's top security officials are today probing the video which appears to be a show of power, with the masked men yelling they were "people" of cartel leader "Mencho".

Dr Bunker told the Star: "The video is accurate.

"I’ve been tracking CJNG propaganda videos for some years now with their kill teams/enforcers getting more and more sophisticated in terms of training and equipment."

Nationwide, the central American country is on course to break its record murder toll of 33,000 victims that was set last year. 

Deaths of this scale are usually seen in major conflicts.

Most of these are drug cartel victims, who were often ritually tortured, executed, dismembered and dumped in the street. 

Chopping heads off is favoured and in some cases eyes have been gouged out beforehand.

Hangings on motorway bridges have become a trend. 

In fact nothing seems to be off-limits.

In January, video emerged of the CJNG's glamorous hitwoman a La Catrina gasping for air as a soldier tells her to "relax" and "You are going to be fine. Try to hold on."

La Catrina, whose real name was Maria Guadalupe Lopez Esquivel, died after the shootout in the city of Tepalcatepec, where Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) gunmen opened fire on authorities for dismantling one of the group's roadblocks.

And incredibly, La Catrina isn't the only young woman to be mixed up in the ultra violence of the cartels.

Glamorous killers known as "Sicarias" or "hitwomen" have become famous on social media in recent years where they show off the ill gotten gains of their bloodthirsty lifestyles, posing with expensive weapons and designer clothes.