The Milenio Cartel, or Cártel de los Valencia (Valencia family Cartel), was a Mexican criminal organization based in

Michoacán Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo, is one of the 31 states which, together with Mexico City, compose the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The stat ...

. It relocated to

Jalisco Jalisco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in western Mexico and is bordered by s ...

in the early 2000s. The

Jalisco New Generation Cartel The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (, ), or CJNG, is a Mexican Organized crime, criminal syndicate, based in Jalisco and headed by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes ("El Mencho"). The drug cartel, cartel has been characterized by extreme violence and pu ...

was born from the splintering of the Milenio Cartel.

History

The Milenio cartel first appeared in the late 1970s when the Valencia family, an avocado farmer family from Tamaulipas, started to grow cannabis and opium poppy in Jalisco and Michoacan and began selling these drugs to bigger cartels. By the mid 1990s they had close connections with Colombian traffickers like Fabio Ochoa Vásquez of the Medellin cartel and by the early 2000s they were working with synthetic drugs provided by Zhenli Ye Gon. By this time the cartel had taken several hits from the government, like the 2003 capture of their leader Armando Valencia Cornelio. In order to protect their structure the new leader, Óscar Orlando Nava Valencia, associated with the

Sinaloa cartel The Sinaloa Cartel (, , after the native Sinaloa region), also known as the ''CDS'', the ''Guzmán-Loera Organization'', the ''Federation'', the ''Sinaloa Cartel'', or the Pacific Cartel, is a large, drug trafficking transnational organized cri ...

, the ''Milenio cartel'' became a branch of what was known as ''the Sinaloa federation'', under the direct orders of Ignacio Coronel Villarreal. Luis Valencia Valencia and Óscar Nava Valencia took control of the cartel after the arrest of Armando Valencia Cornelio on August 15, 2003. The cartel operated in at least six Mexican states: Michoacán, Colima, Jalisco, Mexico City, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas, where it produced

marijuana Cannabis (), commonly known as marijuana (), weed, pot, and ganja, List of slang names for cannabis, among other names, is a non-chemically uniform psychoactive drug from the ''Cannabis'' plant. Native to Central or South Asia, cannabis has ...

and heroin. Another relative and close associate was Oscar Nava Valencia. On October 28, 2009, Oscar Nava Valencia (''El Lobo'') was captured after a gun battle with

Mexican Army The Mexican Army () is the combined Army, land and Air Force, air branch and is the largest part of the Mexican Armed Forces; it is also known as the National Defense Army. The Army is under the authority of the Secretariat of National Defense o ...

troops in the municipality of Tlajomulco de Zuniga,

. Oscar Nava and his brother, Juan Nava Valencia, were responsible for the planning and smuggling of cocaine shipments from South and Central America to the port of Manzanillo, Colima from where it was smuggled into the United States. After the arrest of Oscar Nava Valencia, his brother Juan Carlos Nava Valencia took over the leadership of the ''Milenio cartel'' until May 6, 2010 when he was arrested in

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

during an operation by the Mexican Army.

Fracture

With the 2009 capture of Óscar Nava Valencia, leader of the ''Milenio cartel'', and the death of Ignacio Coronel Villarreal, of the ''Sinaloa cartel federation'', a power vacuum emerged. The ''Milenio'' broke into smaller factions, most notably La Resistencia, headed by Ramiro Pozos ''El Molca,'' and the

(CJNG), headed by Nemesio Oseguera ''El Mencho'', and started a turf war for the control of the region. La Resistencia formed a brief alliance with

Los Zetas Los Zetas (, Spanish for "The Zs") is a Mexican criminal syndicate and designated terrorist organization, known as one of the most dangerous of Mexico's drug cartels. They are known for engaging in brutally violent " shock and awe" tactics suc ...

, the CJNG reunited with the Sinaloa cartel, and other remnants of the ''milenio'' that splintered from the

Sinaloa Cartel The Sinaloa Cartel (, , after the native Sinaloa region), also known as the ''CDS'', the ''Guzmán-Loera Organization'', the ''Federation'', the ''Sinaloa Cartel'', or the Pacific Cartel, is a large, drug trafficking transnational organized cri ...

went independent and reached a working agreement with

La Familia Michoacana La Familia Michoacana (, LFM; English: ''The Michoacán Family''), La Familia (English: ''The Family''), is a Mexican drug cartel & organized crime syndicate based in the Mexican state of Michoacán. They are known to produce large amounts of m ...

. However, when la Familia was disbanded in 2011, the Milenio Cartel relocated to

and forged a loose alliance with a faction of Los Zetas Cartel. Although some Valencia/Milenio factions were at war with the CJNG, the core of the Valencia family is related with El Mencho, the CJNG leader, due to El Mencho's wife being a Valencia, the remnants of the Milenio gang currently form under the CJNG wing known as "Los Cuinis". On January 29, 2011, Oscar Nava Valencia was extradited to the United States to face charges of conspiracy and drug trafficking in the Southern District of Texas. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison on January 8, 2014.

References

{{Mexican Drug War 1999 establishments in Mexico 2012 disestablishments in Mexico Disbanded Mexican drug cartels Gangs in California Gangs in Maryland Gangs in North Carolina Gangs in Oregon Gangs in Texas Mexican drug war Organizations disestablished in 2012 Organizations established in 1999 Organized crime groups in the United States Transnational organized crime

History

Fracture

See also

References