In the shadows of Tapachula, Mexico, on the country’s southern border, an unlikely friendship blossoms amidst the harsh realities of migrant life. Poison and Malandro, two men from rival Central American gangs, share a cigarette and stories on a street corner. Just weeks prior, their paths crossed, forging a bond born from shared experiences of violence and displacement. Had they met in their homelands of El Salvador and Honduras, their gang affiliations – MS13 and Barrio 18 respectively – would have dictated hostility, perhaps even bloodshed.
Alt text: Two men, Poison and Malandro, sit on a rock in Tapachula, Mexico, sharing a cigarette and talking, highlighting the unexpected camaraderie among migrants from rival gangs.
Both men, once enmeshed in Central America’s brutal gang wars, now find themselves in Tapachula, a city teeming with migrants and overshadowed by a different kind of power. Their nightly rendezvous on a familiar rock outside the migrant shelter becomes a space for reflection on their past lives – territories controlled, extortions collected, lives dictated. Yet, in Tapachula, they are both subject to forces far greater than their former gang influence.
They speak of “Los Señores,” the euphemism for the drug cartels – the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (CJNG) – who are the true power brokers in Tapachula. This Mexican border city, a crucial migration corridor, has become a complex criminal landscape where street gangs like MS13 and Barrio 18, once influential in local crime, are now mere pawns in a larger, more violent game orchestrated by these dominant cartels.
Tapachula’s role as a major migration hub, which previously sustained smaller gangs through migrant smuggling and extortion, now fuels a fierce and escalating conflict between Mexico’s two most powerful drug trafficking organizations.
Tapachula: The Lifeline of Migration
To understand Tapachula is to understand migration. Nestled in the state of Chiapas, a stone’s throw from the Suchiate River dividing Mexico and Guatemala, Tapachula has evolved into a crucial transit point for countless Central American migrants seeking passage to the United States. Its robust highway network, well-maintained roads, and Pacific ports, coupled with its position as the initial stop for the infamous cargo train “La Bestia” (The Beast) connecting southern Mexico to the center of the country, make it an unavoidable crossroads.
Between 2021 and 2023, Mexico witnessed nearly 390,000 asylum requests from individuals representing 102 nations. A staggering 60% of these requests were lodged in Tapachula, according to the Mexican Commission for Refugee Assistance (COMAR). Local activists working directly with migrants believe the actual number of migrants passing through Tapachula is likely two to three times higher, with many traversing the city without official documentation.
Alt text: A long line of migrants waits outside an office in Tapachula, Mexico, illustrating the city’s role as a major center for asylum requests and migrant processing.
This massive influx of migration has profoundly reshaped Tapachula. MS13 and Barrio 18 factions maintain a presence in pockets of the city, including areas like Indeco, Buenos Aires, and 16 de Septiembre. While their influence is diminished compared to their Central American strongholds, InSight Crime encountered young gang members, like Poison and Malandro, openly displaying gang affiliation through clothing.
Increasingly restrictive immigration policies, implemented by the US and enforced by Mexico, have inadvertently trapped migrants in cities like Tapachula. Prevented from moving north, many are either deported or remain stranded, awaiting an opportunity to continue their journey. Some, even after deportation to their home countries, find their way back to Tapachula, drawn by the persistent hope of reaching the US.
This new reality has transformed Tapachula’s economy. A significant portion of both the formal and informal sectors now depends on migration. Business owners, street vendors, taxi drivers, hoteliers, restaurant staff, public officials, and shelter administrators all acknowledge that the local economy would collapse without the migrant population.
However, this concentration of people and money inevitably attracts criminal elements eager to exploit the vulnerable.
The Underworld’s Bottom Tier
One February evening, Poison was tasked with cleaning restrooms at a major migrant shelter in Tapachula. During the day, the shelter was largely deserted as migrants sought work, navigated bureaucratic processes, or simply sought respite from the crowded conditions. Evenings, however, brought a surge in population, with residents filling common areas to socialize or escape the oppressive heat. The restrooms, however, offered a different kind of refuge, and Poison’s duty was to maintain order, prevent drug use, and discourage illicit sexual activity.
This relatively uneventful task allowed Poison to connect with acquaintances. Despite his attempts at a more responsible life, a mischievous side still flickered. That evening, three Honduran men, including Malandro, approached him with a handful of cash. In hushed tones, they pooled their pesos and discreetly handed them to Poison. He pocketed the money.
“I can run out, but you all have to watch the bathrooms,” Poison instructed.
“Bring back the good stuff,” they replied.
Petty drug sales around the shelter were often managed by Barrio 18 associates. Poison, familiar with these local dealers, glanced at his phone and slipped out. He returned twenty minutes later with two small plastic bags containing white powder – cocaine.
“I’ll go first,” he declared, disappearing into the restroom.
Emerging moments later, visibly invigorated after audible snorts, Poison explained the demands of his shelter job. He needed something stronger than coffee to endure the long hours.
“Usually I get marijuana, but you can’t smoke here because of the smell. So you need something more discreet,” he explained.
For years, a small network of Honduran, Salvadoran, and Mexican individuals has sustained itself through low-level drug dealing in the shelter’s vicinity, maintaining a semblance of order.
“If someone from Honduras or El Salvador who was a gang member back home causes trouble, the boss calls them over and quickly deals with it,” Poison recounted.
Yet, within Tapachula’s broader criminal hierarchy, individuals like Poison and Malandro exist at the very bottom, their power severely limited.
‘Two Letters’ Versus ‘Four Letters’
Just blocks from Poison’s drug purchase, yellow police tape cordoned off a bodega. This wasn’t a murder scene, but the aftermath of a drug bust where Mexican armed forces had seized 200 kilograms of cocaine.
Authorities attributed the drugs to the CJNG. This marked a significant shift. Previously, the Sinaloa Cartel had controlled the cocaine flow through this corridor.
“There’s a war being waged right now in Tapachula,” explained Topo, a seasoned local journalist with two decades covering crime in southern Chiapas.
Topo, lean and dark-skinned, exuded caution despite his confident demeanor, requesting anonymity for his safety. Speaking in hushed tones at a restaurant in northern Tapachula, he constantly scanned the room. He referred to the warring cartels euphemistically as “the two letters” and “the four letters.”
These entities, he implied, were monstrous forces locked in a struggle for control of the city – enemies too dangerous to name directly. Through subtle gestures and scribbled notes, he clarified he was referring to the Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG.
“They’ve already arrived, and it’s going to get ugly,” Topo warned.
The Sinaloa Cartel-CJNG conflict had been brewing for years, escalating sharply in 2021 when the CJNG began infiltrating Sinaloa strongholds further north, such as San Cristóbal de las Casas and Tuxtla Gutiérrez. Their advance continued southward into municipalities like Frontera Comalapa and across the border into the Guatemalan department of Huehuetenango.
This southward push fueled a surge in violence around Tapachula, particularly in Frontera Comalapa. In May 2023, over 3,000 people were displaced from their homes as armed groups in makeshift armored vehicles terrorized communities and forcibly recruited men. Months later, gunmen on motorcycles, identified by authorities as CJNG operatives, attacked the Tapachula police station.
Mexican army intelligence, leaked by the “Guacamaya” hacking group and reviewed by InSight Crime, identified Juan Manuel Valdovinos Mendoza, alias “El Señor de los Caballos” (Lord of the Horses), as the CJNG leader spearheading this Chiapas incursion. In Guatemala, the CJNG has reportedly forged an alliance with the Huistas, a Guatemalan criminal organization involved in cocaine trafficking and operating in Huehuetenango.
“The [CJNG] wants to take the plaza from the [Sinaloa Cartel],” Topo stated.
‘Nobodies’ in a Cartel War Zone
The current power dynamic in Tapachula represents a stark contrast to the early 2000s. Then, MS13 and Barrio 18 established local cliques with significant influence. By 2004, MS13 controlled the migrant route, extorting those attempting to board La Bestia. Migrants who refused to pay were brutally thrown from the moving train, often suffering fatal injuries.
Today, gang members like Poison and Malandro no longer wield such power. They don’t control train routes, dictate neighborhood access, or run large-scale extortion rackets.
“The MS13 and Barrio 18 are nobodies here,” asserted Azul, a veteran police officer with over 20 years of experience in Tapachula, who also requested anonymity for security reasons.
“They have no real power. At most, they do small jobs for the narcos, but they are not in control. They sell drugs they buy from the narcos and assist in migrant smuggling, but their operations are limited,” he clarified.
While Tapachula isn’t a primary hub for Mexican drug cartels, its strategic border location makes it a natural conduit for drugs heading north to the US. Street gangs contribute to this flow.
“They sell drugs on the street. And we see it in the increasing number of drug sales locations across the city,” Azul noted.
Despite a reported decline in official investigations into street-level drug dealing in Chiapas, the activity persists. InSight Crime observed open retail drug sales in a neighborhood frequented by MS13 and Barrio 18 members, even with municipal police presence.
Tapachula forms part of the “Pacific Route,” a key drug trafficking corridor identified by SEDENA. This route starts in Ciudad Hidalgo on the Guatemalan border in Chiapas, passes through Tapachula, and continues along the coast towards Oaxaca.
The Sinaloa Cartel historically controlled this route. However, according to SEDENA documents, the CJNG began its encroachment in 2021. The July 2021 assassination of Ramón Gilberto Rivera Beltrán, alias “El Junior,” a high-ranking Sinaloa Cartel operative, is considered a pivotal moment.
This killing created a “power vacuum” and “fracturing” within the Sinaloa Cartel, offering the CJNG an opportunity to challenge for control of this vital corridor.
The resulting conflict has brought extreme violence. Municipalities like Chicomuselo and Frontera Comalapa are essentially under siege, with movement and commerce strictly controlled by cartel forces, according to residents and local activists.
Local criminal groups have been absorbed and deployed by the Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG in areas where they exert influence. They are used as foot soldiers in the cartel war and for local revenue collection.
This dynamic extends to Tapachula. Since early 2024, bodies of human smugglers have been discovered in central Tapachula, bound and gagged, with warning messages left on their corpses.
“This is what will happen to [smugglers] who do not pay,” one message declared.
This burgeoning criminal economy around migration is now a significant source of funding for the escalating cartel war.
Migration: The New Engine of the Criminal Economy
Traditional drug trafficking organizations have recognized the lucrative opportunity presented by the growing number of migrants transiting Mexico towards the United States. This is particularly evident in Tapachula, where profits from migrant smuggling and related activities are likely fueling the conflict between the Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG.
Migration has become a crucial revenue stream for Mexican drug cartels in this southern border city. InSight Crime spoke with two coyotes, or human smugglers, with over a decade of experience. Both confirmed they are forced to surrender approximately half their earnings to criminal organizations.
“I charge between $9,000 and $11,000 USD per person, depending on the travel arrangements. Of that, I spend around $6,000 paying off organized crime. What do you think that money is for? Weapons,” one smuggler explained.
While not directly affiliated with cartels like Sinaloa or CJNG, smugglers are compelled to pay a “tax” on each migrant they transport.
“You pay per head, and the fees fluctuate depending on who is in charge, but I always end up paying between $6,000 and $8,000,” he added.
Despite MS13’s past control over migrant train routes, their influence has waned significantly, according to police officer Azul. While street gangs remain powerful in Central America, they are dwarfed by the ascendant power of drug cartels in Tapachula.
“We have seen instances where [gang members] smuggle people from Guatemala, but primarily they are smuggling fellow gang members fleeing from Honduras and El Salvador,” Azul stated.
Failure to pay the required “tax” to groups like the Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG can result in severe repercussions, including kidnapping, torture, and potential death. The May 2023 kidnapping of 49 migrants, including 11 children, from a private bus in Tapachula, highlighted these dangers.
Although authorities eventually rescued the migrants alive in central Mexico, some victims reported being kidnapped by a drug trafficking group demanding ransom. It remains unclear if the ransom was paid.
“Now [drug traffickers] are realizing just how massive this business is. Everyone wants a piece, and the bigger the piece, the better,” one smuggler concluded.
Feature image: Parts of this image were created using artificial intelligence.
