Operation Condor was a United States-backed joint operation between the Mexican Army and the Mexican Federal Police to destroy the burgeoning drug industry in the Golden Triangle region of Mexico. The Golden Triangle region produced 74% of the United States' illegal drugs, including most of America's marijuana supply and locally-grown opium. In 1972, the Mexican government and the American DEA began an effort to destroy drug production in the Golden Triangle in the "DN-PR-I" tactical plan, involving the deployment of units to set up checkpoints and mobile bases in Chihuahua, Durango, and Sinaloa. Four years later, the National Defense Secretariat launched Operation Condor, involving the Mexican Army's invasion of Sinaloa.
From 1976 to 1985, the Army and Federales achieved the destruction of 72,506 opium poppy plantations over 6,229.23 hectares, as well as 11,144 marijuana plantations on 778.95 hectares. In "Plan Canador", a nationwide operation by the Army and Mexican Air Force, 17,997 opium poppy plantations on 1,401.15 hectares were destroyed, as were 20,579 marijuana plantations on 5,800.06 hectares. By 1985, special operations Puma, Pantera, Dragon, Lince, Tigre, Jaguar, Costera, Gavilan, Aguila, Halcon, and Azor were being carried out in Sonora, Sinaloa, Nayarit, Durango, Jalisco, Michoacan, Guerrero, San Luis Potosi, Hidalgo, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, and Oaxaca, destroying 50,168 opium plantations and 49,296 marijuana plantations. The Army deployed 46 helicopters, 20 small aircraft, and 5 transport planes in these operations, and a declassified CIA document admitted that there were some isolated cases of corruption and inadmissable behavior, but justified them as fighting the growth of the drug market in the USA, which, by 1985, had reached 25 million people. From 1976 to 1985, 300 Mexican Army soldiers and 18 Federal Police were killed. In 1982, 7,437 people were prosecuted for drug trafficking, followed by 10,694 in 1983 and 12,127 in 1984; more than half of them were tried and more than 80% were sentenced to average prison terms of 14 years.