The Sinaloa Cartel is an international Mexican drug trafficking syndicate which was established by Joaquin Guzman Loera, Hector Luis Palma Salazar, Ismael Zambada Garcia, and Manuel Salcido Uzeta in the 1980s. Based in the city of Culiacan in the state of Sinaloa on the western coast of Mexico and in the northern parts of the country, it was founded in the aftermath of the Guadalajara Cartel's demise. Under Guzman's leadership, Sinaloa went to war with the Tijuana Cartel from 1989 to 2002, taking over much of the city; it also took over Ciudad Juarez from the Juarez Cartel and went to war with the Gulf Cartel, its Los Zetas armed wing, and its own Beltran Leyva Cartel breakaway faction during the 2000s. The United States' intelligence community deemed the Sinaloa Cartel to be the most powerful and dangerous drug cartel in the world due to its vast army of hitmen and its deep involvement in police, political and military corruption, and the Sinaloa Cartel became a major producer of opium and marijuana in the states of Sinaloa, Durango, and Chihuahua. From 1990 to 2008, the group sent 200 tons of cocaine and several tons of heroin into the USA, and it was the primary importer of drugs into the USA by 2015. However, El Chapo was captured in 2016, and the organization was torn apart by infighting between El Chapo and Zambada Garcia's families. By 2020, it was still the strongest cartel in Mexico, although the Jalisco New Generation Cartel became a close contender.
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