Mexico drug cartel violence is casting a long shadow over the 2026 World Cup. Guadalajara, one of the tournament’s host cities, sits at the heart of a crisis that has claimed tens of thousands of lives. More than 130,000 people remain missing across the country. The football has started, but the danger has not stopped.

A City Under the Shadow of Cartel Violence

Guadalajara is the capital of Jalisco state in western Mexico and home to the gleaming Akron Stadium, where a number of World Cup matches are now underway. Football fans have arrived in their thousands. Yet a parallel reality persists just beyond the stadium walls. Around a third of Mexico sits under the effective control of criminal organisations, and Guadalajara has long served as the stronghold of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, known as the CJNG, one of the most ruthless drug trafficking networks in the world.

The CJNG emerged in 2010 following the collapse of the Milenio gang. It now operates in some 40 countries and generates billions of dollars each year by trafficking fentanyl, methamphetamine, and cocaine into the United States. Jalisco’s geography sits at the centre of this operation. Chemical precursors arrive through ports such as Manzanillo in neighbouring Colima state, where operators then process and move them north across the border. Mexico drug cartel networks like the CJNG have effectively turned Jalisco into the engine room of the fentanyl trade.

Mexico Drug Cartel Violence and the Human Toll

The scale of Jalisco cartel violence in and around Guadalajara is staggering. Some 16,000 people have officially disappeared across the state alone. Furthermore, the metropolitan area records approximately 1,500 murders per year. Extortion is also endemic. National surveys point to hundreds of thousands of extortion attempts against Mexican businesses annually. From small tortillerías to car washes, protection payments have become simply another cost of doing business. Those who refuse to pay face brutal consequences.

The cartel also raises revenue through kidnapping. Victims are forced to serve as lookouts, move narcotics, or even carry out killings on behalf of the gang. Héctor Flores Fernández knows this reality far too well. His son Daniel was just 19 when armed men linked to the CJNG stormed his Guadalajara apartment in May 2021 and abducted him. His girlfriend had a baby on the way at the time. More than five years on, Daniel has not come home. Héctor has since learnt that his son is believed to be held at a CJNG safe house somewhere in the city, forced to work for the gang against his will. “All I can do is hope that he comes back to me one day,” Héctor says. “The pain is tremendous.”

Cartel Reprisals and the World Cup Security Challenge

The Mexican government has not been passive in the face of Jalisco cartel violence. In February this year, special forces killed CJNG leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho, during a raid near the town of Tapalpa, around 100 miles from Guadalajara. The operation relied on United States intelligence. However, within days, cartel members retaliated. Gunmen torched vehicles and blocked roads across Jalisco, including at the coastal resort of Puerto Vallarta. Twenty-five National Guards died in the state alone. Violence also erupted within ten miles of the Akron Stadium itself.

With a global audience now in the city, President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government sought to project calm, claiming there was no risk to visiting supporters. Security around the stadium is formidable. Army pickup trucks line the perimeter, officers manning heavy weapons from the back. Indeed, observers on the ground counted more than 100 military and special forces vehicles deployed around the Akron alone. FIFA has moreover expressed confidence in the security arrangements of the three co-host nations.

Nevertheless, critics remain unconvinced. The United States State Department has advised its citizens to reconsider travel to Jalisco. Violence has continued regardless. Just this week, armed men on a motorbike shot and killed a man near the city centre. Héctor Flores also points to a deeper structural problem. Local officials are widely believed to sit on the cartel payroll. Indeed, a tribunal confirmed in June 2025 that members of Jalisco’s state prosecutor’s office were present the very day Daniel was taken. Local police have still not acted.

Mass Graves Unearthed Near the Akron Stadium

What has come to light during the World Cup construction boom is deeply troubling. As authorities invested in roads and new apartment blocks around the stadium, construction workers repeatedly stumbled upon mass graves. According to activists, some 22 graves have surfaced in recent years near the Akron Stadium alone. The most disturbing discovery came in February 2024, when workers at a site called Las Agujas, on the outskirts of Guadalajara, uncovered around 260 bodies. Many of the remains were only partial.

A monument near the city centre, previously known as the Monument to Boy Heroes, has since become the Roundabout of the Disappeared ahead of the tournament. Families have covered it with photographs and pleas for help in locating missing loved ones.

Héctor Flores co-founded a group called Luz de Esperanza, or Light of Hope, to campaign on behalf of these families. The group lobbies the state to invest more in identifying human remains. Additionally, activists use social media and printed flyers to keep public attention on the disappeared. “In Mexico,” Héctor says, “you don’t know when organised crime starts and the prosecutor’s office begins.”

Mexico Drug Cartel Power and Its Global Roots

Mexico drug cartel networks do not exist in isolation. Organisations like the CJNG sustain themselves through demand for illegal drugs in the United States and through a steady flow of weapons travelling south across the border. Cartels deploy military-grade firearms, and bullet casings recovered in Jalisco trace back to American manufacturers, including the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Missouri, a facility the US federal government owns. Once such ammunition enters the open market, it reaches criminal hands with ease.

US pressure on Mexico has consequently shaped the entire World Cup build-up. The Trump administration pushed Sheinbaum to confront Jalisco cartel violence head-on, warning of potential US military involvement if she failed to act. Subsequently, the head of the US Drug Enforcement Agency claimed Mexican officials had aligned themselves with drug traffickers for years.

Whether Mexico drug cartel networks will remain subdued throughout the tournament is far from certain. With El Mencho gone, a succession struggle within the CJNG could trigger fresh violence at any moment. For families like that of Héctor Flores, the World Cup is ultimately just a backdrop. The crisis has never paused. It is unlikely to pause now, cameras or no cameras.

Source: dbrecoveryresources