Papers by Daniel Weisz Argomedo
Journal of Strategic Security, Sep 30, 2023
Journal of Strategic Security, Sep 30, 2023
Modern urban siege is a metaphor for evolved urban campaigns. The template for such attacks draws... more Modern urban siege is a metaphor for evolved urban campaigns. The template for such attacks draws from the tactics seen in the 26/11 Mumbai attack in 2008, and continued with the 2013 Westgate Mall attack in Kenya, the January 2015 Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher attacks in Paris and the November 2015 attacks against the Stade de France and Bataclan. These virtual sieges employ swarming tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) to provide a template for urban strife and insecurity. This article provides an overview of terrorist swarming tactics, expanding the aperture to review the use of similar TTPs by criminal gangs in Brazil in the Novo Cagngaço style high intensity robberies and raids. The article will then review the October 2019 Battle of Culiacán or Culiacanazo, where elements of the Cártel de Sinaloa (CDS) employed urban siege TTPs to counter the arrest of cartel leaders by state security forces. The second incident occurred in January 2023 when the CDS again employed swarming TTPs in an unsuccessful attempt to thwart the arrest of Ovidio Guzmán.
Journal of Strategic Security, 2023
Introductory article to the Special Issue on Urban Security, co-edited by John P. Sullivan, Natha... more Introductory article to the Special Issue on Urban Security, co-edited by John P. Sullivan, Nathan P. Jones, and Daniel W. Argomedo.
Journal of Strategic Security, 2023
Modern urban siege is a metaphor for evolved urban campaigns. The template for such attacks draws... more Modern urban siege is a metaphor for evolved urban campaigns. The template for such attacks draws from the tactics seen in the 26/11 Mumbai attack in 2008, and continued with the 2013 Westgate Mall attack in Kenya, the January 2015 Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher attacks in Paris and the November 2015 attacks against the Stade de France and Bataclan. These virtual sieges employ swarming tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs) to provide a template for urban strife and insecurity. This article provides an overview of terrorist swarming tactics, expanding the aperture to review the use of similar TTPs by criminal gangs in Brazil in the Novo Cangaço style high intensity robberies and raids. The article will then review the October 2019 Battle of Culiacán or Culiacanazo, where elements of the Cártel de Sinaloa (CDS) employed urban siege TTPs to counter the arrest of cartel leaders by state security forces. The second incident occurred in January 2023 when the CDS again employed swarming TTPs in an unsuccessful attempt to thwart the arrest of Ovidio Guzmán.
Journal of Strategic Security
This article assesses Mexico’s organized crime alliance and subgroup network structures. Through ... more This article assesses Mexico’s organized crime alliance and subgroup network structures. Through social network analysis (SNA) of data from Lantia Consultores, a consulting firm in Mexico that specializes in the analysis of public policies, it demonstrates differential alliance structures within Mexico’s bipolar illicit network system. The Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación’s (CJNG) alliance structure is top-down and hierarchical, while the Sinaloa Cartel is denser, particularly in the broader Tierra Caliente region. Additionally, our analysis found a sparse overall network with many isolates (groups with no relations to other groups) and disconnected components. Further, we identified organized crime networks that might fill future power vacuums based on their network positions, following state or rival high-value targeting of major cartels. The implications of these findings are discussed, and policy recommendations are provided.
Journal of Strategic Security, 2022
This article assesses Mexico's organized crime alliance and subgroup network structures. Through ... more This article assesses Mexico's organized crime alliance and subgroup network structures. Through social network analysis (SNA) of data from Lantia Consultores, a consulting firm in Mexico that specializes in the analysis of public policies, it demonstrates differential alliance structures within Mexico's bipolar illicit network system. The Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación's (CJNG) alliance structure is top-down and hierarchical, while the Sinaloa Cartel is denser, particularly in the broader Tierra Caliente region. Additionally, our analysis found a sparse overall network with many isolates (groups with no relations to other groups) and disconnected components. Further, we identified organized crime networks that might fill future power vacuums based on their network positions, following state or rival high-value targeting of major cartels. The implications of these findings are discussed, and policy recommendations are provided.
Journal of Strategic Security
The purpose of this article is to uncover the ways in which climate change will impact indigenous... more The purpose of this article is to uncover the ways in which climate change will impact indigenous people in contested areas as is the case of the Tarahumara indigenous community in Northern Mexico. The case study takes place on a border that John Sullivan conceptualizes as a “hyperborder” due to the complexity and high level of both licit and illicit trade. Sullivan explains how this border region has been heavily contested as criminals exploit weak governance. After 9/11 the increase of security at the border led drug trafficking organizations to diversify into internal drug distribution which required control over micro-territories. As the drug war extended cartel’s became interested in control over rural areas and specifically those inhabited by indigenous as they are ideal for the cultivation of drugs and serve as strategic corridors for trafficking illegal commodities. The high levels of competition around this “hyperborder” creates a dangerous situation as both criminal groups...
Research Notes by Daniel Weisz Argomedo
Small Wars Journal, Jan 17, 2023
On Thursday, 5 January 2023, Mexican security forces arrested Ovidio Guzmán López, a key member o... more On Thursday, 5 January 2023, Mexican security forces arrested Ovidio Guzmán López, a key member of the Los Chapitos faction of the Cártel del Pacífico, commonly known as the Cártel de Sinaloa (Sinaloa Cartel or CDS), in the Jesús María district of Culiacán, Sinaloa. He is also known by the moniker "El Raton" (The Mouse) and has a heavily armed bodyguard unit protecting him called Las Fuerzas Especiales Ratón (Mouse's Special Forces). Guzmán's arrest triggered a cartel counterattack and widespread violence throughout Culiacán and throughout parts of Sinaloa and neighboring Sonora where the cartel has a presence. Guzmán was transported to Altiplano prison (Centro Federal de Readaptación Social Número 1) in Mexico City pending prosecution.
Small Wars Journal, Dec 20, 2021
An armed cell composed of ten members using high caliber weapons and six vehicles, two of which w... more An armed cell composed of ten members using high caliber weapons and six vehicles, two of which were reported to have been set on fire as a distraction, broke into the jail (Centro de Readaptación Social de Tula-Tula Social Correctional Center or CERESO) in Tula, Hidalgo, on 1 December 2021. The cell helped nine inmates escape including the presumed leader of the Pueblos Unidos (United Towns or Villages), José Artemio Maldonado Mejía, Alias "El Michoacano," "El R" or "El Rabias." Maldonado Mejía is an alleged head of the huachicloero (petroleum theft) enterprise known as the Cártel Pueblos Unidos. Numerous media reports mention the use of car bombs or explosives during the operation.
Writings by Daniel Weisz Argomedo
Commentary no. 10.18.23, 2023
Over the course of the last year, a working group organized through the Baker Institute Center fo... more Over the course of the last year, a working group organized through the Baker Institute Center for the U.S. and Mexico has collaborated to write several papers analyzing the alliance structure of Mexican organized crime. In this commentary, we summarize two papers published by the Baker Institute highlighting key findings and takeaways.
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Papers by Daniel Weisz Argomedo
Research Notes by Daniel Weisz Argomedo
Writings by Daniel Weisz Argomedo