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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is The Guardian.
Today, the cartels cashing in on the World Cup. In just a few days time, football fans from across the world will celebrate the kickoff of the World Cup 2026. Jointly hosted this time around by the US, Canada and Mexico, the tournament will open in Mexico City and then the world's biggest sporting event will go on to the city of Guadalajara.
Guadalajara is not a new World Cup city. It has a legendary World Cup past, you know, in 1970 and again in 1986, the World Cup played in Guadalajara became almost mythical. Pelé's Brazil played there in 1970. Then Zico and Socrates played there in 1986.
Chapter 2: What are the risks for fans attending the World Cup in Guadalajara?
There is a real football memory there, a love affair between Guadalajara and football in general. And I expect it to be a wonderful party. It's going to be festive in so many ways. But of course, 2026 is different.
Different because Guadalajara also happens to be the capital of a state, Jalisco, which has now become the epicenter of one of the most notorious criminal outfits in Mexican history.
Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación has become the most aggressive and successful criminal organization in modern Mexican history. It has militarized more aggressively and more openly than almost any cartel before it, and it has expanded operations all across the globe.
Mexico's president has announced there will be a huge security presence during the tournament because she knows just one bad incident could have major consequences.
You have a government in Washington that is really just waiting for the right moment and the right excuse to go into Mexico and take unilateral military actions. The tournament arrives in the most difficult time in modern Mexican history. Will tourists face spectacular violence? I don't think so. But the potential for, with so many people coming, something going wrong is there.
For the sake of my country and its people, I just hope nothing like that happens.
From The Guardian, I'm Annie Kelly. Today in Focus, why the World Cup could bring danger as well as delight to Mexico. Leon Crassé, you're a journalist native to Mexico and your work often focuses on international politics, particularly in the US and Latin America, but you have many strings to your bow. You are a contributor to the New Yorker and the Washington Post's global opinion section.
You write a weekly column for Mexico's El Universal, but you also started out your career as a sports reporter. So I just wanted to ask you,
how do you feel that your country is going to be hosting the world cup this year is this a big moment for you personally an incredibly big moment i met my wife 20 years ago after the first match mexico played in 2006 world cup i was working for the mexican soccer federation and she was there as a fan and they've got two they're looking for more to really
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Chapter 3: How has the history of football in Guadalajara shaped its current significance?
in Azteca Stadium on July 5th, round of 16, under the Mexico City sun, that would be full circle for me.
It's definitely really exciting. But, Leon, there are some trepidations as well, aren't there? Because among the inaugural matches, there will be one in Guadalajara. It's the capital of Jalisco, which is also home to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which is this infamous criminal group that has been in the news a lot recently.
So can you tell me a bit about the cartel and how it compares to other criminal syndicates in Mexico?
Yes, and this is the Mexican government's main concern. It sits there in the back of our minds as the tournament begins. The Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, or CJNG as it's known, has become probably Mexico's most successful, violent, sinister criminal organization. It has militarized more aggressively and more openly than almost any cartel before it.
This was a cartel that shot down an army helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and using high-caliber Barrett 50 rifles. It deploys makeshift landmines. They... have a cruel and brutal human trafficking network, and they are very powerful in the illicit trade of fentanyl.
As you know, the White House has now focused very intensely on security in Mexico, and the Carta de Jalisco Nueva Generación is probably the main reason for that.
So Jalisco is due to host, I think, four games in the next couple of weeks. How dangerous are the cartels for everyday people there?
They are very dangerous. They have an army at their disposal. They have armored vehicles. They were using drones before they became part of modern warfare in Ukraine and elsewhere. They have a constant stream of high caliber weapons coming from the United States. Is it an everyday concern for everyday Mexicans?
I think I would be more cautious there because we are not talking about a terrorist organization with political aims. We're talking about an illicit corporate conglomerate that is focused on doing business.
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Chapter 4: What makes the Jalisco New Generation Cartel a major concern during the World Cup?
These people in Mexico don't want to be seen. They live very isolated lives. So there were a million stories surrounding him to do with his cruelty, his efficiency, and his intelligence as a criminal mastermind. It is not a coincidence that he led this cartel and took it to unprecedented heights
His death was extraordinary, wasn't it? I think Trump even took credit for his eventual capture.
For years, large swaths of territory in our region, including large parts of Mexico, really large parts of Mexico, have been controlled by murderous drug cartels. We've also taken down one of the most sinister cartel kingpins of all. You saw that yesterday.
Can you just tell us a bit about how that played out?
This happened in Tapalpa, Jalisco. It was a scene from a movie. helicopters overhead, gunfire in the mountains, the Mexican state finally closing in on a man who had seemed untouchable for so many years. And it was not a quiet arrest. Both his security forces, heavily armed, and the Mexican military clashed.
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Chapter 5: What security measures are being implemented for the World Cup in Mexico?
And in the end, he got severely injured. And this is the official version of events. And he, mind you, died en route to the hospital. Almost 30 members of the Mexican armed forces died that day. The day after that, the Secretary of Defense in Mexico joined President Sheinbaum in her daily morning press conference and began crying.
It was the most violent day for Mexican security forces since the Mexican Revolution 100 years ago.
The scenes that happened in the wake of his death was also an expression of the violence they could unleash when necessary. Could you tell us a bit about what happened after he died?
We saw burning vehicles, airports in panic. Foreign embassies telling their citizens to shelter in place.
Right now, we are unaware of any reports of any Americans being hurt, kidnapped or killed. And the Mexican drug cartels know not to lay a finger on a single American or they will pay severe consequences under this president.
And all of that was not random chaos, you know. It was a demonstration of reach. It was the cartel saying, you may have killed the boss, but the structure remains and it can paralyze part of the country when it chooses.
Four high-level football matches have been postponed after the Mexican army killed the leader of a powerful drug cartel in a town close to the FIFA World Cup 2026 host city of...
The cartels go about their business, but if the state disrupts that business, they can certainly strike back.
And let's put this into the context of the World Cup. This is violence that we saw televised across the world very recently. We've now got the World Cup kicking off in Mexico in two days' time. It could be seen as kind of crazy that on the opening days of the World Cup, there's going to be a match in Guadalajara, the scene of some of this violence only a few months ago.
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