A Mexican cartel is a criminal organization composed of independent drug lords who collude with each other to improve their profits and dominate the drug trade. Mexican cartels are the bigger suppliers of illegal drugs into the United States, moving heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl. The most influential cartels in Mexico, according to the DEA, are the Sinaloa-Beltran, Juarez-Linea, Jalisco, Golfo-Noreste-Zetas, La Familia, and Rojos-Guerreros. These cartels make billions of dollars smuggling drugs and illicit goods across the border into the United States, and many of their leaders are wanted across the border. Mexican authorities have been waging a deadly battle against drug cartels for more than a decade, but with limited success. Thousands of Mexicans die in the conflict every year, and the country has seen more than 360,000 homicides since 2006. Mexican cartels use a portion of their vast profits to pay off judges, officers, and politicians, and they also coerce officials into cooperating. Assassinations of journalists and public servants by the cartels are relatively common, and dozens of politicians were killed ahead of the countrys midterm elections in 2021, with many of the deaths attributed to the cartels.