Juan Nepomuceno Guerra Cárdenas (July 18, 1915 – July 12, 2001) was a
Mexican drug lord who founded and led the
Gulf Cartel for over 50 years. He is often considered the "godfather" of U.S-Mexico border cartels.
[
He began his criminal career in the 1930s by smuggling alcohol from Mexico during the Prohibition in the United States. He later diversified to other cross-border smuggling activities. He is the uncle of Juan García Ábrego, his successor in the cartel and once considered Mexico's most-wanted man.
]
Early life and career
During the 1930s he began smuggling whisky across the Mexico–United States border
The Mexico–United States border ( es, frontera Estados Unidos–México) is an international border separating Mexico and the United States, extending from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border trave ...
through south Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
. Through shrewd political connections he had fostered, Nepomuceno Guerra was able to control all the contraband moving across the Rio Grande.
In the 1970s, his nephew Juan García Abrego began utilizing those connections and developed the organization into a drug cartel primarily dedicated to the more lucrative business of smuggling cocaine
Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Ameri ...
.
According to news sources, despite allegedly founding one of the largest drug cartels in Mexico, Juan Nepomuceno Guerra never spent more than "a few hours in jail" for his crimes.
He died of respiratory disease.
Legacy
On June 18, 2015, the Governor of Tamaulipas
This is a list of governors of Tamaulipas since it became a state of Mexico in 1822, it includes the list of governors of Nuevo Santander (New Santander) the name of the Spanish province in northeast New Spain before the Mexican War of Independen ...
Egidio Torre Cantú inaugurated a street under his name, "Juan N. Guerra", in Reynosa, Tamaulipas
Reynosa () is a border city in the northern part of the state of Tamaulipas, in Mexico. It is also the municipal seat of Reynosa Municipality.
The city is located on the southern bank of the Rio Grande in the international Reynosa–McAllen Met ...
. The street was inaugurated along with seven others and is located in the working-class neighborhood Reserva Territorial Campestre.
In popular culture
In '' Narcos: Mexico'', Juan Nepomuceno Guerra is played by the Mexican actor Jesus Ochoa.
See also
* Mexican Drug War
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nepomuceno Guerra, Juan
Bootleggers
Gulf Cartel members
Mexican drug traffickers
Mexican money launderers
Mexican drug war
Mexican prisoners and detainees
People from Tamaulipas
Mexican crime bosses
People from Matamoros, Tamaulipas
1915 births
2001 deaths