The World Cup has kicked off with three red cards and a win for co-hosts Mexico, but for Héctor Flores the tournament brings only anguish. His son Daniel, 19, was snatched from his apartment in Guadalajara in May 2021 by men linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). Five years on, Daniel is still missing – held prisoner at a cartel safe house, forced to work for Mexico’s most violent drug gang. “All I can do is hope that he comes back to me one day,” Héctor says, dabbing his eyes. “The pain is tremendous.”
Daniel’s story is darkly familiar in a country where around a third of territory is ruled by cartels and more than 130,000 people are missing. Yet Guadalajara, capital of Jalisco state, is now welcoming thousands of football fans to its gleaming Akron Stadium, which is hosting World Cup matches. The threat of cartel violence has thrown security plans into doubt, even as President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government faces pressure from Donald Trump to ‘go after’ the gangs.
“As World Cup begins, cartel violence in Guadalajara overshadows games; father of kidnapped teen speaks of ongoing pain.”
Trump is set not to attend America’s opening game against Paraguay, and the tournament has been dogged by controversies before a ball was kicked: strict border controls, eye-watering ticket prices, and the prospect of two countries at war playing each other. Now, cracks are emerging in Sheinbaum’s carefully tended relationship with Trump – over trade, cartels and a brewing extradition standoff.
The CJNG, which emerged in 2010 after the Milenio gang broke up, now operates in some 40 countries, pulling in billions from trafficking fentanyl, meth and cocaine to the US. It is infamous for brazen attacks on government officials. Its leader, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as ‘El Mencho’, remained at large for years, a deep embarrassment for Sheinbaum. Trump ominously warned he would put US boots on the ground if Mexico did not act.
Things came to a head in February, when Mexican special forces swooped on El Mencho at a remote mountain property near Tapalpa, about 100 miles southwest of Guadalajara. He was fatally wounded in a shootout, officials say. But the scourge of the cartels lingers – and for Héctor Flores, the pain of a missing son shows no sign of ending.