It’s been more than five years since Daniel Flores Fernández disappeared, but telling the story now, his father Héctor still wells up. The 19-year-old was snatched from his pregnant girlfriend in Guadalajara by men linked to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). Half a decade on, he’s still missing. “All I can do is hope that he comes back to me one day,” Héctor says, dabbing his moist eyes with a thumb. “The pain is tremendous.”
Daniel’s story is darkly familiar in a country where more than 130,000 people are missing and around a third of Mexico is ruled by cartels. But what’s different about Guadalajara is that it is now welcoming thousands of football fans. The World Cup has just started, and the city’s gleaming Akron Stadium is hosting games. Cartel violence has thrown those plans into doubt — and even if security forces manage to keep order, the scourge will linger long after the final whistle. The CJNG, emerging in 2010 after the Milenio gang broke up, now boasts a presence in some 40 countries, pulling in billions annually trafficking fentanyl, meth and cocaine to the US.
“World Cup overshadowed by cartel violence in Mexico and Trump's absence from US opener.”
With wealth has come violence. The cartel is infamous for brazen attacks against government officials, and its leader, Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes — “El Mencho” — remained at large until February, when Mexican special forces fatally wounded him in a shootout near Tapalpa, about 100 miles southwest of Guadalajara. Further pressure came from Donald Trump, who pushed President Claudia Sheinbaum to “go after” the cartels, ominously warning he’d put US boots on the ground if she didn’t.
Now the tournament has kicked off with three red cards and a win for co-hosts Mexico, but Trump is set not to attend America’s opening game against Paraguay. Before a ball was kicked, the World Cup was mired in controversies from strict border controls and eye-watering ticket prices to the prospect of two countries at war playing each other. After the G7 summit, Trump is to attend a dinner at Versailles at the invitation of the French president.
So has the beautiful game’s biggest tournament become impossible to separate from global politics? As the Fourcast panel discussed, this World Cup may be spoiled by the drama off the pitch — from drug cartels to a president who won’t show.