The federal government has added seven new entities—five drug cartels and two street gangs—to its list of terrorist organizations as it ramps up its law enforcement posture in response to the U.S. tariff threat.
The United States also designated the same groups as foreign terrorist organizations last week.
The newly listed entities do not fit neatly beside other listed terrorist groups like al-Qaeda or ISIS, which have been known to launch attacks against civilian and government targets for religious and political motives.
These groups have, however, been using extreme violence as they battle for territory and against state forces, doing the most damage in their home countries.
They also have a presence in Canada, where they cooperate with local organized crime groups in illicit activities, including money laundering.
“I can confirm that we do have intelligence that cartels, different cartels, operate in Canada,” RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme said on Feb. 20 during the terrorist listing announcement.
“There’s also strong intelligence that Canadians have actually moved to Mexico and South America to facilitate the transport of certain commodities into Canada,” he added.
Duheme said the intelligence picture for the listed street gangs is “very similar.”
Criminal Intelligence Service Canada said in its 2024 public report that members of Canada-based organized crime groups travel mostly to Mexico, and to a lesser extent to Colombia, to coordinate with Mexican cartels.
“In addition to drugs, the role of Latin-American cartel-linked criminal organizations in Canada includes an increasing amount of money laundering, as well as human smuggling, to enable multiple avenues for illicit financial gain,” the report says.
Mexican Cartels
Five Mexican drug cartels were listed as terrorist entities by Ottawa. As a collective phenomenon, they require little introduction, being well-known for wreaking havoc in Mexico with great brutality in turf wars and attacks on state institutions, and as the main conduit for cocaine from South America and synthetic drugs they manufacture from precursors obtained from China.
One of the better known and oldest groups is the Sinaloa Cartel. Its former leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán was caught in Mexico and later extradited to the United States, where he was sentenced to life in prison in 2019.
Public Safety Canada says Sinaloa operates in at least 47 countries worldwide, including in Canada. The cartel has links to organizations that have long been listed as terrorist entities, including the narco-guerilla FARC in Colombia and Lebanese Hezbollah. It has employed tactics such as using armed drones for deadly aerial attacks.
“Sinaloa is one of the oldest criminal organizations in Mexico, and one of the most violent and prolific drug trafficking organizations in the world,” says Public Safety.
The Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación – CJNG) uses similar drone tactics and has also links to FARC. The cartel’s “use of armed drones and other tactics, such as public executions and kidnappings, against communities go beyond intimidation, as they seek to instill terror and depopulate communities to facilitate their takeover of territories and routes,” Public Safety says.
This cartel is linked to a historic drug bust announced by Toronto police in late January. Police seized 835 kg of cocaine for a street value of over $83 million. Six individuals were arrested, including two Mexican nationals.
A number of smaller cartels joined forces to form Cárteles Unidos (United Cartels), another newly listed terrorist group, as a means to fight a turf war against against the CJNG. The Mexican military said in December that two of its soldiers were killed by a Carteles Unidos explosive device meant for the CJNG.
The other listed cartels are Cártel del Golfo (CDG) and La Familia Michoacana. CDG has an important presence in northern Mexico where it runs drugs and weapons trafficking.
A faction of CDG kidnapped four U.S. citizens in 2023 who had crossed over to Mexico for a medical procedure. Two of them were killed.
La Familia Michoacana, as its name implies, has its home base in the state of Michoacan, which borders the Pacific Ocean and is a short distance from Mexico City. Michoacan also borders the state of Jalisco, a cartel hotbed. Various sources suggest the group lost influence after splintering. The factions Los Caballeros Templarios (Knights Templar) and La Nueva Familia Michoacana also appear in Public Safety’s terrorist listing.
The United States also added the Cártel del Noreste (formerly Los Zetas) to its list of terrorist entities.
Canada’s decision to list the crime groups as terrorist was announced on Feb. 3, after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and U.S. President Donald Trump held a second call that day. The broad tariffs that the White House had announced were put on pause by Trump for 30 days to assess Canada’s border measures, including a promise to list cartels as terrorist entities.
Street Gangs
Two groups not defined as cartels and originating outside Mexico were also listed as terrorist entities.
Tren de Aragua (TdA) originated as a prison gang in the state of Aragua, Venezuela. It has been expanding its activities in the Western Hemisphere in recent years. TdA became more widely known in the United States in recent months after it overran an apartment complex in Colorado, and Trump used the case to highlight the problem of crime linked to illegal immigration.
A video captured by security camera footage that went viral showed alleged armed members of the gang in the apartment building going door to door.
Trump’s border czar Tom Homan was present at the launch of a substantive law enforcement operation earlier this month in Colorado targeting over 100 members of Tren de Aragua. The operation had a limited impact, however, with Homan afterward blaming media leaks for tipping off the gang members.
Days earlier, U.S. authorities conducted a raid at a separate Colorado location, a makeshift nightclub connected to TdA. Immigration and Customs Enforcement determined that at least 41 individuals at the location were in the United States illegally. The Drug Enforcement Administration said it seized drugs, several weapons, and a large amount of U.S. currency.
Along with involvement in typical criminal activities such as drug trafficking, U.S. authorities say TdA is particularly involved in human smuggling and other illicit acts that prey on desperate migrants.
On the use of violence, Public Safety Canada says the gang conducts kidnappings, contract killings, and hostage taking. The department also says TdA has used car bombs and explosives in its attacks, and points to the alleged shooting of NYPD officers in June 2024 by its members.
MS-13
Mara Salvatrucha, also known as MS-13, was formed by Salvadoran immigrants to the United States who were fleeing the civil war in their home country. The gang has had a strong presence in El Salvador, albeit a diminishing one in recent years under the tenure of President Nayib Bukele. Following a gang massacre causing 87 deaths in 2022, Bukele declared a state of emergency that was used for a major crackdown against MS-13 and other gangs.
Public Safety Canada says MS-13 evolved from a street gang into a “criminal-economic-military-political power.” It says the group has engaged in widespread targeted killings of law enforcement and state officials and has established military-style training camp for its members.
There have been reported activities of MS-13 in Canada, including a drive-by shooting north of Toronto in 2023, for which three men were charged.
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