The Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) has allegedly taken control of several mercury mines in the Sierra Gorda region of Querétaro to illegally extract and export it to South America, the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) charged.
In a report titled “Traffickers Leave No Stone Unturned,” the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) warned that fortifications have been erected around the Cristo Vive, La Fe, La Peña, El Mono, and La Perla mines to monitor and control access.
“Miners from another community explained in detail that the mines around La Plazuela are now controlled by the extremely violent Jalisco New Generation Cartel, a Mexican organized crime organization, and that production levels have skyrocketed to near-industrial levels,” it noted.
In addition to the CJNG, the report identified mining entrepreneur Juan José Zamorano Dávila as one of the main mercury traffickers.
“Zamorano’s brother, identified as ‘Joel,’ was presented as an accomplice in the operation. Zamorano’s current partner, Alejandra Pulido Briseño, of the National Action Party, has worked for the governments of Querétaro and Puebla,” it noted.
Mercury, the NGO explained in the report, is used for gold extraction, so the chemical extracted in Querétaro is illegally exported to Colombia and Peru, where artisanal gold producers use it to obtain the precious metal.
The increase in the price of gold, it explained, has in turn led to increased activity in mercury extraction and increased interest from criminal groups in entering the business.
“In recent months, gates, road checkpoints, observation towers equipped with cameras, and barbed wire fences have appeared, and were inaugurated in December 2023.
“While continuing to investigate the new infrastructure, investigators received a clear threat: a throat-slitting gesture accompanied by the words ‘go away’ from one of the individuals stationed at the gate,” he said.
To circumvent Colombia’s and Peru’s ban on mercury imports and Mexico’s export controls, he noted, traffickers have exported falsely declared bags of mercury-rich gravel, rather than hidden containers containing purified liquid mercury, which is how mercury has reportedly been smuggled through Latin America over the past 10 years.
“According to the EIA’s findings, the traffickers exposed in this report are responsible for the largest illegal flows of mercury ever documented, amounting, according to conservative estimates, to 200 tons of mercury smuggled from the mercury mines in Mexico (Querétaro state) to gold mines in Bolivia, Colombia and Peru between April 2019 and June 2025. Demand for mercury from gold miners has driven the sophisticated operation and made it profitable,” he said.
Source: reforma
