Sinaloa Cartel Informant Says Trump's Fentanyl Crackdown Is Driving Some Traffickers Away from the Drug

President Donald Trump's tariff threats over drug trafficking and illegal immigration have unsettled economists and trade experts, but they have also alarmed those whose illicit enterprises face disruption—not from tariffs, but from intensified crackdowns: drug cartels.

Pablo (a pseudonym), a sicario or hitman for the Sinaloa Cartel, sat down for an interview with Canadian journalists from Le Journal de Montréal. The reporters, investigating the cartel's growing influence in Quebec, visited Culiacan—the epicenter of an ongoing turf war between the Chapitos and Los Mayos factions.

While Pablo did not disclose his allegiance to either faction, he admitted that the Trump administration's aggressive stance on fentanyl trafficking has instilled a sense of "fear" among traffickers handling the deadly opioid. According to Pablo, many cartel members are now opting out of producing or trafficking fentanyl due to the heightened risk.

"The cartel is afraid because the crackdown on drugs is coming from the United States," Pablo said. Yet, he acknowledged that the immense profits in fentanyl trafficking continue to lure many within the organization.

Pablo also exposed the existence of clandestine fentanyl laboratories equipped with machines capable of producing between 50,000 and 100,000 pills every two hours, using precursor chemicals sourced from China.

Notably, Pablo displayed no such fear of the Mexican government, even portraying the cartel's reach as more formidable: "You can hide from the [Mexican] authorities, but not from the cartel. Wherever you are, we will find you."

In January, The New York Times published an investigative report on fentanyl production in clandestine Mexican laboratories, a revelation that rattled the Mexican government, reaching even President Claudia Sheinbaum. Sheinbaum dismissed the report as inaccurate but has maintained a commitment to curbing drug trafficking into the United States. However, she consistently emphasizes that fentanyl's chemical precursors originate from China, not Mexico.