These are the 7 emerging cartels Mexico just recognized

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Soldiers stand guard next to packages of marijuana at the 28th Infantry Battalion in Tijuana, Mexico June 13.
Mexico's Attorney General's Office (PGR) has identified seven new criminal organizations that it has identified as cartels for their range of criminal exploits.

The new organizations are smaller, less entrenched, and are less powerful than the older generation of Mexican cartels, which were massive criminal enterprises.

Instead the new cartels, Insight Crime notes, have largely spawned from mid-ranking members of former Mexican cartels, such as the Zetas.

Mexico is currently carrying out a "kingpin strategy" against criminal organizations in the country.

The strategy has largely been successful in apprehending the country's top cartel members. However, it has done little to alleviate the underlying conditions which spawned the cartels. As such, the kingpin strategy has done little other than cause the previous Mexican cartels to implode leading to the creation of multiple new criminal organizations.

We have profiled the seven latest cartels to enter the Mexican criminal scene below.

Federal police escort who they identify as Servando "La Tuta" Gomez, leader of the Knights Templar cartel, as he sits inside a helicopter at a federal hanger in Mexico City, February 27.
Eduardo Verdugo/AP

The State Cartel operates primarily in the State Mexico, in the center of the country. It draws its income from diverse sources, including charging other organizations for the transport of drugs through its territory, local drug dealing, and kidnapping, the PGR notes.

The State first formed as a faction within the now defunct Familia Michoacana cartel, Insight Crime notes.

The fall of the Familia previously gave rise to a number of gangs, including the Knights Templar cartel.

Federal policemen in Apatzingan look at seized barrels they suspect contain the ingredients to make crystal methamphetamines.
Thomson Reuters

The Precursor Chemical Cartel, as its name implies, deals largely with the sourcing and distribution of the precursor chemicals needed for large-scale drug production, PGR writes.

This group's specialization in the dealing of only precursor chemicals is illustrative of the balkanization of the cartels.

Whereas the larger cartels in Mexico would have previously attempted to control all facets of drug production, the implosion of the cartels has allowed the Precursor Chemical Cartel to flourish.

Soldiers escort five alleged members of the Zetas drug gang during their presentation to the press in Mexico City, June 9, 2011.
Alexandre Meneghini/AP

The Mazatlecos Cartel, Insight Crime notes, was first formed by the crippled Beltran Leyva Organization and the Zetas Cartel.

The Mazatlecos was largely a local gang in the Mexican state of Sinaloa, started specifically to disrupt the Sinaloa cartel's operations in their home state.

The Mazatlecos has since grown in power. It's now involved in drug dealing, kidnapping, and extortion. The group also makes use of training camps to prepare its members, and it has large-scale associations with street gangs throughout its areas of operation.

The Mexican army presents confiscated guns, drugs, and money from Mexico's notorious Sinaloa Cartel.

The Chapo Isidro Cartel, the PGR notes, is responsible for large-scale drug distribution networks. The cartel specializes in methamphetamines, heroin, and marijuana.

The cartel aims to deal drugs largely in the US, but its larger international operations have led to the cartel's leader being wanted by the US and the EU for extradition.

Weapons are displayed on the floor before being presented to a judge as evidence during a trial against nine alleged members of the Zetas drug cartel.
Jorge Lopez/REUTERS

The Office Cartel is comprised of defected members from the armed portions of the Beltran Leyva Organization, Zetas, and Sinaloa Cartel.

The group is known for its extremely violent tactics, the PGR notes, including kidnapping and murders that are intended to scare the local population into compliance.

A police officer stands guard at an entrance to a ranch where a firefight took place May 22 in Tanhuato, Michoacan. Government security forces killed 42 suspected drug-cartel henchmen and suffered one fatality in a firefight in western Mexico, an official said, one of the bloodiest shootouts in a decade of gang violence racking the country.
Reuters/Henry Romero

The New Southern People Cartel is one of the most operationally diverse cartels to have formed.

Based throughout large portions of southeast Mexico, the PGR notes that the group is involved in drug dealing, kidnapping, extortion, and the theft and sale of oil.

Additionally, Insight Crime notes that the cartel also raises funds by charging other gangs to move supplies through its territory.

A private jet.

The PGR admits that it has little information about the Airport Cartel, but the group is thought to be spread across Mexico and is the most technically proficient at smuggling drugs through aerial operations.

Insight Crime notes that the cartel likely uses commercial airports and private airstrips to smuggle drugs throughout the country and to an international audience.

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