The Cartel Illusion: Why Mexico’s Drug Lords Don’t Exist the Way You Think

The myth of the “Mexican drug cartel” is one of the greatest media fabrications of the modern age.

According to Mexican scholar Osvaldo Zavala, author of “Drug Cartels Do Not Exist,” what we’ve been told through shows like Narcos and Sicario is a deliberate distortion — a Hollywood narrative built to hide the deeper machinery of power.

In reality, the so-called “cartels” are not unified organizations at all. They are markets — decentralized, fluid, and driven by the U.S. demand for drugs. Behind the headlines and the hitmen, the real architects are the military, police, politicians, bankers, and investors who use narcotrafficking as a joint venture of control and profit.

This video breaks down:
• The illusion of cartel hierarchy — how “El Chapo” was just a face, not the system.
• Why no assets were ever seized from him despite his supposed billions.
• How the Mexican state and military profit from narcotrafficking networks.
• Why the U.S. demand is the real engine of the trade.
• The shocking truth: the “cartel” story was designed to protect the real players.

💊 The drug war isn’t a war on drugs. It’s a business model — and we’ve all been sold the script.