OREANDA-NEWS. After the head of Colombia's largest drug cartel has been arrested, a new criminal boss may appear, even more influential. This course of events was suggested by Dmitry Yeleseenko, senior researcher at the Center for Political Studies of the Institute of Latin America of the Russian Academy of Sciences, reports Russian media Lenta.

«In the current conditions, when the war of Sinaloa and Jalisco has weakened the control of Mexicans over Colombian cartels, the appearance of such a leader is becoming more likely than before», Yeleseenko said.

He added that Mexican cartels gained influence after Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar died in 1993. In addition, according to Eliseenko, the largest cartel in Latin America until 2021, Sinaloa, appeared after the destruction of several major drug lords in Mexico in the 2000s. He called the power vacuum and loss of control an excellent ground for the rise of criminal barons.