 The state of Veracruz used to be controlled by the Gulf Cartel before business was handed over to Los Zetas , their former allies , when they went to war across northeastern Mexico in early 2010 . Since 2011 , much of the drug @-@ related violence is a result of the turf wars between Los Zetas and the Sinaloa Cartel , a drug trafficking organization based in western Mexico and headed by Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán , Mexico 's most @-@ wanted drug lord . These criminal groups are fighting for Veracruz because of its lucrative smuggling routes for contraband , drug trafficking , and illegal migrants heading to the United States . It has one of Mexico 's busiest ports , and officials say that there is no way they can inspect all of the containers that come in by ship . Corruption is also widespread in Veracruz ; investigators have been slow and reluctant to link the Martínez Pérez murder to organized crime . According to the Committee to Protect Journalists , Veracruz is by " general consensus one of the most politically corrupt [ states in Mexico ] " . Mexico was ruled by the Institutional Revolutionary Party ( PRI ) for 71 years until it lost the presidential seat to the conservative National Action Party ( PAN ) in 2000 . The PRI has long been criticized for being corrupt and allowing the drug trafficking organizations in the country to operate freely if they maintained relative peace . Although the PRI lost the national presidency in 2000 , some states remained under the rule of PRI politicians . " Democratic transition never quite reached Veracruz , " a state of 8 million people . PRI governors in Veracruz continued to rule with the state with tactics largely abandoned by the PRI at a national level . 
