https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smuggling_of_firearms_into_Mexico

Weapons:
FN FAL
M14
AR-15 (HAT/Grenadier)
Ruger Model 77 (Scout)
AR-15 Pistol (LAT/Crewman/Pilot)
Uzi (Raider)
MAC-10 (Scout)
TEC-9
Glock 17
FN Five-seveN
M60 (MG)
M20A1B1 or RPG7 (LAT/HAT)
TM62 (Sapper/Recon)
Gardening Shovel
M2 Browning
TOW Missile
M29 Mortar
Minigun (Really! This actually happened!)

Vehicles:
Harley-Davidson Motorcycle
Chevrolet or Ford Technical
Narco Tank (armored technical)
M939 Truck (logi)
Commercial model Medium Truck (logi)
Humvee (armored car)
DN-V Toro (Armored car, 20mm cannon)
M113 (APC)
AMX-13 Light Tank (Light Recon)
AMX-VCI (Very light tracked IFV)
Robinson R-22 (Light heli, 2 seats, 1 ticket)
Sikorsky S-70 (UH-60 Black Hawk) (armed with M60)

Specialists are a major part of this faction. This faction also gets 1 additional field dressing for all kits and those field dressings cost only 3 ammo per magazine.

Smuggler (Medic + Rifleman, x2 per team, uses fire support role)
Primary choices:
AR-15 Patrol Rifle (Semi-automatic only version of M16 rifle, and lacks optics)
M2 Carbine (Primary weapon, battle rifle recoil + AK-74 firepower, very hard to use)
Uzi (Alternative, pistol caliber weapon with extremely low recoil and extremely fast reload speed)
Secondary:
FN Five-seveN
Machete
Explosive:
1x M72 LAW (AT)
Smokescreen:
2x M18 Smoke Grenade
Medicine:
9x Field Dressing
Medical Kit
Gadgets:
Ammo Bag
Gardening Shovel
Binoculars

The Smuggler is an extremely powerful kit that does poorly in direct fire engagements. It provides ammo and could heal team mates, as well as deal with light vehicles from rival cartels. The rifle in his kit selection is a choice between (AR-15) low rate of fire, (Uzi) range, or (M2 Carbine) ease of use. Play cautiously and closely with your squad leader to maximize the effectiveness of this kit.

Sapper (x4 per team)
FN ParaFAL
FN Five-seveN + Machete
600g TNT 30s fuse, IED + Detonator, 1x AT Mine, 1x Mk 2 Grenade, 5x Decoy Rock
3x M18 Smoke Grenade
3x Field Dressing
Entrenching Tool + Binoculars

The Sapper has more explosives than Insurgent and Militia sappers (ie 1 extra grenade) to make up for the fact that the drug cartels lack IFVs and proper tanks. Use this explosive power to push into enemy FOBs and destroy their radios. This kit also has a proper entrenching tool to indicate that this class specializes in building FOBs as well.

Machine Gunner (x2 per team, uses fire support role)
M60
Tec-9 + Machete
2x M18 Smoke Grenade
3x Field Dressing
Gardening Shovel + Binoculars

The M60 has amazing recoil control and it's fed from massive 100 round boxes. The price of such power is that each box of ammo costs 20 ammo points, which ties for the highest ammo cost per round for a machine gunner with the L7A2 used by the British.

Heavy Anti-Tank (x2 per team, uses fire support role)
FN ParaFAL
Machete
RPG-7 - 1x Tandem, 2x HEAT, 2x Fragmentation
2x M18 Smoke
3x Field Dressing
Gardening Shovel + Binoculars

The Heavy Anti-Tank gets an additional HEAT rocket vs the Insurgents to destroy light vehicles.

Scout (x2 per team, uses fire support role)
Ruger M77 rifle
MAC-10 silent machine pistol + Machete
AT Mine + 5 decoy rocks
2x M18 Smoke Grenade
3x Field Dressing
Gardening Shovel + Binoculars + Alternative Rally Point

The Scout is extremely well-suited towards taking enemies in the back lines and is strongly encouraged to work as a second fireteam leader for taking down logistics vehicles. Their rifle however is ill-suited for direct combat as it doesn't kill enemies in one hit unless aiming for the head or upper torso, but will neutralize infantry below maximum health on the lower torso. Personally I think that this kit would be an interesting addition to the Irregular Militia faction. (With a much stronger sniper rifle like the Desert Tech SRS as their advantage over the Insurgents and Cartels) In no way is this kit meant to replace a proper marksman kit.

The Cartels are a much, much more extreme version of the Insurgents faction, very heavily focused on infantry combat and having very little direct fire vehicle support. This makes the organization of their anti-tank units extremely important to the success of the faction, because otherwise a tank or IFV can steamroll them.

Command and Support

Unlike every other faction, the Cartels lack a Crewman role due to lacking IFVs and MBTs. They have pilots.

Squad Leader (one per squad, 9 per team)
M16 + Scope/Forward Grip/Red Dot
Desert Eagle/Taurus Raging Bull/Five-seveN
2x Mk 2 Grenade
2x3 M18 Smoke Grenade (colors change with secondary)
3x Field Dressing
Rally Point + Binoculars

Pilot 1 (unlimited, can use heli)
Ruger M77 (no scope)
AR-15 Pistol + Machete
2x M18 Smoke Grenade
3x Field Dressing
Gardening Shovel, Repair Kit, Binoculars

Pilot 2 (unlimited, can use heli)
FN ParaFAL (scoped)
Lupara (DB Shotgun) + Machete
2x M18 Smoke Grenade
3x Field Dressing
Gardening Shovel, Repair Kit

Medic
FN FAL (scoped)/M4A1/AKM (drum magazines)
Glock 17
Mk 2 Grenade (2x with M4A1)
2x2 M18 Smoke Grenade
9x Field Dressing + Medical Kit
Gardening Shovel, Binoculars (unless using FAL)

Fire support (x4 per team, 3 FS per squad for all roles)

Light Anti-Tank
AR-15 Pistol + Machete
M72 LAW
2x M18 Smoke
3x Field Dressing
Binoculars + Gardening Shovel

Automatic Rifleman ("Huevos de Toro")
M4A1 Beta C-Mag
FN Five-seveN
Mk 2 Grenade
2x M18 Smoke
3x Field Dressing
Gardening Shovel, Binoculars

Grenadier
M4A1
M203 Frag x10
M203 Smoke 3x2
3x Field Dressing
Gardening Shovel, Binoculars

Marksman
M14 with scope and bipod or FN FAL with scope and bipod
FN Five-seveN
3x2 M18 Smoke
3x Field Dressing
Gardening Shovel, Binoculars

Direct Combat

Fighter
Primary choices:
M16
AK-47
M1 Carbine (+ Lupara)
Uzi (+ Lupara)
Other:
TEC-9
2x Mk2 Frag
2x M18 Smoke
3x Field Dressing
Gardening Shovel
Binoculars
Ammo Bag

Breacher
M870 Shotgun
MAC-10
2x Mk2 Frag
2x M18 Smoke
3x Field Dressing
Gardening Shovel
Binoculars

Automatic Rifleman
M4A1 Beta C-Mag
FN Five-seveN
2x M18 Smoke
3x Field Dressing
Gardening Shovel
Binoculars

Light Grenadier
FN FAL + BDC Scope
FN Five-seveN
4x Mk2 Frag
2x4 M18 Smoke
3x Field Dressing
Gardening Shovel
Binoculars

I actually thought of an idea like this alongside a generic fictional south american military faction.

However the problem with cartels is that they are just going to be another insurgent faction but not arab and worse (no IFV and tanks, even weak ones leave little room for map layers, urban maps only) You are limiting yourself to only a certain few maps.

Originally posted by Shaky:

I actually thought of an idea like this alongside a generic fictional south american military faction.

However the problem with cartels is that they are just going to be another insurgent faction but not arab and worse (no IFV and tanks, even weak ones leave little room for map layers, urban maps only) You are limiting yourself to only a certain few maps.

The primary balancing factor to this faction is the fact that it's an irregular faction with helicopters, massively emphasizing mobility and specialization over direct combat ability.

Even still I backtracked a bit and tried coming up with vehicles that could rival IFVs and MBTs in usage with things like stolen armored cars armed with autocannons, but that's very unrealistic.

A band-aid fix to the issue was having a unique specialist that combined the powers of a conventional LAT and a medic (or perhaps it should have been a rifleman and medic) with a weaker weapon, as a support kit that would make squads more able to deal with vehicles.

Go learn C++ which will take like 2-5 years, then learn 3d modeling, which will take you atleast 5-10 years. lol Then you can start your mod, which will likely take at least 6 months.

That's the reality.