2. Drug Cartels The is an armed war taking place among rival drug cartels who fight for regional control, and between the drug cartels and the Mexican government, which seeks to reduce drug trafficking. Although Mexican drug cartels, or drug trafficking organizations, have existed for a few decades, they have become more powerful since the demise of Colombia's Cali and Medellian cartels in the 1990s ( www. Wikipedia.org)
3. The Drug Trade Mexican drug cartels now dominate most of the drug trade in the United States now. Arrests of key cartel leaders, particularly in the Tijuana and Gulf cartels, have led to increasing drug violence as cartels fight for control of the trafficking routes into the United States.
4. Given its geographic location, Mexico has long been used as a staging and transshipment point for narcotics, undocumented immigrants and contraband destined for U.S. markets from Mexico, South America and elsewhere. During the 1980s and early 1990s, Colombia ’s Pablo Escobar was the main exporter of drugs and dealt with organized criminal networks all over the world. When enforcement efforts intensified in South Florida and the Caribbean, the Colombian organizations formed partnerships with the Mexico-based traffickers to transport cocaine through Mexico into the United States. HISTORY OF THE CARTELS
5. Where are they? Mexican cartels control large swaths of Mexican territory and dozens of municipalities, and they exercise increasing influence in Mexican electoral politics. The cartels are waging violent battles over control of key smuggling corridors from Nuevo Laredo to San Diego. Mexican cartels employ hit man and groups of enforcers, known as sicarios. The U.S. government reports that the Mexican drug cartels operating today along the border are far more sophisticated and dangerous than any other organized criminal group in U.S. law enforcement history ( www.wikipedia.org)
