A clash pitting Mexican marines against suspected enforcers for a drug cartel active in the northern border region left four gunmen dead, officials said.
The northeastern state of Tamaulipas’ information office, known as the CIO, said on its Web site Thursday that a gun battle had occurred in the town of San Carlos.
Four gunmen were killed by gunfire, the CIO said.
Nuevo Leon and neighboring Tamaulipas have been rocked by a wave of violence unleashed by drug traffickers battling for control of smuggling routes into the United States.
The violence has intensified in the two border states since the appearance in Monterrey in February of giant banners heralding an alliance of the Gulf, Sinaloa and La Familia drug cartels against Los Zetas, a band of Mexican special forces deserters turned hired guns.
After several years as the armed wing of the Gulf cartel, Los Zetas went into the drug business on their own account and now control several lucrative territories.
The cartels arrayed against Los Zetas blame the group’s involvement in kidnappings, armed robbery and extortion for discrediting “true drug traffickers” in the eyes of ordinary Mexicans willing to tolerate the illicit trade as long as the gangs stuck to their own unwritten rule against harming innocents.
The unified cartels will have more success putting an end to the violence in northern Mexico than the military and the ineffective leadership of Felipe Caldaron. The citizens of northern Mexico want peace, as the article notes. How peace arrive is not important. The intrusion of the military has increased the violence by adding a third wheel to the fight. The people are more terrified of the military than they are of the narcotraficantes. When the Zeta's are eliminated or under the thumb of the other criminal groups, the indiscriminate violence will end and peace will return. Stopping the flow of illegal drugs in another subject which can best be acheived through reduced US consumption of illegal drugs.
ReplyDelete@11:26 It's obvious by your comment that you're unaware of the real situation. You make it look as if one (unified) cartel are the good guys and the zetas are the bad guys, when in reality there is little or no difference between them. Real peace can only return when there are no para-military criminal groups. Only the army can tackle that kind of firepower challenge.
ReplyDeletewhat would happen if the usa stops consuming sooo much drugs?
ReplyDeleteThe problem is that the military as well as the local police are also corrupt. The military is said to be working alongside the cartels trying to get rid of the zetas. As a local businessman from across the border told me," How screwed up are we that we want the cartels back in power. At least when they were in power, Mexico was much better off".
ReplyDeletemexico comsumes drugs also...stop blaming the us for your domestic problems
ReplyDeleteYou want to see the Mexican economy go bust? Have the US legalize "Polio Weed"/ marching powder and start enforcing the borders. Mexico's two biggest exports for the last 60 years have been drugs and labor. What happens if
ReplyDelete"stoop" labor suddenly becomes acceptable because jobs are going away and is "given" to American citizens?
Noone will ever stop the flow or consumption of drugs. If the cartels in mexico are defeated, some other country will take its place. Everyone above me is a retard. Now stfu and keep on reading and complaining and not doing anything about it.
ReplyDelete"Real peace can only return when there are no para-military criminal groups. Only the army can tackle that kind of firepower challenge."
ReplyDeletethat's wishful thinking...real peace will not be achieved if there are no "para-military criminal groups" because as long as there is a demand for drugs, these groups will exist (supply and demand). And so far, the army has only aggravated things and committed a few too many deadly errors/unexplained/don't make sense incidents.
the reality is that if one king pin is taken out, or a cartel is wiped out, another is right behind to replace it...the closest thing we can get to "real peace" is when these cartels have a truce between them...
there will always be drugs smuggled into the US no matter who is in charge. The military and government would rather have the older cartels in charge rather than the zetas for many reasons. The biggest reason being the old cartels lived by a code of violence staying within the cartels and not innocents. The Zetas will kill anyone who gets in their way and anyone they cannot control. Another reason is that the Zetas are controlled by ex-militia and present more of a threat against government than the older cartels. Basically, they want things the way they used to be so that tourism can flourish once again.
ReplyDelete-J from Philly