All-Out War with Jalisco Drug Cartel Threatens Mexico's Economic Power Center Andrew O'Reilly - Fox News Latino
go to original May 6, 2015

The cartel violence that has gripped Mexico in recent weeks is alarming to many in the country who are accustomed to shootouts in more remote outposts like Guerrero or the states that border the United States. But the Western state where federal forces have been waging an all-out war against the Jalisco New Generation Cartel is home to the country's second-largest city, Guadalajara, and home to key industrial and economic sectors.

This weekend, at least 15 people were killed – including three soldiers whose helicopter was shot down – and 19 injured in attacks in the state of Jalisco. Suspected members of the New Generation cartel, responding to the massive military and police operation against them, stopped buses and trucks to block key highways in Guadalajara and other cities and fire-bombed 11 banks and five gas stations in almost simultaneous attacks.

The strikes – brazen even in a conflict that has seen decapitated heads thrown on dance floors and lifeless bodies hung from bridges – are most notable not for the violence involved, but for whom they are targeting – namely, Mexican security forces in the economic power center of the country.

“What has put this on the front page is the willingness of the New Generation cartel to confront the government,” Christopher Wilson, a senior associate at the Woodrow Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute, told Fox News Latino. “It’s all about reprisal. It’s all about blow-back from the operation against them.”

Read the rest at Fox News Latino

Photo: Borderland Beat

Related: Washington Toughens Warning for Jalisco, Home to Thousands of Americans, as Mexico Fights Cartel (Forbes)

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