The Only Two Powerful Rival Cartels Left Clash in Mexico's Murder Capital David Agren - The Guardian
go to original November 28, 2016

Mexican soldiers walk next to the site of the incineration of more than 20 tons of cocaine in Manzanillo (Alfredo Estrella/AFP/Getty Images)

Manzanillo and the surrounding state of Colima were once best known for their black sand beaches, lime groves and a smoldering volcano that erupts every century or so.

But over the past year, the region has claimed a new title: murder capital of Mexico. According to federal figures, Colima registered 434 homicides in the first nine months of 2016 – a huge number in a population of just 700,000.

Local officials blame the killings on outsiders or describe it as score-settling between petty criminals.

But analysts of the drug war say the violence is part of a nationwide realignment of organized crime – and a bitter struggle to control the port of Manzanillo, one of the biggest on Mexico’s Pacific coast.



Ten years of a militarised campaign against the cartels has not ended the trade in drugs, or helped enforce rule of law in Mexico. It has, however, weakened or splintered several crime factions – leaving a handful of powerful survivors fighting for the spoils.

Colima is currently the setting for a confrontation between two of the most formidable: the Sinaloa Federation – led by imprisoned capo Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán – and the Jalisco New Generation cartel, known by its Spanish initials as the CJNG.

“Most of the [Mexican] cartels have been weakened,” said Mike Vigil, a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent who worked undercover in Mexico. “The only two powerful cartels left are Sinaloa and the CJNG.”

Read the rest at The Guardian

Related: The Cartel Jalisco New Generation Orders Attack on ZETA Magazine (The Fulano Forum)

Related: Violence Has Been Brewing in Mexico's Warrior State, and Now It's Having Grisly Consequences (Business Insider)

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