Uncovering Mexico
Jeremy Schwartz is the Mexico correspondent for Cox Newspapers. He is based in Mexico City.What's on this page?
The entry titled "Did Mexican Drug Cartels Agree to a Truce?."
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Home > Uncovering Mexico > Archives > 2007 > July > 13 > Entry
Did Mexican Drug Cartels Agree to a Truce?
Could the Gulf and Sinaloa drug cartels, whose bloody 3-year-long war has left thousands dead, be in peace negotiations?
Law enforcement officials on both sides of the border say Mexico’s largest cartels have discussed a truce, and violence - though still high - has decreased over the last month.
Drug killings have included decapitations, menacing letters attached to dead bodies and dozens of dead cops. But executions have slowed in recent weeks, averaging about 40 a week, according to Mexican media estimates. That’s down from as many as 95 a week earlier in the year.
According to the Proceso magazine, complementing information first reported by the Dallas Morning News, cartel leaders met last month on a ranch in Tamaulipas and discussed dividing Mexico into zones of control and limiting the violence. Apparently the large number of killings had become bad for business, prompting cartel leaders to take action.
The cartels began battling for control of Nuevo Laredo, the most coveted crossing along the border, about three years ago. Since then, the cartel feud has spread to nearly every corner of the country. President Felipe Calderon sent the military to confront the cartels, which led to more drug violence. According to the press reports though, the military action may have helped coax the cartel leaders to the negotiating table.
Officials insist the possible truce is “fragile.” Mexico can only hope it is real and it lasts. According to many drug war experts, an agreement between cartels may be the only way to slow the violence.
Comments
By Kirk Muse
July 13, 2007 8:56 PM | Link to this
If the United States and Mexico re-legalized all of our now illegal drugs so they can be sold in regulated and licensed business establishments for pennies per dose, would this solve our drug problems? No.
However, it would substantially reduce our crime rate. Especially our violent crime and property crime.
Alcohol prohibition was not terminated in 1933 because they decided that alcohol was not so bad after all, but rather because of the crime and corruption that its prohibition caused. In 1933 our overall crime rate declined substantially and our murder rate declined for 10 consecutive years.
Have we learned any lessons from this experience? Not yet.
By Dennis
July 15, 2007 10:21 AM | Link to this
The violence isn’t that bad, except when they kill good cops. Mostly they kill each other and corrupt cops. The daily lives of more people aren’t effected at all by the drug violence.
The last Admin (Fox) managed to capture a dozen or more top bosses. Many smaller regional bosses also have been incarcerated. A lot of the fighting is for control of the territory vacated by these captured jefes.
Calderon wants to retake the territory lost to mafia control. It isn’t a war to control the violence but to one to reestablish Mexican sovereignty over Mexican territory.
The cartels may have agreed to a truce but that seems to be breaking. In the last few day the murder rate has crept back up.
There will be no let up in capturing top cartel operatives or regional bosses. That means there will be positions opening up all the time to fight over.