Word: cartelizing
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...drug gangs are proven to be behind the blast, it would show a worrying escalation in the battle between organized crime and the government. Since Jan. 1, drug cartel gunmen armed with huge arsenals of automatic rifles and grenade launchers have slain more than 30 police, soldiers and judges in ambushes and assassinations. The attacks come as Calderon has made record drug busts, sent 25,000 police and soldiers against the gangs, and extradited alleged kingpins to the United States...
While the Mexican crime families do not have a history of using bombs, explosive devices used to be a favored tactic of their associates in Colombia. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Medellin cartel responded to a government crackdown with bombs on street corners, cars and even one passenger jet, killing hundreds. Colombian gangsters have long been selling cocaine to the Mexican cartels, who smuggle it into the United States. "The cartels could be turning to this Colombian tactic of using terror to pressure the government to back off," said Mexican drug expert Jorge Chabat. "They may be trying...
Living several blocks away from Vasquez was an alleged drug trafficker working for the powerful Sinaloa cartel named Rogelio Mena. Police had arrested Mena two days before the blast, along with six other men and an arsenal of weaponry including a Barrett anti-aircraft gun. He is being held for 90 days on suspicion of racketeering and weapons offenses. The Sinaloa cartel has been blamed for carrying out many of the attacks on police and soldiers this year. Federal agents say they also foiled an attempt by the gang to assassinate Federal Prosecutor Jose Luis Santiago, who oversees the extradition...
...clampdown. The U.S. Congress is currently debating a two-year, $1.4 billion anti-drug aid proposal for Mexico, including high-tech phone-tapping equipment and possibly Black Hawk helicopters. Calderon argues the U.S. government has a responsibility to help because it is U.S. drug consumers that effectively fund the cartels. But skeptics fear that U.S. equipment could fall into the wrong hands. The drug cartels have turned many former police and army officers. One entire unit of army special forces deserted in the late 1990s to form a paramilitary group called the Zetas, who worked as bloody enforcers to help...
...Some analysts say Calderon can win the war if he continues a sustained assault. "He can smash the big organizations in the same way the Colombians took down the Medellin Cartel," said Mexican drug expert Jorge Chabat. "The cartels cannot defeat the government militarily. Their strength is corruption...