Drug cartels in Mexico unite; violence increases
The Dallas Morning News is reporting this morning that the increased violence between drug traffickers and law enforcement agents in Northern Mexico may be attributable to the creation of a "mega-cartel" through the merger of three of the country's major drug-trafficking groups, who were formerly rivals.
Until recently, the map showing control of key drug cartel hot spots in Mexico was something like the red states and the blue states in the U.S. Now, everything is up for grabs as three powerful wings of once rival trafficking groups fuse into a "megacartel," unleashing an unprecedented blood bath, according to U.S. officials and analysts.
Last week, the L.A. Times' Ken Ellingwood reported on the macabre drug messages left by the country's drug cartels, which include severed heads and bodies accompanied by letters. Read his dispatch here...
Photo: A forensic expert lifts a human head from the scene where two decapitated heads were found in the city of Ciudad Juarez, northern Mexico, June 2, 2008. David Cruz / Associated Press
-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City
