ConflictBarometer_2016

THE AMERICAS
spite renewed federal security interventions in the past two
years, several vigilante groups began to resurface in Guerrero
and Michoacán over the year and threatened to take up arms
again, complaining that local security forces and the Rural
Defense Corps failed to fight local drug cartels.
The coastal state of Sinaloa experienced arise in violence
by the Sinaloa cartel. On September 30, 60 Sinaloa cartel
members ambushed amilitary convoy transporting a suspected
drug trafficker near the state capital Culiacán by using
grenades, Barretts M82 as well as AR-15 and AK-47 assault
rifles. The military killed five and injured 17.
On August 19 and 20, shootouts between the army and Los
Zetas in the municipality of Alto Lucero, Veracruz state, left
a total of 17 people dead. Marines killed 20 cartel members
in Jesús Carranza town between December 3 to 5 and confiscated
28 heavy firearms.
As of mid-July, security forces claimed to have arrested or
killed 100 of the country's 122 most wanted criminals. On
January 8, a joint navy-army operation recaptured Joaquín
''El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, head of the Sinaloa Cartel, in Los
Mochis, Sinaloa, after he had escaped from a maximum security
prison on 07/11/15. During the apprehension, soldiers
killed five cartel members. PF and army elements arrested
Francisco ''El 2000” Hernández García, leader of the Beltrán
Leyva cartel during an operation on January 30 in the municipality
of Guasave, Sinaloa.
Drug cartels continued to show a strong presence in illegal
businesses apart from drug trafficking such as human trafficking
and oil theft. Killings of judges and clerics rose sharply.
This year was the deadliest for journalists reporting on drugrelated
violence since 2010, turning Mexico into the third
most dangerous country for journalists worldwide according
to Reporters Without Borders. tk
MEXICO (INTER-CARTEL VIOLENCE,
PARAMILITARY GROUPS)
Intensity: 4 | Change: | Start: 2005
Conflict parties: CJNG et al. vs. Sinaloa et al. vs. CDG
et al. vs. Los Zetas et al. vs. LFM et al.
vs. LCT et al.
Conflict items: subnational predominance, resources
The limited war over subnational predominance, illegal drugs,
and natural resources between various drug cartels continued.
The most involved groups were those of the Cártel
Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), the Sinaloa Cartel, the Gulf
Cartel (CDG), and Los Zetas. Guerrero, Sinaloa, and Tamaulipas
were the most contested states. Sparked by the arrest of
the Sinaloa cartel's leader Joaquín ''El Chapo” Guzmán Loera
in January [→ Mexico (drug cartels)], other cartels increasingly
tried to challenge the Sinaloa cartel and penetrate its
territory.
CJNG, the cartel with the largest territory under its control,
engaged in turf wars with Los Caballeros Templarios (LCT),
Los Zetas, and the Sinaloa Cartel. In the state of Colima, fights
between CJNG and the Sinaloa Cartel led toatotal of 41 fatalities
in February. In Puerto Vallarta town, Jalisco state, CJNG
gunmen kidnapped Sinaloa Cartel operator and the son ofits
imprisoned leader, Jesús Alfredo Guzmán Salazar, along with
five others on August 15. Two days later, 300 members of the
army, navy, and federal police launched special operations to
locate the six abductees. On August 22, all six were released
unharmed. In the state of Veracruz, authorities recovered the
bodies of seven Los Zetas members next to messages signed
by CJNG near the municipality of Amatlán de los Reyes, on
May 24. In the state of Michoacán, authorities discovered six
decapitated bodies in an abandoned taxi near the community
of San Gregorio on May 26. Reportedly, this was related to a
presumed turf war between CJNG and LCT.
In the Pacific neighbor states of Guerrero and Michoacán,
power struggles between CJNG, the Beltrán Leyva factions
Los Ardillos, and Los Rojos as well as Guerreros Unidos remained
violent. On January 28, fights between Los Ardillos
and Los Rojos left seven dead in the state capital
Chilpancingo, Guerrero. Another nine people were shot during
a birthday party in the municipality of Coyuca de Catalán
121
the same day. Between November 19 and 21, 13 people
were killed in Guerrero in turf wars between La Familia Michoacana,
Los Ardillos and Los Rojos. The Beltrán Leyva and
the Sinaloa cartels vied for control of Sinaloa. From February
17 to 24, confrontations between both caused at least 17
deaths. On June 16, 150 heavily armed gunmen, allegedly
related to Beltrán Leyva, attacked the house of Joaquín ''El
Chapo” Guzmán's mother in La Tuna village and killed at least
three people. In the second half of August, turf wars left 53
dead. Due to continuous violence at least 350 families had
left their homes in the municipality of Huixiopa by October
12. Inter-cartel violence also spread to the neighboring state
of Chihuahua. In its capital Ciudad Juárez 25 cartel members
were killed in multiple shootouts on October 30.
The long-running rivalry between CDG and Los Zetas led to
many violent confrontations in the north-eastern states. On
February 10, an inmate riot in the Topo Chico state prison in
Monterrey city, Nuevo León state, erupted when hostile CDG
and Los Zetas prisoners attacked each other with makeshift
knives, bottles, and baseball bats, leaving 49 dead and twelve
injured. On September 28, a series of shootouts in the state
capital Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas state, left seven cartel
members dead and one injured.
Additional violent encounters in Tamaulipas resulted from
an alleged split of Los Zetas into the Cártel del Noreste and
Los Zetas de la Vieja Escuela. Between February 28 and July
5, the fight over spheres ofinfluence between the splinter
groups left 30 people dead. A total of 14 cartel members
were killed in shootouts in Ciudad Victoria on September 28
and 29. tk