Mexico’s Drug War Turns Four: Bipartisan U.S. Help Still Required

Ray Walser / December 13, 2010

In December 2006, Mexico’s President Felipe Calderon launched a campaign against Mexico’s drug-trafficking organizations. That war continues to rage four years later.

In a violent and visible confrontation that began on December 9, 2010, the Mexican federal police delivered a punishing blow against La Familia Michoacana, a dug trafficking cartel with cult-like aspects. Mexican authorities believe Nazario Moreno Gonzalez, a.k.a. “El Chayo,” was killed in the action. Moreno was the “Family’s” second top commander.

In the last year, Arturo Beltran Leyva, Edgar Valdez Villareal (a.k.a. “La Barbie”), and Antonio Ezequiel Cardenas Guillen, and at least five other high-profile drug chiefs have been either killed or arrested. Mexico’s drug “capos” are clearly on the run. (more…)