Drug-cartel war in Mexico (June 21, 2009)
Anderson Cooper reports on the Drug-cartel war in Mexico. The Mexican Drug War is an ongoing armed conflict taking place among rival drug cartels, who fight each other for regional control, and Mexican government forces who seek to combat drug trafficking. Although Mexican drug cartels, or drug trafficking organizations, have existed for a few decades, they have become more powerful since the demise of Colombia's Cali and Medellín cartels in the 1990s. Mexican drug cartels now dominate the wholesale illicit drug market in the United States. Arrests of key cartel leaders, particularly in the Tijuana and Gulf cartels, have led to increasing drug violence as cartels fight for control of the trafficking routes into the United States. The US Department of Justice estimates that the wholesale of illicit drug sale earnings range from $13.6 billion to $48.4 billion annually. Mexican drug traffickers increasingly smuggle money back into Mexico in cars and trucks, likely due to the effectiveness of US efforts at monitoring electronic money transfers.
