May Day mayhem

A blast of cold water for the strategy

ON MAY 1st the state of Jalisco in western Mexico felt like a war zone. An army helicopter was shot down with a rocket-propelled grenade. Smoke billowed from at least 11 banks and five petrol stations. Cars, buses and trucks had been commandeered to create 50-odd roadblocks in Jalisco and three neighbouring states; many were set alight. Fifteen people, including six soldiers and a government official, died in the violence.

The May Day mayhem was one of the most dramatic acts of defiance by drug gangs since an offensive against them began in 2006. It served notice that a relatively new group, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, is willing to confront federal forces. And it called into question the federal government’s strategy of dealing with gangs mainly by killing or jailing their leaders.

New Generation has its roots in two older outfits. One was a faction of the Milenio gang, a pioneer in methamphetamine trafficking, which fell apart after its leader, Óscar Nava Valencia, was captured in October 2009. The other was a branch of the Sinaloa gang, whose chief, Nacho...

from The Economist: The Americas http://ift.tt/1cr2nH7