Mexico's Drug Problem
Mexico's drug traffickers rose to supremacy on the American continent after the demise of the big Colombian cartels in the 1990s.
The cocaine is grown in the Andes but the Mexicans control 90% of the routes into the US market.
They also have a large share of the market in cocaine and crystal meth. Profits are estimated at $8bn - $25bn (£4bn - £12.5bn) a year.
An increase in domestic consumption in Mexico has made the trade even more lucrative. With so much money involved, fighting between the cartels has gone haywire.
The main battle is between the Sinaloa Cartel (headed by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman) and the Gulf Cartel (whose veteran leader Osiel Cardenas was extradited to the US in January).
President Felipe Calderon ordered an offensive that began in December last year, with 7,000 soldiers sent to the central state of Michoacan, where, among a series of violent incidents last year, five severed heads were rolled onto a nightclub dancefloor.
In June, the traffickers sent a warning note to the public security chief in the eastern state of Veracruz, accompanied by a severed head.
The cocaine is grown in the Andes but the Mexicans control 90% of the routes into the US market.
They also have a large share of the market in cocaine and crystal meth. Profits are estimated at $8bn - $25bn (£4bn - £12.5bn) a year.
An increase in domestic consumption in Mexico has made the trade even more lucrative. With so much money involved, fighting between the cartels has gone haywire.
The main battle is between the Sinaloa Cartel (headed by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman) and the Gulf Cartel (whose veteran leader Osiel Cardenas was extradited to the US in January).
President Felipe Calderon ordered an offensive that began in December last year, with 7,000 soldiers sent to the central state of Michoacan, where, among a series of violent incidents last year, five severed heads were rolled onto a nightclub dancefloor.
In June, the traffickers sent a warning note to the public security chief in the eastern state of Veracruz, accompanied by a severed head.
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