Whack-a-mole Drug War: Zetas-La Linea Alliance May Alter Balance of Power in Mexico

What!? You mean the drug moles are forming allinaces? Sounds like the drug war is heating up even more.


This article, from the website, Insight - Organized Crime in the Americas, outlines a possibly emerging formation of two large, opposing alliances between major Mexican drug cartels: Zetas, La Linea, Juarez and Beltran Leyva cartels versus Gulf, Sinaloa, La Familia Michoacana cartels. And Ciudad Juarez continues to be ground zero for the battle.

Zetas-La Linea Alliance May Alter Balance of Power in Mexico: "In the fickle and fluid place that is the Mexican underworld, the alleged union between the Zetas and La Linea (affiliated with the Juarez cartel) may not be taken seriously at first, but a closer look reveals an alliance that could shift the balance of power in Mexico....

The Zetas started as a military arm of the Gulf Cartel in the 1990s, but definitively split from the organization in 2010.

For its part, the Gulf Cartel has since allied with its former rivals in the Sinaloa Cartel. The two groups joined forces with the Familia Michoacana to form the so-called “New Federation.” The federation’s goal, simply put, is to destroy the Zetas.

This may have just become slightly more difficult. The Zetas are already allied with former Sinaloa Cartel associates, the Beltran Leyva Organization (BLO). And they have been in contact with La Linea, possibly training its members, for months or even years, according to some intelligence officials.

The Zetas may offer soldiers to help La Linea in Ciudad Juarez, in return for access to the city, or, more precisely, the Juarez Valley drug trafficking corridor."