Timeline of the Mexican drug war

The timeline of the most relevant events in the Mexican Drug War is set out below. Although violence between drug cartels had been occurring for three decades, the Mexican government held a generally passive stance regarding cartel violence through the 1980s and early 2000s. That changed on December 11, 2006, when the newly elected President Felipe Calderón sent 6,500 Mexican Army soldiers to the state of Michoacán to end drug violence there. This action is regarded as the first major retaliation made against the cartel violence, and is generally viewed as the starting point of the Mexican Drug War between the government and the drug cartels. As time passed, Calderón continued to escalate his anti-drug campaign, in which there are now about 45,000 troops involved along with state and federal police forces.

2006

• November 25 – Popular singer Valentín Elizalde is ambushed and gunned down along with his manager (and best friend) Mario Mendoza Grajeda, and driver Reynaldo Ballesteros, in the border city of Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas.
• December 1 – President Felipe Calderón assumed office and declared war on drug traffickers. He also imposed a cap on salaries of high-ranking public servants and ordered a raise on the salaries of the Federal Police and the Mexican armed forces.
• December 11 – Operation Michoacan is launched against the La Familia Michoacana cartel. A total of more than 60 Mexican soldiers and more than 100 police officers, and 500 cartel gunmen are killed in the operation.

2007

• January 2 – Operation Baja California is launched.
• January 20 – Drug lord Osiel Cárdenas Guillén was extradited to the USA.
• March 17 – Drug lord Zhenli Ye Gon relieved of $213 million USD in Mexico City.
• May 14 – Jorge Altriste, head of operations for Mexico's elite police force in Tijuana, was murdered.
• December 2 – Popular singer Sergio Gómez is kidnapped and killed.
• December 8 – Gerardo García Pimentel, a crime reporter, was killed.
• December 29 – The entire police force in the town of Playas de Rosarito, Baja California, is disarmed from their weapons after suspicion of collaborating with drug cartels.

For 2007, the drug-related death toll reached 2,477.

2008

• January 1 - The Federal government, along with SEDENA, launches the Joint Operation Nuevo León-Tamaulipas in order to eliminate the operation areas of both the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas.
• January 21 – Mexican security forces capture drug lord Alfredo Beltrán Leyva.
• March 27 - The Federal government launches the Operation Chihuahua to confront the three drug cartels operating in the state. Moreover, Ciudad Juarez's violence is among the major concerns in this operation.
• April 26 – 15 people are killed in a gun battle between the Tijuana Cartel and a rival drug cartel.
• May 8 – Acting commissioner of the Federal Police Édgar Eusebio Millán Gómez was gunned down in Mexico City. He was the highest-ranking Mexican official killed.
• May 9 – Esteban Robles Espinosa, the commander of Mexico's investigative police force, was murdered in Mexico City.
• May 13 - The Federal government launches the Operation Sinaloa to crack down on the Sinaloa Cartel, the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel, and Los Zetas in the state.
• May 28 – Seven Federal Police agents die in a shootout in Culiacán, Sinaloa.
• May 31 – The United States announces it is implementing a drug trafficking law to impose financial sanctions on Mexican drug cartels.
• June 26 – Police commander Igor Labastida is shot dead in a restaurant in Mexico City.
• June 30 – The Mérida Initiative, a $1.6 USD billion security cooperation agreement between the USA and Mexico, announced on 22 October 2007, was signed into law.
• September 13 - In Ocoyoacac, 24 bodies were found at a national park called La Marquesa; all bodies were shot and showed signs of torture.
• September 15 – 2008 Morelia grenade attacks: eight civilians were killed and more than 100 were injured in Morelia, Michoacán when hand grenades were thrown into a crowd.
• September 17 – Over 200 people across Mexico, Guatemala, Italy and the United States, including members of the Gulf cartel and the 'Ndrangheta are arrested in a major anti-drug trafficking operation called Operation Solare.
• October 22 – Police capture boss Jesús Zambada García of the Sinaloa cartel after a shootout in Mexico City.
• October 24 – Mexican criminal investigator Andrés Dimitriadis is shot dead by cartel gunmen (sicarios) in his car on his way home.
• October 26 – The Mexican army captured drug lord Eduardo Arellano Félix after a shootout in Tijuana.
• November 2 – The Federal Police chief Víctor Gerardo Garay resigns amidst claims of corruption. He was arrested and charged on December 10 for protecting the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel.
• November 6 - In Reynosa, Tamaulipas, the Mexican army made the largest weapon seizure in the history of Mexico. The seizure included 288 assault rifles, 126 handguns, 166 grenades, 14 TNT explosives, 500,000 cartridges, over 1,000 ammunition magazines, and a rocket launcher.
• November 7 – The Federal Police arrested Jaime González Durán in Tamaulipas; he was a founding member of Los Zetas.
• November 17 – Rodolfo de la Guardia García, ex-director of Mexico's Interpol office, was arrested and charged of protecting the Beltran-Leyva Cartel.
• November 19 – Mexican Interpol chief Ricardo Gutiérrez Vargas is arrested on suspicion of links with drug cartels.
• November 21 – Noé Ramírez Mandujano, ex-head of Mexico's anti-organized crime agency, is arrested on suspicion of links with drug cartels.
• November 30 - Guatemalan and Mexican drug cartels clash on the two countries' border, leaving 18 dead.
• December 10 - Felix Batista, an American anti-kidnapping expert was kidnapped in Saltillo, Coahuila.
• December 21 - Seven off-duty soldiers and one police commander were kidnapped, tortured and decapitated. Their heads were left at a shopping center located in Chilpancingo, Guerrero with a threat note to the military.

For 2008, the drug-related death toll reached 6,290.

2009

• January 2 – Mexican authorities arrested Alberto Espinoza Barron, one of the La Familia Michoacana cartel leaders.
• January 6 - Gunmen fired on and threw grenades at the Televisa TV station in Monterrey during a nightly newscast, causing no injuries. A note left on the scene read: "Stop reporting just on us. Report on the narco's political leaders."
• January 22 – Police arrest Santiago Meza, a man who allegedly dissolved 300 bodies of rival drug traffickers for his boss Teodoro García Simental.
• February 3 – The body of retired General Mauro Enrique Tello Quiñónez, who had been appointed a special drugs consultant to the Benito Juárez municipality mayor, was found near Cancún along with the bodies of his aide and a driver.
• February 5 – Police capture trafficker and lieutenant Gerónimo Gámez García in Mexico City.
• February 7 - The Federal government, along with SEDENA, launches the Operation Quintana Roo, sending thousands of troops to Cancún and several cities within the state. Several police officers in that state where found guilty of drug trafficking, and 'El Puma,' a Gulf Cartel lieutenant, was captured.
• February 10 – Military troops took over a police station in Cancún in connection with the torture and murder of former general Mauro Enrique Tello Quiñónez, who led an elite anti-drugs squad.
• February 12 – Gunmen assassinate Detective Ramón Jasso Rodríguez, the chief in charge of the homicide division for the state police of Nuevo León.
• February 15 – The Mexican Navy, with the help of the United States Coast Guard, confiscated 7 tons of cocaine being transported on a fishing vessel in international waters in the Pacific Ocean.
• February 17 – A shootout took place in the city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, between members of the Mexican army and armed cilivians, presumably members of Los Zetas. This shooting generated chaos in the whole city and a curfew was implemented.
• February 20 – Ciudad Juárez's Police Chief Robert Orduna announced his resignation after two police officers are killed. Drug traffickers had threatened to kill one police officer every 48 hours until the chief resigned.
• February 22 – Five assailants attacked the convoy of Chihuahua governor, José Reyes Baeza, killing a bodyguard.
• February 24 – Mexican authorities extradited Miguel Ángel Caro Quintero to the U.S, top-leader of the Sonora Cartel.
  • Heavily armed gunmen assassinated Adrián López, mayor of Vista Hermosa, Michoacan.
  • U.S. raids code-named Operation Xcellerator on the Sinaloa cartel in California, Minnesota and Maryland lead to 755 arrests, the discovery of a 'super meth lab' and laboratory equipment capable of producing 12,000 ecstasy pills per hour.
• February 25 – The New York Times report on ATF statistics stating that 90% of traced guns originated in the United States. This promped a resurgence of heated debates in USA concerning the reinstatement of the assault weapons ban.
• February 28 – Close to 1,800 Mexican troops arrived in Ciudad Juárez as part of a contingent of 5,000 Federal Police and troops.
• March 9 – The Mexican Army confirmed the arrest of 26 members of the Arrellano Félix Cartel, including Ángel Jácome Gamboa (El Kaibil), one state police officer, one municipal police officer, and other suspects.
• March 10 - The Mexican Ministry of Defense orders 6 Eurocopter EC 725 Helicopters from Eurocopter to transport soldiers in special operations. The deal was finalized behind closed doors between Felipe Calderón and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
• March 12 - The United States Department of Homeland Security stated that it is considering using the National Guard 'as a last resort' to counter the threat of drug violence in Mexico from spilling over the border into the US.
• March 19 - The Mexican Military captures alleged Sinaloa cartel drug boss Vicente Zambada Niebla, son of drug lord Ismael Zambada García El Mayo.
• March 22 - Gunmen killed Édgar Garcia, a state police commander in charge of investigating kidnappings and extortion in the western state of Michoacán.
• March 25 – A Mexican Special Forces Unit captured one of Mexico's most-wanted drug smugglers, Héctor Huerta Ríos.
• March 26 - A US Marshal, Vincent Bustamante who was the subject of an arrest warrant, was found dead in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.
  • Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the future delivery of additional 8 Black Hawk helicopters to Mexican security forces.
  • Germán Torres Jiménez, alias El Z-25, a founding member of Los Zetas, was captured in Poza Rica, Veracruz.
• April 2 – Vicente Carrillo Leyva, son of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, was arrested in Mexico City.
• April 19 – Eight Federal Police agents were killed in an attack on a prison convoy transporting senior leaders of the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel.
  • The Federal Police captured suspected 44 members of La Familia Cartel, including its chief Rafael Cedeño Hernández "El Cede".
• April 22 – The bodies of two undercover federal agents are found in Durango, along with a note saying "Neither priests nor rulers will ever get El Chapo" (referring to Joaquín Guzmán and with clear allusion to the comments of the Archbishop of Durango Héctor González Martínez.)
• May 17 – Gulf cartel gunmen disguised as police officers break into a prison in Zacatecas and free 50 inmates.
• May 27 – Arrest of 27 high-ranking officials including 10 mayors and a judge in Michoacán suspected of collaboration with La Familia Cartel.
• June 6 - A total of 16 cartel gunmen and 2 Mexican Army soldiers were killed during a four hour shootout in Acapulco.
• June 15 – Juan Manuel Jurado Zarzoza a lieutenant of the Gulf Cartel in Cancun was captured.
• June 26 – Gunmen attempt to kill Ernesto Cornejo, a Partido Acción Nacional candidate, in Sonora, but fail to kill him.
• July 7 – Anti-crime activist Benjamin LeBaron and his brother-in-law Luis Widmar are murdered after armed men storm their house in Galeana, Chihuahua.
• July 11 – Several state police offices are attacked by gunmen in Michoacán, leaving several injured, and 2 members of the Mexican Army dead.
• July 14 – Twelve Mexican Federal Police agents were kidnapped, tortured and killed, and their bodies were later disposed on a mountain highway. The agents were investigating crime in President Felipe Calderón's home state of Michoacán.
  • Julio César Godoy Toscano, who was just elected July 5, 2009 to the Lower House of Congress, was discovered to be a top-ranking member of La Familia Michoacana drug cartel, and is accused of protecting that cartel. He is now a fugitive.

• August 6 – A shootout between police and gunmen leaves over a dozen dead and 22 injured in Pachuca. Some kidnapped Federal agents were found alive, however this confrontation initiated simultaneous shootouts and grenade attacks on police installations around Mexico.
• August 8 – Federal Police arrest Manuel Invanovich Zambrano Flores, a top lieutenant of the Tijuana Cartel.
• August 9 – Mexican police defused an attempt to kill Mexican President Felipe Calderon by the Sinaloa Cartel.

• August 20 – The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) disarticulated a large Mexican drug operation in Chicago, and knocking out a major distribution network that operated out of that city. The drug operation allegedly brought 1.5 to 2 tons of cocaine every month to Chicago from Mexico and shipped millions of dollars south of the border.
• September 3 – Gunmen attack a drug clinic in Ciudad Juárez, lining up patients against a wall and killing at least 17. José Rodolfo Escajeda of the Juárez cartel was arrested several days later.
• September 16 – Ten people are killed in another gun attack on a drug rehabilitation clinic in Ciudad Juarez.
• December 15 – As part of the Mérida Initiative, the Mexican Air Force received five Bell 412 helicopters worth $66 million from the United States to use for transport and reconnaissance missions for Mexico's drug war.
• December 16 – A two hour shootout between 200 Mexican Marines and Beltrán-Leyva Cartel gunmen led to the death of Marcos Arturo Beltrán-Leyva, the leader of the criminal organization, in an upscale resort in Cuernavaca. Furthermore, four of his bodyguards were killed, one of which one committed suicide while surrounded by the Marines. Two marines were also injured while another, Navy 3rd Petty Officer Melquisedet Angulo Córdova, died while being treated for his injuries.
• December 22 – Only hours after the burial of 3rd Petty Officer Melquisedet Angulo Córdova, gunmen break into his family's house and kill Córdova's mother and three other relatives. The shooting is believed to be retaliation for the death of Marcos Arturo Beltrán-Leyva, as well as a warning against the military forces.

For 2009, the drug-related death toll reached 7,724.

2010

• January 2 - Carlos Beltrán Leyva, brother of Marcos Arturo Beltrán-Leyva was arrested by Federal Police officers in Culiacán, Sinaloa.
• January 8 - Due to high crime rates in the municipality of Tancítaro, Michoacán, its Municipal Police force have been disbanded. City officials left the Army and State Police in charge of public security.
• January 12 – Federal Police agents arrested a partner of the Tijuana Cartel, Teodoro "El Teo" García Simental in La Paz, Baja California Sur.
• January 31 – Sixteen teenagers with no criminal ties were gunned down at a party in Ciudad Juárez.
• February 1 - In Torreón, Coahuila, a group of gunmen opened fire at three different bars throughout the city, killing 10 and injuring over 40 people.
• February 24 - Los Zetas engaged in a violent turf war against is former employer/partner, the Gulf Cartel, in the northern border city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, rendering some border towns to "ghost towns".
• March 5 – The Red Cross in Mexico no longer treating gunshot victims after finding themselves caught in cross fire.
• March 14 – Three people associated with U.S. consulate were killed in Chihuahua in two drive-by shootings. Two of their children were injured. Presidents Obama and Calderón condemned the attack.
• March 19 – Two graduate students from the ITESM in Monterrey were mistakenly killed by soldiers at the university's entrance during a gun battle against drug traffickers. Both students had engineering scholarships for academic excellence.
• March 23 – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defence Secretary Robert Gates, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano visit Mexico and pledge increased support in the fight against drug cartels.

• March 30 – Cartel gunmen launched seven coordinated assaults against government forces by setting up roadblocks near Army garrisons, firing on checkpoints and ambushing patrols. Among the weapons used were armored vehicles, explosive devices and grenade launchers. The attacks were neutralized by Mexican troops. Mexican forces killed 18 cartel gunmen and seized more than 50 assault rifles, 61 grenades, 8 homemade explosive devices, numerous grenade launchers and 6 armored vehicles. Army casualties were limited to one soldier with an injured toe.

• April 1 – Cartel gunmen blockaded roads in Reynosa. One of the gunmen was killed in a shootout with soldiers. In Tampico, cartel gunmen ambushed a state police checkpoint, killing an officer and wounding an officer and bystander.

• April 23 – In San Dimas, Durango, troops clashed with gunmen. Six gunmen were killed and one was captured. The army reported that only one of their own was injured.

• May 15 - In Torreón, Coahuila, a group of gunmen opened fire during the inauguration of 'Bar Las Juanas,' killing 8 and injuring 19 people.

• May 31 – A mass grave containing 55 bodies is found in an abandoned mine near Taxco, Guerrero.

• June 2 – In Tubutama, Sonora, right across the U.S. border from New Mexico, a gunfight between rival drug cartels left 21 people killed.

• June 9 – Leader of the Los Zetas division in the state of Nuevo León, Raúl Héctor Luna, is arrested in Monterrey.

• June 10 – 2010 Chihuahua shootings: 40 people are killed and at least four others are wounded in an attack by at least 30 gunmen in Chihuahua. The attack occurred in multiples places in the city, including a rehabilitation center where 19 of the victims died.

• June 14 – Twelve Federal Police officers were killed and 13 wounded in two separate attacks, which took place in the state of Michoacán and in the city of Ciudad Juárez. Several gunmen were also killed. Three gunmen were also killed and two soldiers wounded in a clash between cartel gunmen and the Army.

• June 15 – Army soldiers killed 15 gunmen and confiscated twenty guns and two homemade explosives during a 40-minute shootout on the outskirts of Taxco.

• June 19 – In an attack on Jesús Manuel Lara Rodríguez, the mayor of Guadalupe Distrito Bravos, a suburb of Ciudad Juárez, 3 police officers, the mayor, and 9 gunmen were killed.

• June 26 – Banda Singer Sergio Vega, also known as "El Shaka", is murdered outside the city of Los Mochis in the state of Sinaloa.

• June 27 – Gunmen killed nine people at a drug rehabilitation clinic in Gómez Palacio, Durango.

• June 28 – Rodolfo Torre Cantú, PRI candidate for governor of Tamaulipas, was gunned down along with six others as he rode in a car near Ciudad Victoria.

• July 15 – La Línea, the Juárez Cartel's armed wing, used a car bomb for the first time, setting a deadly trap against federal police in the city of Ciudad Juárez; the car bomb killed three police officers.

• July 18 – Gunmen in five SUVs drove up to a party on the outskirts of Torreón, Coahuila and opened fire killing 17 party-goers.

• July 25 - In state of Nuevo Leon, 70 corpses were exhumed from clandestine mass graves. In addition, the municipality of Benito Juárez counts with 51 of the total 70.

• July 29 – Ignacio Coronel Villarreal, one of the three leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel was killed in a shootout with the Army in Zapopan, Jalisco. One soldier was also killed and another wounded during the shootout.

• July 30 – On the heavy trafficked highway Matamoros-Ciudad Victoria, just outside of San Fernando, Tamaulipas, 15 dead bodies from Los Zetas were left for display by the Gulf Cartel on the middle of the road.

• August 22 – Four decapitated and mutilated bodies were discovered hanging by their ankles from a bridge in Cuernavaca in the southern state of Morelos. Héctor Beltrán Leyva took responsibility for the killings in a message left with the bodies, the message left with the bodies threatened: "This is what will happen to all those who support the traitor Edgar Valdez Villarreal".

• August 24 – Tamaulipas massacre: Following a gunfight in the state of Tamaulipas between gunmen alleged to be drug traffickers, in which three gunmen and a marine were killed, 72 bodies were recovered from a remote ranch in the state of Tamaulipas. It was "the biggest single discovery of its kind" in the ongoing drug war. The 58 men and 14 women were believed to be undocumented migrants from South and Central America trying to cross the border to the United States. A surviving migrant claims that the migrants were kidnapped by the Los Zetas cartel and killed for refusing to do work for them. Twenty one rifles, 101 ammunition clips, four bullet-proof vests, camouflage uniforms and four vehicles were seized by officials. The bodies were found in a room, some of which were piled up on top of each other.

• August 30 – Authorities capture Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez Villarreal, a U.S.-born trafficker who was fighting to lead the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel based in central Mexico.

• September 2 – Twenty seven suspected drug cartel gunmen are shot dead in clashes near the U.S. border in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas; the bodies were found on a property believed to be owned by Los Zetas.

• September 8 - The mayor of El Naranjo, San Luis Potosí, Alexander López García, is killed in his office by a group of gunmen.

• September 9 – Gunmen killed 25 people in a series of drug-related attacks in Ciudad Juárez, marking the deadliest day in more than two years for the Mexican border city. Two graffiti message's appeared in Ciudad Juárez threatening the Sinaloa Cartel drug lord Joaquin Guzman. One message read: "You are killing our sons. You already did, and now we are going to kill your families."

• September 10 – In the border city of Reynosa, across the border from McAllen, Texas, 85 inmates — 66 of whom were convicted or on trial for federal charges like weapons possession or drugs — scaled the Reynosa prison's 20-foot (6-meter) walls using ladders. Forty four prison guards and employees were under investigation. Two were missing. So far this year a total of 201 inmates have escaped from prisons in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.

• September 12 - Mexican marines arrest Sergio Villarreal Barragán, a lieutenant of the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel.

• September 16 - In Matamoros, Tamaulipas, over 25 people were killed after a confrontation between the Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas, and elements of the Mexican Navy. This was during the eve celebration of the Mexican Independence Day.

• October 18 – Mexican authorities seized 105 tons of marijuana bound for the U.S., representing the biggest bust in the history of the state of Baja California. Soldiers and police seized the drugs in pre-dawn raids in three neighborhoods. The marijuana was found wrapped in 10,000 packages. The drug had an estimated street value in Mexico of 4.2 billion pesos, about $338 million.

• October 22 – Gunmen kill 14 people at a boy's birthday party in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua.

• October 24 – Gunmen in Tijuana kill 13 people at a drug rehab clinic.

• October 27 – Gunmen kill 15 people at a car wash in Tepic, Nayarit.

• November 4 – In Ciudad Mante, Tamaulipas, 8 beheaded corpses were found on the trunk of a pickup truck. On top of the corpses, a poster read the following: “This happens for supporting Los Zetas. Here are all your halcones (informants). Sincerely, the Gulf Cartel.

• November 5 – Antonio Ezequiel Cárdenas Guillen, co-leader of the Gulf Cartel, was shot and killed during a gunbattle against Mexican authorities, along with more than 50 of his gunmen, in the border city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas. Although not confirmed, some local sources reveal that more than 100 people died that day in Matamoros.

• November 9 – Customs authorities at the International Airport of Mexico City seized 113 kilos of cocaine and two thousand bottles of pills with Risperidone.

• November 9 – Mayor Gregorio Barradas Miravete was found executed with a note left on him that read: "This is going to happen to all those who continue to support Los Zetas."

• November 22 - In the rural outsides of Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas, drug cartel gunmen threatened a 77 year-old local entrepreneur, Don Alejo Garza Támez, to give away all his property. According to the report, they gave Don Alejo one day to leave his ranch before the gunmen arrived. If not, they threatened to kill him. Instead, Don Alejo made a fortress in his own ranch; setting up traps, and placing rifles on every house window, waiting for the arrival of the gunmen all by himself. When the gunmen arrived, Don Alejo shot and killed 4 of them, and gravely injured 2. Nevertheless, Don Alejo was killed, too, but he was commemorated for his heroic act.

• December 3 - In Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexican authorities capture Edgar Jiménez Lugo, alias "El Ponchis," a 14 year-old hitman from the South Pacific Cartel. He is the youngest sicario that there is register of in Mexico; "El Ponchis" is well known for carrying out over 300 violent executions, most of them by mutilation, torture, and decapitation.

• December 9 – La Familia Michoacana's drug lord, Nazario Moreno González, was killed in a shootout with the federal police.

• December 18 – In Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, 151 inmates escaped a federal prison—58 of them were high-profile criminals—and investigations mention that the convicts left through the front door, which implies that the director allowed them to escape.

• December 19 - 2010 Puebla oil pipeline explosion: In the state of Puebla, a pipeline owned by PEMEX company exploded after thieves from Los Zetas attempted to siphon off the oil. The explosion killed 28 people, injured 52, and damaged over 115 homes.

• December 28 – Around 60 gunmen stormed the small, indigenous town of Tierras Coloradas, Durango. The gunmen burned all the houses (40), cars (27), and an elementary school; over 200 natives had to flee the area, others were killed.

For 2010, the drug-related deaths reached 15,273.

2011

• January 8 – 28 bodies were discovered in Acapulco, including the decapitated bodies of 15 young men, with the heads scattered around them, which were found outside the Plaza Sendero shopping center. Media reports say that three messages signed by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa cartel, were found alongside the bodies. The other bodies include 6 found in a taxi behind a supermarket, 4 riddled with bullets in two residential neighborhoods and 3 others in other locations.

• February 16 – In San Luis Potosí, the American ICE agent Jaime Zapata was ambushed, shot, and killed on a highway during his trajectory to Mexico City by a group of gunmen, later confirmed to be Los Zetas. The second agent, Victor Avila, was wounded, and is now in the United States. The gunmen involved in the shooting have been apprehended.

• February 27 – Sergio Mora Cortes, aka "El Toto," is captured by Mexican Marines in Saltillo, Coahuila. Mora Cortes was a leader of Los Zetas in the state of San Luis Potosi, and he was wanted for the murder of the American ICE agent Jaime Zapata and for the murder of a Nuevo Laredo police chief.

• February 28 – 7 bodies found hanging from bridges in Mazatlan, Sinaloa. Messages left with the corpses alleged that the dead were members of the South Pacific Cartel.

• March 1 – A mass grave with over 20 bodies was uncovered in San Miguel Totolapan, Guerrero. Other sources, however, mention that more than 70 bodies were exhumed.

• March 2 – A three-day shooting was registered between the Mexican Marines and Los Zetas in the city of Valle Hermoso, Tamaulipas. During these three days, all local businesses and schools closed; a convoy of 50 SUV’s from Los Zetas was seen in the rural highway outside the city.

• March 8 – 18 killed in gunfights in Abasolo, Tamaulipas. Most of the dead are believed to be operators for the warring Zetas and the Gulf Cartel. Mexican troops were deployed to restore order.

• March 10 – Jorge Hernández Espinoza, the Director of Public Security for Santiago Tangamandapio, Michoacán, was found dead in his vehicle with one shot once in his head and three times in his chest.

• March 29 - Police found the bodies of 6 men and 1 woman inside a car abandoned in an exclusive gated community near Cuernavaca.

• April 2 - In Ciudad Juarez, a group of gunmen attacked two bars with fire bombs and shootings in less than forty-eight hours, killing over 15 people.

• April 4 - A clash between the police and drug cartel gunmen left 7 dead and 6 people injured in Acapulco, Guerrero. In addition, a whole shopping center was burned down by the gunmen, and a dozen of stores were left in ruins.

• April 26 - 2011 Tamaulipas massacre: In San Fernando, Tamaulipas, after exhuming more than 40 mass graves, the final body count reached 193 corpses. Although not confirmed, some newspapers mention that the body count surpassed 500, but that the state government of Tamaulipas supposedly censored and prevented such publications.

• May 1 - MEXICO CITY - The drug-war death toll for Mexico in April was 1,400, the highest of any month since the Mexican government began its war on illicit drug trade four years ago. The previous high was 1,322 in August 2010.

• May 9 - The Mexican government, along with Sedena, disarm all police forces in the state of Tamaulipas, beginning with the cities of Matamoros and Reynosa.

• May 14 - 2011 Durango massacres: In the state of Durango, 249 bodies were exhumed from numerous clandestine mass graves. Some sources, however, indicate that the actual body count reached 308 corpses.

• May 16 – In Guatemala, 27 farmers were killed by Los Zetas; the majority of the victims presented signs of torture and decapitation.

• May 20 - In Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, directly across the border from Laredo, Texas, 31 people were killed in a 24-hour span. In addition, more than 40 people were injured, and 196 drug cartel gunmen were detained.

• May 27 - In Ruiz, Nayarit, a convoy from the Sinaloa Cartel ambushed a group of gunmen of the Los zetas Cartel; 29 gunmen were killed, 3 were found injured.
  • A confrontation between the Federal Police forces and La Familia Michoacana in a ranch at Jilotlán de los Dolores, in western Jalisco, left 11 La Familia gunmen killed and 36 arrested. More than 70 assault rifles were confiscated, along with 14 handguns, 3 grenades, 578 cartridges, 20,000 rounds of ammunition, and 40 bullet-proof vests. It was later discovered that La Familia Michoacana was planning a raid against the Knights Templar.

• June 3 - In the state of Coahuila, 38 bodies were exhumed from clandestine mass graves.

• June 9 - The United States government arrested 127 U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents who were collaborating with the Mexican drug cartels.

• June 15 - A total of 34 people were killed in Monterrey, Nuevo León in a 24-hour span.

• June 21 - José de Jesús Méndez Vargas 'El Chango', leader of La Familia Michoacana, was captured in Aguascalientes.

• July 1 – In Fresnillo, Zacatecas, during a confrontation between Los Zetas and the Mexican forces, 15 Zeta gunmen were killed, and 17 were arrested; SEMAR notified that 6 marines were wounded.
  • Zacateca's Attorney General, Arturo Nahle García, confirmed that in Fresnillo, more than 250 Los Zetas gunmen confronted elements of the Mexican Navy throughout the whole city.

• July 4 - Federal Police agents arrest Jesús Enrique Rejón Aguilar, one of the leaders and co-founders of the Los Zetas drug cartel.

• July 8 - In the city of Monterrey, Nuevo León, a group of gunmen shot and killed 27 people, injured 7, and kidnapped 8 in 'Bar Sabino Gordo.' Presumably, this massacre was from the Gulf Cartel to their rival group Los Zetas.

• July 9 - Fighting among Los Zetas and other drug cartels led to the deaths of more than 40 people whose bodies were found in three Mexican cities over a 24-hour span.

• July 11 - Armando Villarreal Heredia, a U.S-born drug lieutenant of the Arellano-Felix drug cartel, is arrested by the Federal Police.

• July 12 - In Ciudad Juarez, 21 people were killed in different parts of the city by gunmen. This marked the deadliest day for Ciudad Juarez in 2011.

• July 14 - The Mexican Army discovers the largest marijuana plantation ever found in the country, 320 km (200 mi) south of San Diego, CA., in the Mexican state of Baja California; consisting of 120 hectares (300 acres) that would have yielded about 120 tons, and was worth about USD $160 million.

• July 15 - In Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, 66 inmates escaped a federal prison during a massive brawl, where 7 other inmates were found dead.

• July 23 – The president of Mexico, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, and peace and human rights activists, which included the poet Javier Sicilia, gathered in Chapultepec Castle to initiate a national aired discussion on Mexico's drug war violence and on the country's military-led strategy against the drug cartels.
  • Due to anonymous calls by civilians, the Mexican Army carried out an operation to crack down on operatives from Los Zetas in Pánuco, Veracruz; when the Mexican forces arrived at the place, the gunmen received them with shots, but the Army repelled the aggression and killed 10 Zetas.

• July 24 - An unidentified group of gunmen disarmed 21 policemen in Michoacán. According to the information given, the gunmen carried out personal inspections to each police officer, disarming them one by one. The cops refused to defend themselves because the gunmen expressed high levels of anxiousness, and they were scared of being executed.

• July 25 - Inside a prison in Ciudad Juárez, 17 inmates were shot and killed during a brawl between rival drug groups.

• July 28 - Fortino Cortés Sandoval, the mayor of Florencia de Benito Juárez, Zacatecas, is found dead after a group of gunmen abducted him from his office.

• July 31 - The Federal Police forces of Mexico captured José Antonio Acosta Hernández, nicknamed "El Diego," supreme leader of La Linea, the armed wing of the Juárez Cartel. According to government sources, "El Diego" had ordered more than 1,500 executions, some of them including government officials.

• August 4 - The Secretariat of National Defense announced that after the initiation of the 'Operation Lince Norte', an operation focused primarily on destroying the financial and logistic sectors of Los Zetas, more than 500,000 pesos have been confiscated, and more than 30 'Zeta' gumnen killed.

• August 12 - Óscar García Montoya, alias ‘El Compayito’, supreme leader of the criminal group La Mano con Ojos, was captured. He confessed to have killed over 300 people by himself, and ordered the execution of 300 more.

• August 20 - In Torreon, Coahuila, a shooting was registered during a Mexican soccer match between Santos Laguna and Monarcas Morelia.
  • The mayor of Zacualpan, Mexico State, Jesús Eduviges Nava, was found dead after being kidnapped by gunmen who interrupted a meeting he was holding in his municipality.

• August 25 - 2011 Monterrey casino attack: a well-armed group of gunmen massacred 52 people, and injured over a dozen, at Casino Royale. Although not confirmed, some sources mention that 61 were killed in the attack. This attack was the most violent and bloodiest in the history of Monterrey and of the whole state of Nuevo Leon. According to eye witnesses, the gunmen quietly stormed the casino and immediately opened fire at the civilians, and then doused the casino entrances with gasoline and started a fire that trapped the people inside.

• August 30 - In Acapulco, Guerrero, 140 elementary schools closed and over 600 teachers quit their jobs due to the money threats they have been receiving from the drug cartels. Over 75,000 kids are not attending school. One teacher confessed to have seen on a regular basis men in cars with assault rifles sticking out the windows, just outside school grounds.

• September 14 - In the small town of Juchipila in the state of Zacatecas, over 80 gunmen—presumably from the Gulf Cartel—took control of the town, its jail, and its city hall for over five hours. They mentioned that their goal was to wipe out any presence of Los Zetas in the area.

• September 17 - Moisés Villanueva de la Luz, a Mexican congressman, is found dead in Guerrero after being kidnapped for thirteen days.

• September 20 - Two trucks containing 35 dead bodies are found in Boca del Río, Veracruz. Sources mention that all victims were linked to Los Zetas, and that the executions were performed by the Sinaloa Cartel's armed wing, Gente Nueva. Nevertheless, the criminal group Los Mata Zetas claimed responsibility for this massacre. In addition, 14 more bodies were found around Veracruz two days after this incident, summing up to 49 bodies found in public highways in the last forty-eight hours.

• October 4 - The Mexican federal government launches the military-led project called Operación Veracruz Seguro to ensure tranquility in Veracruz. Reports mention that Los Zetas, the Gulf Cartel, and the Sinaloa Cartel are present in that state.

• October 5 - In Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexican authorities captured Noel Salgueiro Nevárez, the supreme leader of the Sinaloa Cartel's armed wing, Gente Nueva. In addition, they also captured Martín Rosales Magaña, one of the founders of La Familia Michoacana.

• October 6 - In Boca del Río, Veracruz, a total of 36 bodies were found by Mexican authorities in three houses. Eight alleged perpetrators of the recent killings in Veracruz have been caught, including the leader of the group Los Mata Zetas. In addition, the Attorney General of Veracruz resigned from his position due to the increasing violence. A day after this incident, another 10 bodies were found across the state of Veracruz. The wave of violence has caused over 100 deaths in the past two weeks in Veracruz.

• October 14 - Carlos Oliva Castillo alias "La Rana," third-in-command in Los Zetas organization and the mastermind of the 2011 Monterrey casino attack where 52 were killed, was captured in northern city of Saltillo, Coahuila.

• November 2 - Ricardo Guzmán Romero, PAN mayor of La Piedad, Michoacán, was shot and killed by a group of unidentified gunmen.

• November 23 - A total of 23 bodies—16 of them burned to death—were located in several abandoned vehicles in Sinaloa.

• November 24 - Three trucks containing 26 bodies were found in an avenue at Guadalajara, Jalisco. All of them were male corpses. Reports mention that Los Zetas and the Milenio Cartel are responsible for the massacre of these twenty-six alleged Sinaloa Cartel members.

• December 14 - A convoy of U.S. military members was seen crossing the U.S-Mexico border from Brownsville, Texas into Matamoros, Tamaulipas. The U.S. soldiers were greeted by Mexican military officials at the international bridge, and were escorted to their meeting location south of Matamoros. Reports mention that the meeting between the two military units was to discuss “mutual security” concerns.

• December 25 - The Mexican army announced that it had captured Guzmán's head of security. The arrest took place in Culiacan, the Sinaloa state capital.

2012

January 7 - Mexican police in the northern city of Torreon found the severed heads of five people killed in a suspected outbreak of drug gang violence. Officials were still searching for the bodies. The heads were found in black bags in various parts of the city late on Friday, a spokesman for the ministry of public security in the state of Coahuila said on Saturday. Threatening messages were left with the severed heads - a common feature of killings by drug cartels in Mexico - that suggested the slayings were the result of feuding between local gangs, the spokesman said.

External links

• Mexico's Drug War – Extensive coverage from the L.A. Times