Drug-related Violence
As a border town, Nuevo Laredo is known for its turf war in which drug cartels compete for control of the drug trade into United States. Nuevo Laredo is a lucrative drug corridor because of the large volume of trucks that pass through the area, and the multiple (exploitable) ports of entry.
Nuevo Laredo is the base of Los Zetas, originally the armed wing of the Gulf Cartel; the two organizations separated in early 2010 and have been fighting for the control of the smuggling routes to the United States. As of 2012, Los Zetas are thought to be Mexico's largest criminal organization. Drug violence involving the Sinaloa and Gulf Cartels escalated in 2003, when the city was controlled by the Gulf Cartel. 2012 has seen an unprecedented series of mass murder attacks in the city between the Sinaloa Cartel and Gulf Cartel on one side and Los Zetas on the other.
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“Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)