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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Famous quotes containing the word violence:
“It is an evil world. The fires of hatred and violence burn fiercely. Evil is powerful, the devil covers a darkened earth with his black wings. And soon the end of the world is expected. But mankind does not repent, the church struggles, and the preachers and poets warn and lament in vain.”
—Johan Huizinga (1872–1945)