Mexico's next challenge: a mega cartel?

Top narco bosses recently held a summit in Coahuila state, Mexican press reports

Guadalajara -
Mexico has dozens of drug cartels and hundreds if not thousands of local and regional gangs which work with them. But according to press reports appearing in many newspapers today, the 21 month old "bloody administration" of president Enrique Peña Nieto may soon have to face up to the mother of all cartels, despite its persistent claims in recent months that domestic security is on the upswing.

Quoting unidentified "intelligence sources" in Mexico and the United States, reports say four cartels could be planning a merger, including two of the nation's most brutal. They include the Guadalajara based Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), Cártel de los Beltrán Leyva, Los Zetas and a lesser known group, Cártel de Juarez, sometimes called Los Carrillo Fuentes, which allegedly specializes in the export of cocaine to the United States "on a huge scale."

According to the sources, drug capos held a summit in June in the border town of Piedras Negras, Coahuila. One of the participants was CJNG's ultimate leader, Nemesio Oseguera, whose son Rubén was arrested here on Jan. 30. Federals capture key Matazeta operative in suburban Guadalajara. The summit was allegedly monitored by Mexican security forces, presumably by electronic surveillance.

Mergers, divisions and shifting organized crime alliances in Mexico's 92 month old drug war are not unusual. Such has especially been the case in Quintana Roo state, along the country's Caribbean coastline. Two cartels unite to declare war on Los Zetas in Cancún, foreshadowing a "bloodbath" in Riviera Maya.

If a mother of all cartels is the result of the June meeting, the Mexican press opined today, it would completely "reconfigure the nation's drug trafficking map."

2013
Jan. 6 - Mexican drug cartels enjoy global presence via cocaine
Jan. 13 - Mexican drug cartels operate in 1,286 U.S. cities
Feb. 11 - The Chicago Connection: Sinaloa Cartel moves cocaine from Windy City to Australia
Feb. 14 - Chicago calls El Chapo Guzmán "Public Enemy # 1"

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