SUMMARY

The violence between the Cali cartel and the Medellin cartel began in the 1980s when both groups were competing over drug trafficking to the USA, especially violent was the period in the late 1980s when the cartels were competing over the New York market. The amount of violence, however, also drew interest from the authorities. By early 1990 Cali cartel was in control of the New York market but the largest share of the US market still belonged to Medellin cartel. Pablo Escobar, the leader of Medellin cartel, also accused the Cali cartel of supplying the authorities with information that led to the killing of one of the Medellin cartel’s high profile members.

Medellin cartel often made use of car bombs in their attacks, though perhaps more so in the one-sided part of their violence than in the violence against Cali cartel. The attacks that were carried out in the conflict between Cali and Medellin cartels there were instead a number of assassinations where bodies were found days after their disappearances with notes such as, “here lies three terrorists, assassins, kidnappers, the little dead ones of the Medellin cartel” responded to later with notes on another set of bodies of Cali members bearing the message “if you want war, you’ll have war”.

The non-state conflict between Cali cartel and the Medellin cartel is first included in UCDP data in 1990. By late September that year fighting between the two groups had resulted in more than 25 battle-related deaths.