SUMMARY

The outbreak of fighting between different drug-trafficking gangs in Mexico can be understood against the background of changes in the Mexican political landscape during the previous decades. During the 1980s, there was a loose network of drug smugglers who controlled separate territories, known as "plazas", which they used primarily for drug trafficking. Governmental authority was highly centralized under PRI (Partido Revolucionario Institucional, Institutional Revolutionary Party) rule and by bribing high ranking officials the drug smugglers could conduct their operations largely uninterrupted by the authorities.

Since the former President Felipe Calderon launched his offensive against the drug cartels in 2006, many important leaders have been arrested or killed. However, the elimination of top leaders has not always resulted in less violence and weaker cartels. The previously well-organized, centralized organizations have often experienced in-fighting between groups trying to fill the power vacuum when a prominent leader has been removed. A constant shift of alliances has made the situation in Mexico extremely lethal and hard to handle.

Both the Guerreros Unidos and Los Rojos are splinter groups from the Beltrán Leyva Cartel. They splintered separately from the Beltrán Leyva Cartel after the death of the cartel’s leader, Arturo Beltrán Leyva, in 2009. The Guerreros Unidos and Los Rojos have fought each other since at least 2012 over the control of the drug trade and the possibilities for extortion in the Guerrero and Morelos state.

Even though clashes between Guerreros Unidos and Los Rojos have occurred earlier, the conflict is first included in UCDP data in 2014 when the number of deaths met the UCDP threshold. Clashes were mostly concentrated around the area of Iguala town in Guerrero state, where many clandestine mass graves were found during the year. Clashes also took place in the Morelos state during the year.

The non-state conflict between Guerreros Unidos and Los Rojos is first included in UCDP data in 2014. In May of that year, fighting between the two groups had resulted in more than 25 battle-related deaths.