-
Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman escapes from a Mexican prison
in a laundry van. Mexico's most-wanted drug lord, he builds a coalition of drug gangs from the western state of Sinaloa and vows to take control of Mexico's vast drug trade. -
police kill and arrest
2002 - Police killed drug boss Ramon Arellano Felix of the Tijuana cartel and arrested one of his brothers -
Mexican soldiers capture Osiel Cardenas,
2003 - Mexican soldiers capture Osiel Cardenas, leader of the Gulf cartel based in eastern Mexico, after a shootout between troops and gunmen in the border city of Matamoros. -
Trying to take advantage of Cardenas' arresT
2004 - Guzman sends well-armed enforcers to border cities south of Texas to take over Gulf cartel smuggling routes. Heavy fighting breaks out -
VIOLENCE ESCALATES
2005 - Guzman seeks control of the border city of Tijuana and trafficking routes into California. Violence escalates across Mexico and about 1,500 people are killed over the year. -
KILLING TAKES AN ALL TIME RISE
Killings spread to the resort of Acapulco, the industrial city of Monterrey and to Michoacan in western Mexico, the home state of Felipe Calderon, who takes office as president on Dec. 1 and immediately sends out troops and federal police to stem the violence. Drug gang killings rise to 2,300 and atrocities like beheadings and torture increase. -
historic 23-tonne cocaine seizure.
2007 - Calderon extradites Gulf cartel leader Cardenas to the United States and makes a historic 23-tonne cocaine seizure. US President George W. Bush pledges $1.4 billion in drug-fighting gear and training for Mexico and Central America. Violence escalates and more than 3,000 are killed in the year. -
drug war's bloodiest flashpoint.
2008 - Guzman's hitmen take on the Juarez cartel in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, and quickly becomes the drug war's bloodiest flashpoint. Drug violence kills around 6,300 people across Mexico in the year. -
killingf continue now obama interfieres
2009 - Calderon sends 10,000 more troops to Ciudad Juarez but killings continue. Violence spills over the border into Arizona. U.S. President Barack Obama visits Mexico and vows to clamp down on smuggled guns but the annual drug war death toll soars above 7,000. In December, an elite navy squad tracks down and kills drug lord Arturo Beltran Leyva, head of the cartel of the same name and one of Mexico's most-wanted traffickers. Six bodyguards also die in the raid on a luxury apartment in the city -
"el teo" 3 people kiilled car boming,cartel murders
2010 - Police capture drug kingpin Teodoro "El Teo" Garcia Simental, known for having rivals tortured, killed and then dissolved in acid, in January. But drug gangs grow more brazen, killing three people linked to the U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juarez, murdering a gubernatorial election candidate in the increasingly lawless northeastern state of Tamaulipas and setting off a car bomb in Ciudad Juarez. Cartel murders soar to unprecedented levels, exceeding 5,000 by mid-June.
