As far as everyone knows the drug war started in 2006. Many say that it all started when former Mexico president Felipe Calderon sent 6,500 soldiers to the state of Michoácan to try and battle drug traffickers (Mexico Drug War Fast Facts). The truth is that the war began way before President Felipe Calderon. The drug war and cartels began when the main guy above everyone whose name was Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo but went by the name “El Padrino” (The Godfather) kidnapped, tortured, and killed an agent that belonged to the Drug Enforcement Agency. After that incident all of El Padrinos allies turned against him which forced him to distribute all of his empire (Mexico) to his top lieutenants. His top lieutenants included Arellano Felix, Carrillo Fuentes, Miguel Quintero, Juan Abergo, Chapo Guzman, and Mayo Zambada. His plan of distributing his empire and hoping to keep it together failed, a little while after he distributed the land because greed got the best of Guzman and he started warring with the Arellano Felix Brothers which was another cartel. Since Guzman started the first war it broke out from there and the other top lieutenants also started war on each other because in the 1950s some cartels were slowly starting to gain power and they all didn’t want that (Borderland Beat: Mexico's Cartels and How it Got to This).
The Gulf Cartel had been smuggling contraband since the 1950s but the first war between the top lieutenants over power didn’t begin until the early 1990s. At that time big methamphetamine labs were introduced to Mexico giving cartels a whole new big money supply. The United States and even Mexico were surprised at how big these methamphetamine labs were because they weren’t the usual small labs that were located in America. Also at that time the cartel of Los Zetas was made but without actually knowing the amount of destruction they were going to cause. Los Zetas were made up of a group of Mexican soldiers who had been specifically formed to protect the Cartel del Golfo from their rivals. From then on El Cartel de Los Zetas have been gaining more and more power, not just in Mexico but all of the cartels power have extended and are used in the US too (Borderland Beat: Mexico's Cartels and How it Got to This).
(1. Miguel Carrillo Fuentes, 2. Juan Jose Esparragoza Moreno, 3. "El V", 4. Omar Trevino Morales, 5. Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, 6. Hector Beltran Leyva)
The Gulf Cartel had been smuggling contraband since the 1950s but the first war between the top lieutenants over power didn’t begin until the early 1990s. At that time big methamphetamine labs were introduced to Mexico giving cartels a whole new big money supply. The United States and even Mexico were surprised at how big these methamphetamine labs were because they weren’t the usual small labs that were located in America. Also at that time the cartel of Los Zetas was made but without actually knowing the amount of destruction they were going to cause. Los Zetas were made up of a group of Mexican soldiers who had been specifically formed to protect the Cartel del Golfo from their rivals. From then on El Cartel de Los Zetas have been gaining more and more power, not just in Mexico but all of the cartels power have extended and are used in the US too (Borderland Beat: Mexico's Cartels and How it Got to This).
(1. Miguel Carrillo Fuentes, 2. Juan Jose Esparragoza Moreno, 3. "El V", 4. Omar Trevino Morales, 5. Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, 6. Hector Beltran Leyva)