Drug cartels in Mexico are upping the ante of late in their campaign to keep narcotics flowing to their primary markets in the US.
Violent attacks by the increasingly heavily armed cartels are becoming more numerous in the north of the country as rival cartels try to secure their territories and drug routes.
Many experts seem to be putting the increase in violence, in part, down` to Los Zetas, the arm of the Mexican military trained by US special forces who defected from the Mexican government to the drug cartels in the 1990s, but that would only be part of the reason.
Others are also putting it down to the increase in success that the Mexican government is having in curbing the activities of the cartels which is effecting their bottom lines.
Perhaps the increasing militarization of the cartels can also be put down to the increasing militarization of the methods used against them. When militaristic methods are employed against groups, it leaves little room for them to maneuvre other than to respond in kind. And certainly the cartels have the financial backing to be able to do that.
In academic circles, the idea that a rapid technological improvement in information systems has also seen a rise in the capacity of smaller groups to inflict damage, has some support. It certainly looks like this is equally applicable to the actions of the cartels who are turning to increasingly sophisticated and violent means to achieve their own goals.
When governments turn to primarily violent means to curb the actions of a group then it really shouldn’t be too much of a surprise when those groups also decide to respond in kind and increase the stakes.
That seems to be what we are seeing in Mexico.