Violence between the Gulf-Sinaloa-La Familia Michoacana drug cartel alliance and Los Zetas, a spinoff of the Gulf cartel, has ticked upward in Nuevo Leon state as the organizations battle over valuable trafficking routes into the United States. Intra-cartel feuding over territory is just one of the factors that feeds the violence in Mexico; drug cartels also are battling federal law enforcement and military troops deployed by President Felipe Calderon. During the past week, a series of banners have been placed around Monterrey, the capital of Nuevo Leon state, urging Calderon to stand down the military forces, allowing the new three-way cartel union to handle Los Zetas on their own.
