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Why Don't Mexico's Cartels Use Vehicle Bombs?

undefined and VP of Tactical Analysis
Scott Stewart
VP of Tactical Analysis, Stratfor

Jan 14, 2020 | 09:00 GMT

The drug cartels have the means and the opportunity to use vehicle bombs, but a desire to avoid blowback has sapped their motive to do so.

Drug cartels in Mexico, wary of being labeled narcoterrorists, have avoided using vehicle bombs as a tactic in their competition with rivals, a wariness that will most likely extend into the future.

(Photo Spirit/Shutterstock)

Highlights

  • Mexican cartels have the means, motive and opportunity to deploy car bombs, but two main constraints prevent them from doing so. 
  • The first is the indiscriminate nature of vehicle bombs and the destruction they cause, which would alienate the local populations essential to the cartels' ability to operate. 
  • The second is a desire to avoid winding up like the late Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, who was tracked down and killed after being labeled a narcoterrorist.

The long-term consequences of being labeled narcoterrorist groups, and possibly turning the population against them, has outweighed the short-term benefit for Mexican cartels of using vehicle bombs in their struggles with authorities and each other....

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