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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | June 2007 
Mexican Drug Cartels Seek Peace Pact
 Mark Stevenson - Associated Press
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| | The gangs decided that the turf battles were costing them too much money, too much weaponry and too many deaths in their own ranks, leading them to seek a sort of nonaggression pact, according to a top official in the administration of President Felipe Calderon. |
Mexico's two main drug cartels are reaching out to each other in an attempt to end a recent round of bloody turf battles, Mexican and U.S. officials confirmed Monday.
The officials told The Associated Press the effort is aimed at stopping battles to control lucrative trafficking routes to the U.S. market.
The circumstances of the negotiations between the Sinaloa and the Gulf cartels — first reported in The Dallas Morning News Monday — were not clear.
The gangs decided that the turf battles were costing them too much money, too much weaponry and too many deaths in their own ranks, leading them to seek a sort of nonaggression pact, according to a top official in the administration of President Felipe Calderon.
"They realized they couldn't fight the government and each other at the same time," said the official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name. Since taking office in December, Calderon has sent more than 24,000 troops to areas plagued by drug violence.
A U.S. official in Washington, also speaking on condition he not be quoted by name, confirmed reports that the cartels may be reaching out to each other.
"We've had rumblings, intelligence information that the two cartels ... are trying to come to an agreement to stop causing each other trouble," the U.S. official said.
No one at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration was available to comment Monday.
Both officials denied reports — among those, a column in the Mexican newspaper Reforma — suggesting that the government may have been a party to the talks.
Also Monday, authorities announced the arrest of Luis Reyes Enriquez, a former Mexican army soldier and key member of the Gulf cartel. Officials said his job was to safeguard transportation of Colombian cocaine bound for the U.S. |
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