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Mexican drug war: A Visual History

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Visual history of a war

Since 2006: the Mexican state against the cartels and the cartels against each other, with over 400,000 killed and 100,000 missing.

Fought
2006 to present
Duration
20 years
Dates
11 December 2006 to present (ongoing)
Deaths
Over 400,000 homicides since 2006, most cartel-related; over 100,000 disappeared
State
Mexican army, navy, federal police, National Guard; US DEA and Merida Initiative aid
Cartels
Sinaloa, Jalisco New Generation (CJNG), Gulf, Zetas, Juarez, Tijuana, La Familia/Knights Templar, Beltran Leyva and successors
Status
Ongoing; CJNG and Sinaloa factions dominant; US designates cartels as terrorist organisations (2025)

The Mexican drug war began in December 2006 when President Felipe Calderon sent the army against the cartels in Michoacan. The 'kingpin strategy' of arresting or killing capos fragmented the Sinaloa, Gulf, Juarez and Tijuana cartels and spawned violent splinters, the Zetas, La Familia, and later the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, which fought each other and the state for smuggling routes; Ciudad Juarez became the world's most murderous city around 2010. Homicides rose from about 10,000 a year to over 35,000; mass graves, disappearances (over 100,000), the Ayotzinapa 43 and the escapes and extradition of El Chapo marked the war. Fentanyl replaced heroin as the main export; US pressure and Mexican militarisation have not reduced the cartels' reach, and the war continues.

When it was fought: the era ribbon

The bold bar is Mexican drug war. The lighter bars are empires and wars from the same era and the same part of the world. Click any bar to jump to its page.

14001500160017001800190020002100Mexican drug war (2006 to present)Open: Spanish EmpireSpanish Empire (1492 to 1976)Open: British EmpireBritish Empire (1583 to 1997)Open: Dutch EmpireDutch Empire (1602 to 1975)Open: United StatesUnited States (1776 to present)Open: Mexican War of IndependenceMexican War of Independence (1810 to 1821)Open: Mexican RevolutionMexican Revolution (1910 to 1920)Open: Cristero WarCristero War (1926 to 1929)Open: Cold WarCold War (1947 to 1991)Open: Guatemalan Civil WarGuatemalan Civil War (1960 to 1996)Open: Colombian conflictColombian conflict (1964 to present)

Homicides in Mexico per year

0102030402006: 102008: 142011: 272014: 202018: 362020: 362023: 312024: 302010201520202024thousands

Timeline of the Mexican drug war

  1. 2006
    Calderon sends the army to Michoacan11 December.
  2. 2010
    Zetas split from the Gulf cartel; Juarez peak; San Fernando
  3. 2014
    El Chapo caught; Ayotzinapa disappearances
  4. 2015
    El Chapo escapes; CJNG downs a helicopter
  5. 2017
    El Chapo extradited
  6. 2019
    Culiacan 'Battle'; Ovidio released
  7. 2024
    El Mayo taken to the US; Sinaloa civil war
  8. 2025
    US terrorist designations; mass extraditions

Calderon's offensive

Mexico's cartels grew as Colombian cocaine routes shifted through Mexico in the 1990s. Calderon, newly elected, deployed 6,500 troops to Michoacan in December 2006 and expanded nationwide; extraditions to the US surged. Killing or capturing bosses split organisations: the Zetas, ex-special-forces enforcers of the Gulf cartel, broke away in 2010 and pioneered massacres (72 migrants at San Fernando), beheadings and extortion; the Sinaloa-Juarez war made Ciudad Juarez the murder capital of the world with 3,000 killed in 2010.

El Chapo, Ayotzinapa and CJNG

Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman of Sinaloa, escaped in 2001, was recaptured in 2014, escaped through a tunnel in 2015, was caught in 2016 and extradited in 2017; a US court sentenced him to life in 2019. Enrique Pena Nieto (2012-2018) played down the war but violence rose; the disappearance of 43 students at Iguala in September 2014 exposed collusion between police, politicians and Guerreros Unidos. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel under 'El Mencho' shot down an army helicopter in 2015 and expanded across the country. Autodefensa vigilante militias rose in Michoacan.

'Hugs not bullets' and fentanyl

Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (2018-2024) created the National Guard and preached 'abrazos, no balazos', but homicides stayed above 30,000 a year and the army's role grew; the arrest and release of El Chapo's son in Culiacan in 2019 showed the Sinaloa cartel's power, though Ovidio Guzman was seized in 2023 and El Mayo Zambada kidnapped to the US in 2024, sparking a Sinaloa civil war. Cartels diversified into fentanyl, avocados, migrant smuggling and fuel theft. Under Claudia Sheinbaum, US tariff threats and terrorist designations in 2025 pushed Mexico to send troops north and extradite dozens of capos, but the killing continues.

Chosen automatically by overlap in time and geography, plus a few hand picked connections.

Empires of the same era and region

Wars of the same era and region

8 surprising things about the Mexican drug war

  1. More people have been killed in Mexico's drug war than in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined.
  2. Over 100,000 people are officially registered as disappeared, and mothers' collectives search for clandestine graves with metal rods.
  3. El Chapo escaped a maximum security prison in 2015 through a 1.5-km tunnel with a motorcycle on rails.
  4. The Zetas were founded by deserters from Mexican army special forces trained partly in the US.
  5. Ciudad Juarez recorded 3,000 murders in 2010, over 200 per 100,000 people.
  6. Fentanyl trafficked by Mexican cartels is the leading cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 45.
  7. The Ayotzinapa 43 have never been found; a government truth commission called it a 'state crime'.
  8. Mexican cartels are estimated to earn 20 to 30 billion dollars a year from the US market.

Sources

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