\u00a0Drug cartels\u00a0across Mexico are increasingly turning to car bombs,\u00a0explosives-laden drones\u00a0and improvised explosive devices, a trend that could further strain Mexico\u2019s already tense relationship with\u00a0U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly threatened military action against the cartels.<\/p>\n
\n
The latest incident occurred Sunday night outside a police station in Ojocaliente, a town in the north-central state of Zacatecas, about 360 miles (580 km) northwest of Mexico City. No one was killed, but the explosion of 200 kilograms (440 pounds) of explosives injured 11 people and damaged more than 60 homes in the city center, Mexico\u2019s security chief\u00a0Omar Garc\u00eda Harfuch\u00a0said Friday during a visit to Zacatecas with\u00a0President Claudia Sheinbaum.<\/p>\n
So far this year, Zacatecas has recorded 23 attacks involving explosives, including six involving cars or motorcycles packed with explosives, state Attorney General Cristian Paul Camacho said.<\/p>\n
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG, and the Sinaloa Cartel have\u00a0fought for years over control of Zacatecas.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what to know about why the car bombings are raising concern in Mexico, even though their scale remains far below the violence seen in countries such as\u00a0Colombia.<\/p>\n
Car bombs are rare in Mexico but have been used in the past<\/h4>\n
Victor Manuel S\u00e1nchez, a University of Coahuila professor who has tracked car bombings in Mexico in recent decades, said an early period of such violence included a 1994 attack in Guadalajara by the Tijuana Cartel targeting Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael \u201cEl Mayo\u201d Zambada, who was later\u00a0convicted in the United States.<\/p>\n
More recently, he said the Jalisco New Generation Cartel has increasingly used explosives as it expands its reach across Mexico.<\/p>\n
Authorities have attributed two recent bombings in the centers of small cities to the group: one in Michoac\u00e1n in December that killed five people and Sunday\u2019s attack outside a police station in Zacatecas. The CJNG is among the Mexican criminal organizations\u00a0designated as foreign terrorist organizations\u00a0by the Trump administration.<\/p>\n
The use of explosives is relatively recent<\/h4>\n
Mexican cartels began using explosives more extensively about five years ago, dropping them from drones to attack security forces or rival groups and burying explosive devices in the ground to defend or control territory.<\/p>\n
In 2023,\u00a0roadway bombs planted by drug cartels\u00a0in the western Jalisco state killed six people and injured another 14. A month later, the military acknowledged the growing threat and released its first figures, saying it had seized about 2,800 explosive devices nationwide over the previous 4 1\/2 years.<\/p>\n
The following year, authorities deactivated nearly 3,200 explosive devices in Michoac\u00e1n state alone. In 2025, an explosive device there killed eight soldiers in one of the deadliest such incidents in Mexico. Authorities have not released more recent nationwide figures.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is all a bad development in Mexico,\u201d said Vanda Felbab-Brown, an organized crime expert at the Brookings Institution, a U.S. think tank. \u201cWe are facing steady intensification of violence,\u201d she said. \u201cThis certainly greatly intensifies the atmosphere of fear and retaliation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sheinbaum said Friday that the nationwide decline in killings was clear evidence that the government strategy against cartels was working.<\/p>\n
Car bombs to spread fear<\/h4>\n
Experts say cartels use car bombs to intimidate rivals and authorities, pressure the government and spread fear among civilians.<\/p>\n
Carlos P\u00e9rez Ricart, an international studies professor at Mexico\u2019s CIDE university, said car bombs also draw attention and can be used to pressure authorities into negotiations, particularly when criminal groups feel under siege.<\/p>\n
Calling it cartel violence, not terrorism<\/h4>\n
Mexico has long resisted describing cartel violence as terrorism, in part because of concerns that the designation could invite foreign intervention and hurt tourism and investment, Felbab-Brown said.<\/p>\n
Another official argument is that terrorism generally involves political or ideological aims, while cartels are primarily motivated by profit.<\/p>\n
Still, civilians have been deliberately targeted. In 2008, grenades thrown into crowds celebrating Independence Day in Morelia, the capital of Michoac\u00e1n,\u00a0killed eight people and wounded dozens. Three years later, gunmen\u00a0set fire to a casino in northern Mexico, killing 52 people.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration\u2019s designation of\u00a0eight Mexican cartels\u00a0as foreign terrorist organizations \u2014 and its use of that framework to justify military action \u2014 has made the terminology more consequential, particularly as the legality of such actions is challenged in the United States and abroad.<\/p>\n
P\u00e9rez Ricart cautioned against applying counterterrorism strategies to organized crime. \u201cThe answer to terrorism is the disappearance of the enemy,\u201d he said, while in the drug trade the adversary is not simply an armed group but an entire illegal market.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
#Mexican #drug #cartels #increasingly #bombladen #drones #improvised #explosive #devices<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0Drug cartels\u00a0across Mexico ar… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3931,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6807,6806,6249,5313,397,6809,6808,2308,3242,1483],"class_list":["post-3930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-bombladen","tag-cartels","tag-devices","tag-drones","tag-drug","tag-explosive","tag-improvised","tag-increasingly","tag-mexican","tag-mexico"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/p>\n