Apodaca Prison Riot

Date: February 19, 2012 • Location: Entronque Laredo-Salinas Victoria, Mexico

Mexican drug war: Forty-four inmates died in a prison riot in Apodaca, Mexico, between members of Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel.

The Mexican drug war is an ongoing asymmetric armed conflict between the Mexican government and various drug trafficking syndicates. When the Mexican military intervened in 2006, the government's main objective was to reduce drug-related violence. The Mexican government has asserted that its primary focus is on dismantling the cartels and preventing drug trafficking. The conflict has been described as the Mexican theater of the global war on drugs, as led by the United States federal government. Analysts estimate wholesale earnings from illicit drug sales range from $13.6 to $49.4 billion annually.