Puebla, Mexico. Flickr. Some rights reserved.
In 2010, the most violent year in Felipe Calderón’s “war on drugs” (2006-2012), the intelligence consultancy firm Stratfor produced an infographic detailing the geography of drug trafficking in Mexico, dividing the country among groups and painting their areas of influence in different colours.
The map has evolved over time due to government action and alliances and divisions within the groups, so that gangs appear and disappear in its different editions. In its 2010 edition, for example, the map identified the Beltrán family, the Arellano Félix family, the Zetas, the Carrillo Fuentes organization, the Familia Michoacana, the Sinaloa cartel and the Golfo cartel as the major groups operating in the country.
