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The infighting in the Gulf Cartel refers to a series of confrontations between the Metros and the Rojos, two factions within Gulf Cartel that engaged in a power struggle directly after the death of the drug lord Samuel Flores Borrego in September 2011. The infighting has lasted through 2013, although the Metros have gained the advantage and regained control of the major cities controlled by the cartel when it was essentially one organization. Originally, the two factions were formed in the late 1990s by Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, the former leader of the criminal organization. After the drug lord's arrest and extradition in 2003 and 2007 respectively, the control of the Gulf Cartel went on to his brother Antonio Cárdenas Guillén (''Tony Tormenta'') and close associate Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez (''El Coss''). But the differences between the two factions began in 2010, when Juan Mejía González of the Rojos was overlooked as the regional boss for Reynosa, Tamaulipas during a cartel shift and appointed to a less-important territory. In the assignment, Flores Borrego of the Metros was given Reynosa, suggesting that the Metros were above the Rojos. When Antonio was killed by the Mexican marines on 5 November 2010 in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, his faction – the Rojos – perceived that the Metros had tipped the Mexican authorities to Antonio's whereabouts. Those who were more loyal to the Cárdenas drug family stayed with the Rojos, while those loyal to Costilla Sánchez stayed in the Metros. In efforts to seek revenge for the death of their leader, Mejía González and Rafael Cárdenas Vela, the nephew of Antonio, allegedly ordered the execution of Flores Borrego, the second-in-command in the Metros faction. With his death, both two factions turned their guns against each other and went to war in the Mexican northern state of Tamaulipas, and reportedly offered information to U.S. authorities on the location of cartel members hiding in the United States. In the infighting, many high-ranking members of the Gulf Cartel have been killed or arrested. In some cases, however, the drug-related violence extended across the U.S-Mexico border in South Texas, prompting debates on the possibility of "spillover violence" from the Mexican Drug War. The fight has forced the Rojos to barricade in Matamoros, Tamaulipas while the Metros make their final incursions to put them down. In order to do so, Costilla Sánchez of the Metros allegedly worked with the Sinaloa Cartel and Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. Nonetheless, after the arrests of Costilla Sánchez and Cárdenas Guillén, it is difficult to predict what fate lies ahead for the Gulf Cartel and Mexico's criminal underworld. ==Background== In the late 1990s, Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, the former leader of the Gulf Cartel, had other similar groups besides Los Zetas established in several cities in Tamaulipas. Each of these groups were identified by their radio codes: the Rojos were based in Reynosa; the Metros were headquartered in Matamoros; and the Lobos were established in Laredo.〔 The infighting between the Metros and the Rojos of the Gulf Cartel began in 2010, when Juan Mejía González, nicknamed ''El R-1'', was overlooked as the candidate of the regional boss of Reynosa and was sent to the "Frontera Chica," an area that encompasses Miguel Alemán, Camargo and Ciudad Mier – directly across the U.S-Mexico border from Starr County, Texas. The area that Mejía González wanted was given to Samuel Flores Borrego, suggesting that the Metros were above the Rojos.〔 Unconfirmed information released by ''The Monitor'' indicated that two leaders of the Rojos, Mejía González and Rafael Cárdenas Vela, teamed up to kill Flores Borrego.〔 Cárdenas Vela had held a grudge on Flores Borrego and the Metros because he believed that they had led the Mexican military to track down and kill his uncle Antonio Cárdenas Guillén (''Tony Tormenta'') in 5 November 2010.〔 Other sources indicate that the infighting could have been caused by the suspicions that the Rojos were "too soft" on the Gulf Cartel's bitter enemy, Los Zetas.〔 When the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas split in early 2010, some members of the Rojos stayed with the Gulf Cartel, while others decided to leave and join the forces of Los Zetas. InSight Crime explains that the fundamental disagreement between the Rojos and the Metros was over leadership. Those who were more loyal to the Cárdenas family stayed with the Rojos, while those loyal to Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sánchez, like Flores Borrego, defended the Metros.〔 Originally, the Gulf Cartel was running smoothly, but the infighting between the two factions in the Gulf Cartel triggered when Flores Borrego was killed on 2 September 2011.〔 When the Rojos turned on the Metros, the largest faction in the Gulf Cartel, firefights broke throughout Tamaulipas and drug loads were stolen among each other, but the Metros managed to retained control of the major cities that stretched from Matamoros to Miguel Alemán, Tamaulipas. Two other factions in the cartel, Los Ciclones and Los Escorpiones, reportedly engaged in a power struggle on 1 February 2012 in Matamoros.〔 〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Infighting in the Gulf Cartel」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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