Jorge Fernández Menéndez, Excelsior, 4/12/2010
It appears, with extensive violence and deaths to seal the deal, that something that has been described as a new cartel is now operating, above all in Morelos: the South Pacific (Pacífico Sur). In realtiy, it is the part of the organization of Arturo Beltrán Leyva that continues to be headed by his brother Héctor and is now in an open war with the former hit-man boss and manager of the drug trade in Acapulco and Cuernavaca, Édgar Valdez Villarreal, known as La Barbie. The South Pacific group appears to be more than just a new label because, along with its allies, it appears to be taking shelter in the face of an offensive by both security forces and its adversaries, who have them on the verge of defeat…
The article goes on to describe how the former members of the Beltran Leyva cartel are fighting among themselves while their allies in Juarez are losing control of drug trafficking in the border city to the Sinaloa cartel. The third component of the alliance that includes the Beltran Leyva and Juarez cartels , Los Zetas, are also under great pressure from the Gulf cartel in the Northeast of Mexico. A realignment of power appears to be underway.
Mexico Institute 