This paper introduces the period from 2006 to 2012 as the main stage of the fight against drug trafficking in Mexico, featuring the role of police and armed forces in security tasks in the country. During this period, drug trafficking was strengthened by its various ways of operating, and a clear example of this situation was the Sinaloa Cartel that was benefited by cooperation agreements, which provided their members with legal immunity in such a way that their freedom was guaranteed. In the light of an insecurity situation and a fight against drug trafficking, government corruption was a scene of the rapid readjustment of drug cartels that revealed the decay of public institutions. The problem was triggered by a war declared on drug trafficking, resulting in an inconsistent and ineffective plan, which was perceived from the beginning as an unequal war fought through the implementation of a coordinated strategy between law enforcement agencies and armed forces that caused irreversible damage and, later, unmasked the existing institutional corruption in the country. Because of these measures, drug trafficking is still increasing nowadays, showing that this criminal phenomenon has actually defeated the Mexican State.
