Mexico’s Cartel Fight Is a Terrifying High-Wire Act

Mr. Grillo is a contributing Opinion writer who has covered organized crime in Latin America for two decades. He wrote from Mexico City.

Early on Sunday, drug cartel operatives in Mexico’s western state of Jalisco began hijacking trucks, positioning them horizontally across highways and setting them ablaze. The attacks spread quickly across the country, with thugs also stealing cars and buses for their narcobloqueos — narco blockades — on roads from Mexico’s Texas border to its Caribbean beaches.

Gangsters set fire to pharmacies, grocery stores and banks. Gunmen ambushed security forces and left their bullet-ridden corpses on the streets. Residents cowered in their homes, embassies........

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