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Mexican drug cartels are rapidly expanding their use of car bombs, drone-dropped explosives, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs)—a dangerous escalation that threatens to further strain the US-Mexico relationship under President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly threatened unilateral military action against the groups.
The most recent incident occurred on the night of March 23, 2025, outside a police station in Ojocaliente, a small city in Zacatecas state. A 200-kilogram (440-pound) explosive charge detonated, injuring 11 people and damaging over 60 homes. No officers were killed, but the blast sent shockwaves through the community. Mexico’s security chief Omar García Harfuch confirmed the details during a visit to the area alongside President Claudia Sheinbaum on March 28.
Zacatecas has already recorded 23 explosive-related attacks this year, including six involving vehicles packed with explosives, according to state Attorney General Cristian Paul Camacho. The numbers underscore a troubling trend: what was once a rare tactic in Mexico is becoming more common.
Why the shift to explosives?
Experts say the cartels are adopting explosives to compensate for their inability to directly challenge the military in open combat, and to sow terror more efficiently. “It’s a tactical evolution,” said Victor Manuel Sánchez, a professor at the University of Coahuila who has tracked car bombings in Mexico for decades. “They want to send a message that no one is safe.”
The 1994 attack in Guadalajara, when the Tijuana Cartel used a car bomb targeting Sinaloa Cartel co-founder Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, was an early outlier. But the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) has since turned explosives into a signature weapon. Authorities blame the CJNG for the December 2024 bombing in Michoacán that killed five, and the recent Ojocaliente attack. The Trump administration has designated the CJNG and seven other Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, a move that legal experts say could open the door to US military operations inside Mexico.
From drones to roadside bombs
The cartels’ use of explosives is relatively new. Around five years ago, groups began dropping grenades and small bombs from drones to attack security forces or rival factions. They also started burying IEDs in rural areas to defend territory and control smuggling routes.
In 2023, roadside bombs in Jalisco killed six civilians and wounded 14 others. The Mexican military then acknowledged the threat, reporting it had seized about 2,800 explosive devices nationwide over the previous 4½ years. The following year, authorities deactivated nearly 3,200 devices in Michoacán alone. In early 2025, one such IED killed eight soldiers in Michoacán—the deadliest single attack on the military by explosives in recent memory.
“This is a very bad development for Mexico,” said Vanda Felbab-Brown, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. “We are facing a steady intensification of violence. The use of car bombs and IEDs greatly amplifies the atmosphere of fear and retaliation.”
Government response under scrutiny
President Sheinbaum has insisted that nationwide homicide rates are declining, citing the drop as evidence that her security strategy is working. But critics argue that the rising use of explosives indicates a shift in tactics rather than a reduction in criminal power. “The cartels are adapting faster than the government can respond,” said Carlos Pérez Ricart, an international studies professor at Mexico’s CIDE university.
Car bombs, in particular, are designed to generate maximum media coverage and public panic. They serve as a tool for intimidation—against rivals, authorities, and civilians alike. “When a criminal group feels cornered, it uses a car bomb to force the government to negotiate,” Pérez Ricart added.
Why not call it terrorism?
Mexico has long resisted labeling cartel violence as terrorism. Officials argue that terrorism implies political or ideological motives, while the cartels are driven primarily by profit. Yet civilians have been deliberately targeted in the past: in 2008, grenade attacks on Independence Day celebrations in Morelia killed eight; in 2011, a casino arson in Monterrey killed 52.
The Trump administration’s foreign terrorist organization designation has made the terminology more consequential. The US government has cited the designation to justify potential military strikes, though legal challenges are pending both domestically and internationally.
Pérez Ricart warned against conflating counterterrorism strategies with organized crime suppression. “The answer to terrorism is the elimination of the enemy,” he said. “In the drug trade, the adversary is not just an armed group—it’s an entire illegal market. Military solutions alone cannot fix that.”
A new front in the US-Mexico relationship
The escalating use of explosives by cartels adds a volatile new dimension to the bilateral relationship. Trump has repeatedly threatened to send US Special Forces into Mexico to “take out” cartel leaders, and the terrorist designation provides a legal framework for such action. Mexican officials, however, view any unilateral US military intervention as a violation of sovereignty.
As the cartels become more adept at using explosives, the risk of a major civilian catastrophe grows. “The next car bomb might not just be outside a police station—it could be in a crowded market,” said Felbab-Brown. “And that would change everything.”
For now, the violence remains below the levels seen in Colombia during the 1990s, but the trajectory is alarming. Mexico is entering a new phase of its drug war, one where the bang is increasingly louder than the bullet.
