Mexican drug war: Forty-four inmates died in a prison riot in Apodaca, Mexico, between members of Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel.

The Mexican drug war is an ongoing asymmetric armed conflict between the Mexican government and various drug trafficking syndicates. When the Mexican military intervened in 2006, the government's main objective was to reduce drug-related violence. The Mexican government has asserted that its primary focus is dismantling the cartels and preventing drug trafficking. The conflict has been described as the Mexican theater of the global war on drugs, as led by the United States federal government.

The Apodaca prison riot occurred on 19 February 2012 at a prison in Apodaca, Nuevo León, Mexico. Mexico City officials stated that at least 44 people were killed, with another twelve injured. The Blog del Narco, a blog that documents events and people of the Mexican Drug War anonymously, reported that the actual (unofficial) death toll may be more than 70 people. The fight was between Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel, two drug cartels that operate in northeastern Mexico. The governor of Nuevo León, Rodrigo Medina, mentioned on 20 February 2012 that 30 inmates escaped from the prison during the riot. Four days later, however, the new figures of the fugitives went down to 29. On 16 March 2012, the Attorney General's Office of Nuevo León confirmed that 37 prisoners had actually escaped on the day of the massacre. One of the fugitives, Óscar Manuel Bernal alias La Araña, is considered by the Mexican authorities to be "extremely dangerous," and is believed to be the leader of Los Zetas in the municipality of Monterrey. Some other fugitives were also leaders in the organization.

Apodaca is a city and its surrounding municipality that is part of Monterrey Metropolitan area. It lies in the northeastern part of the Monterrey Metropolitan Area. It is known for becoming recently a heavy industrialized city. As of 2019, the city houses 70% of the industrial plants of the state of Nuevo León. Apodaca is as well the fourth most exporting city in México. The municipality has an area of 224.7 km². The population has recently increased from around 115,000 people in 1990 to almost 600,000 in 2015. Being one of the fastest-growing territories in terms of population in the Metropolitan Area, becoming the third most populous municipality as of 2015. The municipality is home to Monterrey International Airport which is considered to be the fourth most important in the country and is also one of the municipalities main employers.