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 (The Spider), 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.