 It is estimated that in the first 8 months of 2005 (between January and August) about 110 people died in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas as a result of the fighting between the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels.The same year, there was another surge in violence in the state of Michoacán as the La Familia Michoacana drug cartel established itself, after splintering from its former allies, the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas.On December 11, 2006, the newly elected President Felipe Calderón, from the right wing PAN party, dispatched 6,500 Mexican Army soldiers to Michoacán, his home state, to end drug violence there.