This paper focuses on how governments respond to cartel violence in Colombia and Mexico with either cooperation or retaliation. I tested three explanations in Medellin from 1984 to 1993 and Culiacan from 2000 to 2011. While the theory suggests that state repression causes cartel violence or, the other way around, based on the empirical analysis, I find that the theories that focus only on cartel violence are insufficient because there is an interrelationship between international assistance, type of cartel violence, and the type of cartel territorial control with how governments respond to cartel violence. Therefore, I conclude that the type of cartel violence and the type of cartel territorial control have the most potent effect on how governments respond to cartel violence than international assistance.