MEXICO CITY , Mexico ( CNN ) -- In response to a spate of attacks allegedly by a drug cartel , Mexico more than tripled the number of federal police officers patrolling the state of Michoacan , a government spokeswoman said . Drug violence is up in Michoacan state , shown by recent attacks on police in at least a half-dozen cities . The government on Thursday dispatched 1,000 federal police officers to Michoacan state in southwest Mexico , increasing its presence to 1,300 total , Public Safety spokeswoman Veronica Penunuri told CNN . At least 18 federal agents and two soldiers have been killed since the weekend in Michoacan , the home state of President Felipe Calderon . The sudden spike in violence followed the arrest Saturday of Arnoldo Rueda Medina , whom authorities described as a high-ranking member of the drug cartel known as La Familia Michoacana . Cartel members first attacked the federal police station in Morelia to try to gain freedom for Rueda , authorities said . When that failed , drug gangs attacked federal police installations in at least a half-dozen Michoacan cities , according to authorities . The Michoacan cartel also is accused in the slaying of 12 federal police officers whose bodies were found Tuesday on a remote highway . Video from the scene showed three signs , known as narcomensajes , left by the killers . They all stated the same thing : `` So that you come for another . We will be waiting for you here . '' Since Calderon went after the drug cartels shortly after coming into office in 2006 , more than 10,000 people have died across Mexico , about 1,000 of them police . The state of Michoacan , on Mexico 's southwest Pacific coast , is not alone in the wave of violence sweeping the country . The border city of Ciudad Juarez set a record this weekend when its toll of drug-related deaths for the year topped 1,000 , a distinction the Mexican city did not reach last year until September .
Mexican government responding to a spate of deadly attacks in Michoacan . The number of federal police officers patrolling the state has more than tripled . Sudden spike in violence follows arrest Saturday of high-ranking drug cartel member . TL;DR A man who was arrested with an assault rifle and ammunition at a checkpoint on Mexico's southern border is suspected of being part of a group that carried out several recent killings along the border, authorities