*Updated Mar. 10*
Guadalajara -
In the first three months of president Enrique Peña Nieto's new Institutional Revolutionary Party government, 100 police officers and soldiers lost their lives across the country.
Seventy percent of the cases were in just five of Mexico's 32 separate jurisdictions. The states and the number of officials (federal, state or local) who were killed are: Michoacán (17), Jalisco (16), Chihuahua (13), Durango (12) and Edomex (11). Edomex is the State of Mexico, just beyond Mexico City.
Local police, called preventivos, sustained the highest casualties, with 64 officers killed since Dec. 1. Twenty-three state police officers (estatales) died during the same period. Six federal police agents, six soldiers and one marine were killed.
The statistics were compiled by the Milenio news network, not by the Mexican government.
All of the deaths occurred during operations against drug cartels and organized crime. Mexico has 60-80 of the former, according to attorney general Jesús Murillo Karam. Mexican narco violence stats after first month of new PRI administration not encouraging: 982 executions, 32 a day.
In the month just ended, the drug war stats offered little reason to expect an early end to the conflict. In February there were 944 executions nationwide, an average of 34 every day. That was an increase of almost three per day over the January death toll.
Chihuahua remains one of Mexico's most dangerous states, with 155 narco executions last month. U.S. travelers: a "generalized terror" of northern Mexico.
In Guerrero state, which some press sources called a "death zone" after seven Spanish tourists were gang raped in Acapulco on Feb. 4, 87 people were executed last month, including nine police officers ambushed by regional drug traffickers on Feb. 5. The month ended with the apparent contract killing of a prominent Belgian businessman. Guerrero averaged more than three organized crime killings a day in February, up sharply from both December and January.
There were 18 executions in February in the states of Baja California, Jalisco, Tabasco, Zacatecas, Michoacán and Coahuila.
The only good news came from Edomex, where killings dropped 48% last month, from 104 in January to 54 in February. The state was flooded with troops and state and federal security forces in February, demonstrating once again that military units alone are a match for drug cartels and crime gangs.
Feb. 1 - Human Rights Watch latest condemnation of Mexican drug war reveals little understanding of the conflict
President Peña Nieto, who was elected July 1, campaigned on a promise to dramatically reduce violence in his first 100 days in office. The self-imposed deadline expires Mar. 10. Since he was sworn in on Dec. 1, 2,882 people have died in the drug war, 1,900 of them since Jan. 1, according to Milenio.
Peña Nieto has made it clear that his drug war strategy will be a virtual clone of his predecessor's. New York Times figures it out: in Mexican drug war, Enrique Peña Nieto = Felipe Calderón Hinojosa.
Mar. 4 - In a 24 hour span yesterday, Mexico recorded 54 organized crime executions across 14 of its 31 states.
Mar. 10 - The new PRI government has issued its own report on drug war casualties since Dec. 1. It says 914 died in February, 30 less than reported by Milenio. But it acknowledged that the aggregate death toll in the first 90 days of the Peña Nieto administration was 3,157 - 275 more than reported by the network.
Mar. 23 - Seven Federal Police officers executed in Guerrero
Feb. 27 - Mexico's drug war disappearances: "official government list" still proves nothing
Feb. 22 - Hype is always present in Mexico's drug war, especially with Human Rights Watch
Jan. 7 - Peña Nieto: no option but to follow Calderón strategy
Dec. 19 - Enrique's challenging homework
Mar. 1 - Here's an Asian solution to narcotics trafficking . . . one that others should perhaps consider.
© MGRR 2013. All rights reserved. This article may be cited or briefly quoted with proper attribution or a hyperlink, but not reproduced without permission.
Re- Asian solution to narcotics trafficking... Yes, this would make a few criminals think twice. Unfortunately we live in a society with a bleeding heart attitude for these people that not only feed on society, but destroy it at the same time. I guess if this carries on long enough, there will be no society for them to feed on.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great articles.
I particularly agree with your analysis that purveyors of illegal drugs feed on society. In that sense narcotics trafficking is much worse than simple murder. It can and does change the lives of millions of people, including generations yet unborn, for the worse. Murder affects the immediate parties: victim, perpetrator and the families/loved ones of both. When punishment is meted out to the offender the chapter is closed. But trafficking is a crime against the society as a whole, with devastating consequences and enormous costs, both economic and social. Trafficking is nothing less than an act of war against organized societies and it should be dealt with accordingly, especially since the sole motivation is money.
DeleteOne more thing... perhaps its time to teach children all over the world, from an early age, the idea of a universal "social contract"; one that teaches them their actions on one side of the world (or border as in the case of Mexico and the USA) affects people on the other, both positively and negatively, depending on what that action is, regardless of your specific socio-economic/political condition. I know I am speaking in extremely simplified terms and that there is no easy, uncomplicated solution to this, but it must start somewhere if we are to ever see a happier Earth for future generations.
ReplyDeleteG.P.
Canada
An excellent movie on your topic is "Traffic," released in 2000, which shows the consequences of the drug trade to all kinds of people on both sides of the border, from powerful government officials to the guy selling dope on the street to the addicted user. There are clips of the film and a trailer on YouTube.
Delete