Mexico’s bloodshed worsens as hundreds die in last 7 days
By DUDLEY ALTHAUS, Houston Chronicle, June 16, 2010 [here]
MEXICO CITY — More than 200 people have been slaughtered during the past seven days in the most violent week in the criminal insurgency racking Mexico since President Felipe Calderón unleashed federal forces against drug trafficking gangs.
The carnage has cut a wide arc through Mexico and underscored the gangsters’ brazen willingness to take on military troops and Mexican federal police in direct combat.
Among this week’s victims were 12 federal police officers ambushed Monday by presumed gangsters in western Michoacan state and three others bushwhacked in northern Chihuahua state. Army troops shot it out with gunmen Tuesday in Taxco, a tourist mecca 100 miles south of Mexico City, killing 15 alleged criminals.
“The difference now is that the criminals and security forces are clashing more frequently,” said Raul Benitez-Manaut, a national security analyst. “The criminals are directly challenging the government.”
The conflict constitutes the most serious organized violence since the Mexican Revolution began a century ago. And it has become one of the largest armed conflicts in the world.
For example, the more than 2,700 people murdered last year in Ciudad Juarez outstrips the combat fatalities suffered by civilians and Allied troops in Afghanistan during the same period, according to statistics compiled by United Nations and private analysts. …
Underworld warfare has killed more than 23,000 Mexicans since Calderón launched his crackdown upon taking office in December 2006. At least 1,200 people have been killed so far this year in Juarez, Mexico’s most violent city and one of the most dangerous in the world. … [more]