Saturday 26 October 2013

Mexico counts over 100,000 killings in six-year drug war

A Mexican interior ministry agency reported that over 104,000 people were killed in criminal violence between 2006 and 2012 when Mexico's last president, Felipe Calderón Hinojosa, waged a relentless and controversial war on drug cartels and organised crime, papers reported on 25 October. The present government, led by Enrique Peña Nieto, seemed to face similar levels of violence in spite of boasting better intelligence and a more coordinated approach to fighting organised crime. The figure given by the SNSP (Sistema Nacional de Seguridad Pública) for reported or registered homicides during the Calderón presidency was 104,096 victims. Mexican authorities have repeated that most of these were were criminals and cartel operatives killed by each other or in shootouts with state forces. The report identified 2011 as the most mortiferous year with 22,856 homicides followed by 2010, with 20,681 homicides, the daily Milenio reported on 25 October. The newspaper cited figures showing a steady rise in homicides from 2007 to 2012. The SNSP counted 15,552 homicides in the first ten months of the Peña presidency, which began on 1 December 2012, Milenio reported on 25 October.