Mexico Drug War Update
As of September 4th, there have been over 249 murders connected to the drug cartels in Mexico. That puts the death total at close to 5,000 since the beginning of the year. After Felipe Calderon took office there has been over 12,000 drug cartel related deaths in spite of the Merida initiative, a 1.4 Billion dollar investment that the US has made to equip, and help control the rising violence in Mexico. Below are the key events that have occurred in the last 2 weeks related to the ongoing debacle in the Mexican drug war.
Drug Rehabilitation Centers have become the new ground zero for narco traffickers to harbor their kin, which has now lead drug rivals to target those centers mass murder style. Last week in Ciudad Juarez over 17 patients were murdered as armed men in masks marched in, lined up recovering addicts and shot their automatic rifles at point blank range, killing at will. NYT Story
Now, there is a recent story that emerged today that the Juarez drug cartel has struck again killing another 10 in a drug clinic north of Juarez. In this instance, therapists along with patients were assassinated. This will count as the 6th drug rehabilitation center attacked in mass murder fashion in the last year, with 2 in the last week in Juarez. LA Times Story
A gunman killed a high ranking legislative official, his wife and asphyxiated his two children in the state of Tabasco last week. The motive is unknown, but is almost certain to be related to his vocal opposition to the cartels. NYT Story
The Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora was ousted by president Felipe Calderon to be replaced by Arturo Chavez. Speculation exists that Chavez will face an uphill battle in his nomination due to his work in Juarez in 92-96, a time where the drug cartels there thrived under his rule and hundreds of murders of women went unsolved. Dallas News
Two journalists were arrested in the state of Tabasco for allegedly withholding important drug cartel related stories and acting as informants on the behalf of the Cartel. They were receiving over 4,500 dollars a month to withhold data and provide relevant police information to the Cartel. AP Story
Yesterday, 16 people were killed in Tijuana, six of them were found in a burning car, 4 passengers and two bodies in the trunk. The Cartel is speculated to be responsible. Sky News
