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You know the dogs have it when a bull terrier is put up as a candidate in the local elections in Guadalajara, Mexico. Fidel’s owner hopes others will get the message as he protests against corruption in politics.
This is in a country where in just a 48 hour period, 30 people were killed, including 12 police officers. The tortured bodies were lined up on edge of the road. The deaths have been attributed to the ‘La Familia’ drug cartel that vigorously operates in the area. La Familia is considered one of Mexico’s most brutal criminal gangs. In a gang-type shooting the Mayor Hector Ariel Meixuerio, in the northwestern Chihuahua state of Mexico, near the US border was killed.
In what is believed to be a crisis-point for drug-related aggression, 11 men were killed in Ciudad Juarez, the crime capital. Fighting to control lucrative trafficking routes into the United States, gun battles rage between rival gangs.
Deploying federal police and around 36,000 soldiers in a nationwide clampdown, President Felipe Calderon is aggressively using his security forces to continue the war on drug cartels.
President Felipe Calderon launched the military crackdown two and a half years ago, more than 10,000 have died in gangland-style brutality.
Approximately 2,700 people have died already in organized drug-related crimes this year. Last year 6290 deaths were reported, compared to the 2,700 in 2007 and the 1,500 in 2006.
Following visits by Foreign Secretary Hilary Clinton, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Mapolitano, Attorney General Eric Holder and President Obama, there was an effort to arrive at a solution to the escalating drug war, which is now rolling over into the United States. Security on the U.S. –Mexico border has been tightened by the Obama administration, which has pledged $80m to help Mexico purchase Black Hawk helicopters, in an effort to defeat the well-armed, extremely rich drug cartels.
Police believe around 90% of the assault weapons used by Mexican gangs, including the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels, come out of the United States. Hilary Clinton, during her visit to Mexico, said the United States must bear part of the blame for drug-related violence in Mexico. “America’s appetite for drugs and its inability to stop arms crossing the border were helping fuel the violence".
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http://www.prlog.org/
