This number will cover those areas along the border where drugs or drug violence may occur. It will not count drug deaths in Southern Mexico where a teenager kills someone for their watch or robs someone and is killed in the process, or is driving while on drugs. These numbers are small, but add up when you start with 22,000. Much more likely the number is closer to 25,000 at the very lowest and maybe 30,000. Then you have to add all the deaths from murder, robbery, driving ... that have nothing to do with drugs, to get a better picture of the total murders in Mexico and once you get to 30,000, you are now exceeding the total numbers for all the US, with a much smaller population.
Sidebar:
There have been many American families who have written to the Canadian government, over the many years this has been happening, arguing and even demanding that they cease and desist with the seal culls every April. One Canadian Senator wrote back to the American family who had written to her, and informed them that what bothered her (the Senator from Canada) was the US government distributing handguns to the world and destabilizing the world, imprisoning blacks and executing them unjustly ... Is one thing related to the other? No. However, the Senator is able to hold opinions on all those issues AND on the seal hunt. The Canadian Senator has a right to criticize actions by the US government, anytime she would like to - but she cannot conflate the issues and be intellectually honest.
End of Sidebar:
The Mexican government has been critical of a measure that has passed the Arizona legislature and is awaiting the signature of the Governor taht would make it illegal to be in Arizona without proper documentation. Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said in a statement relayed through Mexico's U.S. embassy that it viewed the measure with great concern and said it "could have potentially serious effects on the civil rights" of Mexican nationals. "Mexico views with concern the possible negative effects the measure could have, if approved, on the development of the ties of friendship, culture, commerce and tourism that have characterized Mexico's relations with Arizona for generations," according to the statement. Mexico also said the bill "opens the door to the inappropriate use of racial profiling."
Don't you think you should be concentrating on 22,000 dead people and not trying to rationalize illegal acts by citizens of Mexico.
MEXICO UNDER SIEGE
Mexico death toll in drug war higher than previously reported
More than 22,000 have died since President Felipe Calderon launched his crackdown on drug trafficking gangs, according to news reports citing confidential government figures.
By Ken Ellingwood
April 14, 2010
The Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Mexico City
The death toll from the Mexican government's three-year war on drug cartels is far higher than previously reported -- more than 22,000, according to news reports published Tuesday that cited confidential government figures.
The figure is significantly higher than tallies assembled by Mexican media. They estimate that more than 18,000 people have died since President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown against drug-trafficking groups after taking office in December 2006.
The unofficial media tallies have often been cited by foreign news outlets, including The Times.
The government has seldom released official counts of those killed in the skyrocketing violence, which stems largely from fighting between rival drug-trafficking groups.
The Interior Ministry said Tuesday that it was preparing to make its count public, but it had not issued its report by the evening.
The daily Reforma newspaper first published the toll number, which it said was contained in a confidential file that top security officials gave federal senators during a hearing Monday. The Associated Press, which said it had gained access to the report, said the total given was 22,700.
The figures present a starker picture than previously known of the violence that has buffeted the country, especially along the U.S. border and in drug-smuggling corridors.
Last year was the deadliest since the Calderon anti-crime offensive began, with 8,928people killed, according to Reforma. So far this year, 2,904people have died, the newspaper said. The AP said the report put the toll at 9,635 last year and 3,365 in January through March this year. It was unclear why there were discrepancies in the report's figures.
Calderon has dispatched more than 48,000 soldiers and several thousand federal police officers along the U.S. border and in other drug-smuggling hot spots across the country.
The clampdown has brought down some leading drug figures, including suspected kingpin Arturo Beltran Leyva, killed during a raid in the city of Cuernavaca in December. A succession struggle for control of his cartel has sparked violence recently in the central state of Morelos, where six bodies were found Tuesday under a highway overpass.
But critics say the army-led strategy has failed to reduce violence in cities such as Ciudad Juarez, the nation's deadliest. Juarez is part of Chihuahua, the state with the most killings. Next on the list are the states of Sinaloa, Guerrero, Baja California and Michoacan, according to Reforma.
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