Mexico’s worsening war without a name
The “war on drugs” has morphed into a new rash of killings in Mexico
Thursday, June 15, 2017
The deadly violence of well-organised, business-minded criminal groups in Mexico risks being aggravated by government inaction, corruption and bombastic U.S. rhetoric – exactly what caused the problem in the first place. Murder rates have hit a record high. Over the first four months of 2017, three murders took place every hour to reach a total of 8,705, about half of which can be attributed to organised crime. The path to this grisly statistic advanced through various stages. The first was the militarisation of the “war on drugs” in 2006 by former President Felipe Calderón, triggering clashes between criminal organisations and state security forces. Then came strategies aimed at taking down “kingpin” cartel leaders and at splintering criminal organisations, both of which aggravated the violence and reinforced ties with corrupt state institutions.
