Mexican drug violence claims nearly 500 lives

While the crackdown on cartels has had some success, critics charge the president with playing to the media.
By Hector Tobar
LA Times

March 24, 2007

MEXICO CITY — Nearly 500 people have been killed in Mexico's drug wars this year, according to media reports here, despite a crackdown on the illicit trade by President Felipe Calderon.

The dead include dozens of police officers, the daughter of a retired army general, and a suspected cartel hit man in the northern city of Monterrey left with a knife sticking out of his chest and a message to local officials affixed to his body.

"Attorney General: Don't be a fool," the note said. It accused local officials of protecting Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa cartel, the bitter rival of the Gulf cartel, which is based in the border state of Tamaulipas. "This is just the beginning."

According to a tally kept by the Mexico City newspaper El Universal, along with other media reports, the number of drug-related killings had reached 492 by Friday.

Calderon's government, which took power in December, promised a get-tough approach against the drug trade, which claimed more than 2,000 lives last year.

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