Will the number of drug related killings in Mexico reach 3,000 by the end of 2008?

Obviously this question can only be settled based on reports of totals of deaths for 2008. Because of this, there may be a delay in settlement into the New Year. We will be looking for figures from a major news organization, such as Time, CNN, Reuters, LA Times.

And some people in the U.S. want "open borders". Pull the 101st out of Iraq and send them to Texas.

This question COULD be settled when and if the number reaches 3,001. - js

More than 30 people died in the worst weekend of violence this year in the northern Mexico state of Chihuahua, the scene of daily drug gang turf wars, police said Monday.

Heavily-armed assassins killed nine people in separate incidents late Sunday in the border town of Ciudad Juarez, local police said, following the slaying of 21 people the previous night -- including a baby and a four-year-old boy -- at a village dance in the town of Creel.

Drug-related violence in Mexico has killed 2,682 people since the start of the year -- nine more than in all of 2007 -- with nearly half in Chihuahua state, daily El Universal reported Saturday.

Ciudad Juarez -- across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, where local drug gangs are battling the powerful Sinaloa cartel -- has the highest murder toll, with some 800 so far this year, according to an AFP count.

Federal authorities have deployed more than 36,000 soldiers across the country since early 2007, including 2,500 in Ciudad Juarez, in an effort to combat drug trafficking and related violence.

But the murder rate has climbed dramatically in two years, from 1,410 in 2006.


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It's Fall and we're at 2,700 dead, according to AFP.

MEXICO CITY (AFP) - Mexicans take to the streets of some 70 towns and cities Saturday, carrying candles and dressed in white, in mass protests against escalating murders and kidnappings.

Violence has risen throughout Mexico since President Felipe Calderon , who took office at the end of 2006, launched a crackdown on drug trafficking that included deploying more than 36,000 soldiers across the country.

Some 2,700 people have died this year in gangland-style killings -- more than in all of 2007 -- according to national media, and Mexico has overtaken Colombia and Iraq with its kidnapping record.

In 8 months Mexico drug-linked killings top 2007 total

Aug 16, 2008

MEXICO CITY (AFP) — Drug-related violence in Mexico killed 2,682 people across Mexico since the start of the year, more than all of 2007 (2,673), with nearly half occurring in northern Chihuahua state, El Universal daily reported Saturday.

Bordering the United States, Chihuahua saw 1,026 drug-related murders this year, or 38.2 percent of the country's total. In one 20-day period alone, July 15-August 5, there were 326 slayings in the state.

Within Chihuahua, Ciudad Juarez -- across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas where local drug gangs are battling the powerful Sinaloa cartel -- had the highest murder toll, with 780 so far this year, according to an AFP count.

Overnight Friday, seven people were killed in the city, including two children, one of them the nephew of a police commander, the state deputy prosecutor's office said.

In other states, drug-linked violence so far this year killed 516 people in Sinaloa, 159 in Baja California, 134 in Guerrero and 117 in Michoacan.

"Despite the government's tough offensive against organized crime and drug trafficking violence in general, this year murders have increased to the point that in just eight months we've surpassed the 2,673 murders we had all of last year," El Universal said.

Federal authorities since early 2007 have deployed more than 36,000 soldiers across the country, including 2,500 in Ciudad Juarez, in an effort to combat drug trafficking and related violence. Nevertheless, the murder rate has climbed dramatically in two years, from 1,410 in 2006.

Personaly if you ask me i think we should bomb the border between the us and mexico then bomb the border between us and canada then float over back to england and ask if its to late for us to become a combined nation again! Down with drugs! Whos with me?!

I'm with you, dragon.

LETS GO!!!!! ill get canada you get mexico. Its about time those drug smuggling canadians learned there lesson! damn canadians!

Why don't we conquer canada to steal their mooses, maple trees and stuff?

Hey, don't forget they have Dudly DoRight,too!

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (CNN) -- Eight people were killed and 101 were wounded in two explosions during a celebration of Mexico's independence day Monday night, a Mexican official said Tuesday.
Wounded people get help after blasts Monday night during an independence day event in Morelia, Mexico.

Wounded people get help after blasts Monday night during an independence day event in Morelia, Mexico.

Two people remained in grave condition, said Roman Armando Luna Escalante, secretary of health in Michoacan state. Eleven of the wounded were children, Luna Escalante said. None of them are gravely injured.

The explosions occurred around 11 p.m. near the governor's residence in Morelia, the capital of Michoacan. The second blast happened shortly afterward a few blocks away.

Officials would not say if they have any suspects or if any group has claimed responsibility.

Some experts pointed to drug cartels or insurgents.

"It could be a warning to the federal government, which has put a lot of money and manpower to deal with drugs, which are very powerful there," said Peter Hakim, president of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think tank on Western Hemisphere affairs. "It could be leftist guerrilla groups that occasionally throw a bomb.

"The problem is that this is part of a real wave of violence that is consuming Mexico."
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Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who was born in Morelia, condemned the attacks and said federal officials will redouble efforts to help state authorities investigate.

More than 1,500 soldiers and federal police were maintaining order Tuesday, which marks the 198th anniversary of what Mexicans regard as their independence day.

Festivities typically start the night before because on September 16, 1810, shortly before dawn, a priest in a village in the state of Guanajuato rang a church bell and called on Mexicans to fight for independence from Spain.

As long as they keep the violence on there side of the border they can do what they want. Come over here though.... and well do to you what Bush did to taxes. Slash them down! Or maybe... Well do to you what The Allies did to Germany!

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N26322821.htm

To be honest, I hate to see this settle. I have met many wonderful people in Mexico and I worry about them daily. No one should be subjected to this kind of violence.

@emmag:

I feel the same way.