Mexican Drug War

A University of Texas-El Paso student died from a shooting attack on a car in Ciudad Juarez, making him the fifth American slain in the violent border city this week.

It was in February 2007 that Amnesty International raised concerns over Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s decision, two months earlier, to send thousands of troops across the country to attempt to control Mexico’s spiraling drug prohibition violence. Echoing worries voiced by the United Nations, the rights group warned that sending the army onto Mexican streets to do the job of the police was a bad idea. Almost four years into the fight, it would seem Amnesty, the U.N. and a host of other rights groups were right.

Authorities have dug at least 18 bodies out of the grave. Authorities found a note saying a "narco grave" was on the site.

According to the U.S. Department of State, 92 Americans have been reported as victims of homicide in Mexico from June 2009 to June 2010. On September 10, the agency issued a travel warning for Americans planning to head to Mexico. It warned against taking unnecessary trips to Michoacán, Tamaulipas, parts of Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango and Coahuila because of the ongoing drug prohibition violence.

The Peten jungle, once known for its jaguars and Mayan ruins, has fallen prey to a notorious Mexican drug prohibition gang that operates from remote jungle ranches and has begun openly challenging Guatemalan security forces for control of the roads.

All 14 police officers in Los Ramones, a rural town in northern Mexico, fled the force in terror after gunmen fired more than 1,000 bullets and flung six grenades at their headquarters. The gunmen’s 20-minute shooting spree destroyed six police vehicles and left the white and orange police station pocked with bullet holes. The attack was the second in less than a week against police forces in Nuevo Leon -- last week, grenades were thrown at police in Sabinas Hidalgo.

Of the more than 28,000 people who have died in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon declared a prohibitionist war on drug trafficking organizations in 2006, 1,200 were minors.

Police in Tijuana, Mexico, said 13 people were lined up and shot to death at a drug rehabilitation center.