Mexican Drug War

Raul Benitez, a security expert at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, says that the spate of recent deaths may be no coincidence: It comes as the federal government is increasing intelligence capabilities and taking a harder look at collusion between traffickers and local police and authorities, as it looks to centralize the police force. Therefore, many mayors who once may have turned a blind eye to trafficking exploits in their towns might now be refusing to cooperate. “If the mayor is an obstacle, that is when the problem starts,” says Mr. Benitez.

A mayor who took the job when every other official in his town quit out of fear of drug traffickers was reported slain, the fifth Mexican mayor killed in six weeks. Authorities said Gustavo Sanchez, mayor of the town of Tancitaro in Michoacan state, had apparently been beaten to death with rocks.

Mexican mayors have been forced to move to the US for safety in the face of threats from drug traffickers. Five mayors have been murdered in the past six weeks, with a total of 10 killed this year. About 15 mayors have been killed since President Felipe Calderon declared war on Mexico's drug traffickers shortly after taking office in December 2006.

Delia Lloyd opines on freedom of the press in Mexico being curtailed by prohibition-related violence. She concludes with "I've got news for you, Mr. President. You may not want to say it out loud, but Mexico has become Colombia."

Authorities say gunmen have killed the mayor of a northern Mexican town — adding to a string of attacks on political figures in the drug prohibition-plagued region. Mayor Prisciliano Rodriguez Salinas was gunned down yesterday along with another employee of the town named Doctor Gonzalez, about 50 kilometers east of Monterrey. Rival gangs have been battling to control drug routes through Nuevo Leon and neighboring border states.

Mexican journalists gathered yesterday to denounce the violent retaliation they have suffered for reporting on the drug prohibition war and questioned the federal government's ability to protect freedom of expression.

Mexican drug trafficking organizations are reaching neighborhoods far from the border. Authorities said potential recruits in the South Bay used to be the primary targets, but now teens living deeper into San Diego County have been among the growing number of recruits. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Joe Garcia said, "I think parents in all neighborhoods need to be concerned."

A Mexican journalist threatened by drug gangs said he had been granted political asylum in the United States to escape the drug trafficking organizations' increasingly violent campaign to silence the media.

Mexico's government has scoffed at the idea of a truce in the country's drug prohibition war after a newspaper which has seen two of its journalists shot dead pleaded with the drug trafficking organizations to name their terms.