Mexican Drug War

Mexico's largest television broadcaster and the largest producer of Spanish language content in the world, Televisa, has come under attack by drug trafficking organizations in the northern city of Monterrey. Investigators say it was a warning for journalists to stay away from reporting on drug prohibition violence.

An anonymous twenty-something blogger is risking his own life as he defies a culture of fear to post chilling pictures and videos of the ongoing battle between Mexico's drug trafficking organizations and law enforcement. The gruesome uncensored content on Blog del Narco is extremely graphic and appears to be provided by all sides - drug gangs to display their power, law enforcement to show resolve and the public so people in Mexico can learn about incidents the mainstream media is forced to ignore or play down.

Daniel Robelo, a research associate at the Drug Policy Alliance, points out that multiple former and current national leaders are calling for a debate about legalizing drugs to reduce the killings in Mexico, and the issue has made front page news and is causing unprecedented debate around the world. Yet, sadly, legalization is not even part of the policy dialogue in D.C. In fact, the U.S. drug czar has repeatedly said it's not even part of his or President Obama's "vocabulary."

With the Mexican drug war's popularity plummeting and calls for legalizing marijuana get louder, Luis Hernandez Navarro describes what he sees as the price of President Calderón's popularity bid -- 29,000 dead, human rights leaders murdered, and the Mexican constitution violated.

In lieu of ending drug prohibition and stripping the drug traffickers of their ability to function, the Mexican government has put together a $270 million rescue package for Ciudad Juarez. The campaign is called "Todos Somos Juárez" -- "We are all Juarez". Few believe the campaign can turn the city around anytime soon.

Mexico's prisons are infested with internal crime, drug use, bad treatment and corruption. At some prisons, inmates are allowed to leave, provided with weapons, and loaned police vehicles to carry out their dirty work. Essentially, they use the prison itself as a safe house.