Mexico: homicides up 16% in 2018, breaking own records for violence

[Judi Lynn]

Country saw 15,973 killings in the first half of the year, the highest since records began in 1997

Associated Press in Mexico City
Mon 23 Jul 2018 14.17 EDT

Homicides in Mexico rose by 16% in the first half of 2018, as the country again broke its own records for violence.

The interior department said over the weekend there were 15,973 homicides in the first six months of the year, compared with 13,751 killings in the same period in 2017.

The number is the highest since comparable records began being kept in 1997, including the peak year of Mexico’s drug war in 2011.

At current levels, the department’s measure would put national homicides at 22 per 100,000 population by the end of the year – near the levels of Brazil and Colombia at 27 per 100,000.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/23/mexico-crime-homicides-violence-up-report

[sandensea]

1. But Macri - and his pal Cheeto - want to militarize law enforcement.

(https://www.democraticunderground.com/113321889)

Because it's worked so well for Mexico since Pepe Calderón did it.

Could it, at least in Macri and Trump's case, be a brazen power grab instead? Impossible, I tell you!

[Judi Lynn]

2. It was amazing how things really took right off after the Merida Initiative! Impressive!

Heads without bodies appearing from out of nowhere, mass graves, people hanging from bridges, etc., etc., etc.

Nothing like the kick a militarized drug war can give a population.

Pure genius from Calderón and George W. when they decided to join arms and fight against peace together.

From the Guardian:

Mexico's war on drugs: what has it achieved and how is the US involved?

Felipe Calderón launched the war after being elected in 2006, and since then the US has donated at least $1.5bn – but the biggest costs have been human

Nina Lakhani and Erubiel Tirado in Mexico City
Thu 8 Dec 2016 07.52 EST Last modified on Thu 5 Oct 2017 11.53 EDT



Why did Mexico launch its war on drugs?
On 10 December 2006, the newly inaugurated president, Felipe Calderón, launched Mexico’s war on drugs by , where rival cartels were engaged in tit-for-tat massacres as they battled over lucrative territory. The surge in violence had started in 2005, and a string of police and military operations by his predecessor Vicente Fox had failed to stem the bloodshed.

Calderón declared war eight days after taking power – a move widely seen as an attempt to boost his own legitimacy . Within two months, around 20,000 troops were involved in operations across the country which initially attracted widespread support from communities tired of gun battles, gruesome execution-style murders and corrupt police.

What has the war cost so far?
The US has donated at least $1.5bn through the Merida Initiative since 2008 (another $1bn has been agreed by Congress – ), while Mexico has spent at least $54bn on security and defence since 2007. Critics say that this influx of cash has helped create an opaque security industry open to corruption at every level.

But the biggest costs have been human: since 2007, almost 200,000 people have been murdered and more than 28,000 reported as disappeared. In September 2014, after they were attacked by corrupt police officers and handed over to drug gang members. The case – in which the Mexican army as well as corrupt politicians were implicated – has become emblematic of the violence perpetrated in heavily militarized zones.

Human rights groups have detailed a vast rise in human rights abuses by security forces who are under pressure to make arrests, obtain confessions and justify the war. Reports of torture by security forces increased by 600% between 2003 and 2013, according to Amnesty International.

As the cartels have fractured and diversified, other violent crimes such as kidnapping and extortion have also surged. In 2010, the Los Zetas cartel – founded by a group of Special Forces deserters – massacred 72 migrants who were kidnapped while trying to reach the US.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by violence, and self-defence or vigilante groups have emerged in several states including Guerrero, Oaxaca and Michoacán, as communities have taken up arms in an attempt to protect themselves. Some of those militias have in turn been targeted by state forces or co-opted by organized crime.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/dec/08/mexico-war-on-drugs-cost-achievements-us-billions

It just keeps growing, doesn't it? Hooray for politicians.