Mexico — Angelica Bucio knows firsthand the mounting problems of President Felipe Calderón's nationwide war on drugs. She was among the thousands of revelers packed into this colonial city to celebrate Mexican Independence Day when two grenades exploded.
The blast slammed Bucio against a fountain. Her arms and legs burned with white-hot shrapnel. Smoke and screaming and blood were everywhere. The Sept. 15th attack, which killed eight people and injured 108, demonstrates that Calderón's battle against drug cartels is still a struggle after nearly two years. Instead of subsiding, drug-related murders are rising.
Once-quiet border towns have become battlegrounds. Police-on-police clashes have left citizens wondering who the good guys are. And the Morelia grenade attack, which the Mexican attorney general's office blamed on drug traffickers, raised fears that smugglers are moving into outright terrorism."They have crossed a line from recklessly endangering civilians in their attacks on law-enforcement officials and rival gangs, to deliberately targeting innocent men, women, and children," U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza says.
The turmoil is in stark contrast to the U.S. side of the border, where Calderón's crackdown looks like a success. The White House credits Mexico's efforts for a drop in the drug supply. Since 2006, methamphetamine use in the U.S. dropped 50%, and cocaine use decreased 19%, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy. Mass killings commonplace!
But in Mexico, many people wonder if the crackdown on cartels is worth the loss of life. Marches and rallies are multiplying as Mexicans vent their frustration. "I don't think the government is winning," Bucio says from her hospital bed. "The violence is getting worse."
Drug-related murders are soaring — 3,004 this year as of Sept. 3, compared to 2,673 in all of 2007, according to a tally by El Universal newspaper. In 2006 there were 1,410 drug-related killings. And mass killings are commonplace. Twelve decapitated bodies were found Aug. 28 outside the Yucatán Peninsula city of Mérida. Police found 24 bodies bound and shot in a rural area outside Mexico City on Sept. 13. And on Aug. 16, gunmen shot and killed 13 people, including a baby, at a party in the northern town of Creel.
Many Mexicans fear that Calderón's battle is turning into a quagmire, says Francisco García Cordero, editor of Criminalia, a criminal-justice journal. When the crackdown began, 53% of Mexicans approved of Calderón's anti-crime efforts, according to ...