Mexico's bloodshed worsens as 200 hundreds die in last 7 days

More than 200 people have been slaughtered during the past seven days in the most violent week in the criminal insurgency racking Mexico since President Felipe Calderón unleashed federal forces against drug trafficking gangs.

The carnage has cut a wide arc through Mexico and underscored the gangsters' brazen willingness to take on military troops and Mexican federal police in direct combat.

Among this week's victims were 12 federal police officers ambushed Monday by presumed gangsters in western Michoacan state and three others bushwhacked in northern Chihuahua state. Army troops shot it out with gunmen Tuesday in Taxco, a tourist mecca 100 miles south of Mexico City, killing 15 alleged criminals.

"The difference now is that the criminals and security forces are clashing more frequently," said Raul Benitez-Manaut, a national security analyst. "The criminals are directly challenging the government."
Heavy violence

The conflict constitutes the most serious organized violence since the Mexican Revolution began a century ago. And it has become one of the largest armed conflicts in the world.

For example, the more than 2,700 people murdered last year in Ciudad Juarez outstrips the combat fatalities suffered by civilians and Allied troops in Afghanistan during the same period, according to statistics compiled by United Nations and private analysts.

On Wednesday, investigators recovered the bodies of five city police officers butchered in a Monterrey suburb. Dozens of policemen have been killed in the Monterrey area in recent months.

The governor of Nayarit, the state that includes the small beach resorts outside Puerto Vallarta popular with U.S. tourists, cancelled the remainder of the school year. Parents had panicked amid rumors that gangsters were going to target drug rivals' children following gun battles in the state capital that killed 30 people during the weekend.

Gov. Ney Gonzalez called on Calderón to send federal troops to Nayarit, which hadn't suffered significant gang violence until recently.

"Society asks the government to act, and we are going to act," Gonzalez told the newspaper Universal on Wednesday. "This is our territory. We are going to protect and defend it."

Good luck Mr. president.

Don't Forget To Subscribe