MEXICAN VIOLENCE

Drug War Threatens The Country Itself

Drug violence in Mexico is so appalling that it is affecting school
attendance, USA Today reports.

In some cities along the border with the United States, schoolchildren
are staying home due to the violence. In Juarez, a city of 1.3 million
people across the border from El Paso, Texas, drug violence has taken
at least 1,530 lives this year.

At one school in Juarez, about 90 percent of the parents are keeping
their children home because of kidnapping threats. Because police are
so preoccupied with drug violence, other criminals have threatened to
kidnap children in a bid to extort money from parents and teachers.

Thus, the drug violence has helped foster a general crime
wave.

In Juarez, two drug cartels and the Mexican government fight for
control of the city, which has become known for beheadings, hangings
and mass executions. On one recent Sunday, 19 people were killed. The
violence included simultaneous attacks on police at four locations.

In one round of violence, criminals dumped a headless body on the
street, lined up three other men against a wall and shot them, and
hung a banner with the names of 28 police officers they planned to
kill.

In 2006, President Felipe Calderon dispatched the army to fight drug
cartels around the country. Border cities have become "battlegrounds,"
USA Today notes, with more than 5,300 deaths this year alone.

Recently the headless bodies of nine men were found in the southern
state of Guerrero. Some of the slain were soldiers.

There have been several gruesome cases of bodies being dumped near
elementary schools. Students connected to wealthy or influential
families have been kidnapped and killed in Tijuana and Mexico City.

The extent of the violence threatens the security of Mexico itself. It
is a real test for the Mexican government.

The United States is not immune from the bloody drama that is playing
out just across the border.