Last month, Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom declared a “state of calamity” as Guatemala experiences the worst drought in 70 years. Approximately half of the population lives below the poverty line and 50 percent of children are suffering from chronic malnutrition. But these are only the surface casualties of a vulnerable nation ravaged by 36 years of civil war, genocide and now, the encroaching drug war spilling over from the northern border with Mexico.

Worldfocus special correspondent Martin Savidge hosts Anita Isaacs, Carlisle Johnson and Sam Lowenberg. Some highlights of the conversation include:

• Guatemala in 2009 looks a lot like Guatemala of the 1960s and 1970s
• Malnutrition is connected to poverty, which is connected to the ownership of land
• There is almost no basic infrastructure in rural areas, including access to clean water and sanitation
• The U.S. CIA-orchestrated coup in 1954 gave rise to 36 years of genocidal armed conflict
• Lawlessness on the streets, drug trafficking and rural violence have contributed to the deaths of 6,000 people in 2008
• Indigenous systems of justice punish by means of lynching and public humiliation
• The sitting vice president has called Guatemala a “failed state”
• There has been no justice for war crimes and the civil war hangs over everyday life in Guatemala
• Is Guatemala a feudal society that never stopped being a banana republic?
• Guatemala has the highest per-capita income in all of Central America at $4,000/person, but income distribution is woefully underreported
• As the capital of Central America with it’s entangled history with the U.S., Guatemala does matter

GUESTS:

Dr. Anita Isaacs is a political science professor at Haverford College in Pennsylvania. For the last decade, she has researched democracy, justice and the peace process in Guatemala. She conducts field research in the country four to five times a year. Anita is writing a book with the working title At War with the Past? The Politics of Transitional Justice in Postwar Guatemala. She has also served as consultant to the Ford Foundation, the Inter-American Dialogue, Freedom House and the Open Society Institute.

Stephen C. “Carlisle” Johnson is the producer and host of the television show “Inside Guatemala.” He has worked as a venture capitalist in about 50 countries and traveled to more than 120 countries. Carlisle has lived in Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, France, England, and currently, Guatemala. He is the former publisher of the “Guatemala Post” and the former host of the English radio program “Good Morning Guatemala” on ABC Radio International affiliate. He is a chartered interpreter in English and Spanish.

Samuel Loewenberg is a journalist who covers public health and politics. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Economist, The Atlantic Online, The Washington Post and many others.  He has reported from Latin America, Europe, China, Africa, and the former Soviet Union. His work in Guatemala was supported by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producers: Lisa Biagiotti, Ben Piven

On Thursday, U.S. President Barack Obama arrived in Mexico City to meet with his counterpart, Mexican President Felipe Calderon.  The issue of drug violence quickly took center stage, with the president again promising that the U.S. will do all it can to help Mexico win its war with the drug cartels.

Rodolfo de la Garza of Columbia University joins Martin Savidge to discuss U.S. concerns about Mexico, Mexico’s military strategy and issues relating to the economy and immigration.

For more perspective on Obama’s trip, read Worldfocus editorial consultant Peter Eisner’s analysis: No room for optimism in Mexico’s war on drugs.

During the last year, more than 6,000 people have been murdered as a result of Mexico’s escalating drug violence, which is now more deadly than the war in Afghanistan.

The Worldfocus signature series on Mexico’s drug war ventured to Tijuana, featuring its fearful residents, its corrupt officials and the popularization of “narco” culture among youth.

Drug violence is especially heavy on border cities like Tijuana or Ciudad Juarez, and has spilled over into the U.S. American officials have reported a spike in kidnappings and killings connected with Mexican cartels.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has placed some of the blame on the U.S., pointing to growing American demand and U.S. guns coming over the border illegally. He stated that the drug problem is “not an exclusively Mexican problem; it is a common problem between Mexico and the United States.”

Under the three-year Merida Initiative, the U.S. has pledged $1.4 billion to Mexico to help fight drug trafficking. But as violence continues to soar, critics worry that the money will end up in the hands of corrupt police or politicians.

Worldfocus.org’s weekly radio show explored Mexico’s drug wars, life on the border and U.S. policy in Mexico. Worldfocus anchor Martin Savidge hosted a panel of guests.

Natalia Almada is a Mexican-American filmmaker who splits her time between Mexico and the United States. Natalia and her family have lived in Sinaloa, Mexico for six generations. She directed and produced the award-winning feature documentary “Al Otro Lado - To The Other Side.” The film looks at immigration and drug trafficking through Mexico’s tradition of Corrido music. Her latest documentary film, “El General,” received the best director award at this year’s Sundance film festival and will be broadcast on PBS’s documentary program P.O.V.

Tony Payan is an associate professor of political science and an active researcher who resides on the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. He teaches subjects such as foreign policy of the United States, the politics of Mexico, Latin American politics and border issues, among others. His research agenda focuses on United States-Mexico relations and border issues, including border security and cross-border cooperation. He has written several articles on these subjects as well two pertinent books, “Cops, Soldiers, and Diplomats: Explaining Agency Behavior in the War on Drugs” and “The Three U.S.-Mexico Border Wars: Drugs, Immigration and Homeland Security.”

Ambassador Andrés Rozental has held numerous positions in the Mexican government, including deputy foreign minister, ambassador to the United Kingdom and Sweden, and permanent representative of Mexico to the United Nations. He served as ambassador-at-large and special envoy under President Vicente Fox, representing Mexico to surrounding nations, and in 2006 and 2007 he advised Felipe Calderón on foreign policy issues. He is also the founding president of the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations.

Credits:
Host: Martin Savidge
Producers: Lisa Biagiotti, Katie Combs and Stephen Puschel

Americans used to flock to the city, but now largely avoid it. In 2005, a banner year for tourism, some four million people visited Tijuana.  Last year, the number dropped to around 400,000. Residents, too, are fleeing in fear. 

Worldfocus correspondent John Larson, producer Bryan Myers and field producers Megan Thompson and Ivette Feliciano explore Tijuana, beginning in a hospital that not only treats the victims of drug violence, but that operates in fear that its own people will get caught in the battle.

While many Mexicans would be revolted by the grisly murders, there is also a popular subculture that celebrates this sort of violence.

Worldfocus correspondent John Larson, producer Bryan Myers and field producer Ivette Feliciano report on “narco” culture. Megan Thompson shot the piece.

One Tijuana business owner who refuses to be named, pictured or recorded without voice modification tells the story of how he was kidnapped by organized crime and ransomed to his family.

There is also the growing problem of people simply vanishing. Known as the “disappeared,” Mexico’s kidnapping victims are often never heard from again — 97 percent of the country’s kidnapping cases go unsolved by police.

Worldfocus correspondent John Larson, producer Bryan Myers and field producers Megan Thompson and Ivette Feliciano report from Tijuana.

Teodoro Eduardo García Simental, “El Teo,” is a major player in Tijuana’s drug war, a larger-than-life figure who has escaped the law and left gruesome corpses in his wake.

Worldfocus correspondent John Larson, producer Bryan Myers and field producers Megan Thompson and Ivette Feliciano spend five days in Tijuana, where life in El Teo’s reach is surrounded by death.

Drug violence in Mexico killed more than 6,000 people in 2008, and has killed 1,000 so far this year and spilled over the border into the U.S.

Despite growing fears on both sides of the border that the cartels are out of control, Mexican President Felipe Calderon rejected the notion that Mexico is a “failed state.”

Last week, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder discussed the results of “Operation Xcellerator,” an anti-drug initiative targeting Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel. The U.S. has arrested 750 people in connection with Mexican drug cartels over the past two years.

Andrew Bast has reported from four continents for several magazines and newspapers and writes at “World Politics Review” about the state of the drug war and what can be done.

Under the Influence: Demand and the Mexican Drug War

The war looks eerily familiar: beheadings, assassinations of police and public officials, terrorized businesspeople, extorted schoolteachers, and in five years more than 230 American civilians dead in the crossfire. All this could easily describe the battle in Afghanistan or Pakistan, but the reality is closer to home, where an increasingly gruesome and threatening war is threatening to boil over the United States’ southern border with Mexico.

Summing up decades of policy, three former Latin American heads of state last week declared, “The war on drugs has failed.” Fernando Henrique Cardoso of Brazil, César Gaviria of Colombia and Ernesto Zedillo of Mexico, working together on the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy, argued, “Prohibitionist policies based on eradication, interdiction and criminalization of consumption simply haven’t worked. . . . Today, we are further than ever from the goal of eradicating drugs.”

Considering the money and resources committed to the War on Drugs over the years, the claim is mind-boggling. Pinning down exact figures is difficult, but some experts estimate that nearly $1 trillion has been spent in total. In 2009, $14 billion more has been budgeted to programs spanning 12 agencies of the U.s. federal government, from the Small Business Administration and Veterans Affairs to State, Interior and the Department of Defense. Every one of them, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, is an “important partner.” Some experts say that the actual money spent this year will be twice as much.

Last week, a coordinated sweep cracked down on cartels operating in Canada, Mexico and across the United States, demonstrating that this is still the same old war. Without a doubt the 755 arrests yanked offenders off the streets. But the strategy of stemming supply has, over the long run, proven shortsighted.

More money and guns abroad will prove ineffective in increasing U.S. influence over cartels and drug supply routes flowing into the country. Instead, American influence over the scourge of international narco-trafficking will be best leveraged domestically: Quelling what is rapidly becoming an imposing foreign policy issue depends on increasing treatment at home rather than waging a bigger battle abroad.

Arresting traffickers and aiding the Mexican government to combat the cartels focuses on the supply side of the problem. Accordingly, Congress passed the Merida Initiative last June, providing a half-billion dollars in aid annually to Mexico as a partner in trying to shut down the supply chain. As the cartels grow more capable, as well as more brazen, it seems that taking them down is a logical first step. But a few harsh realities suggest that stepping up the offensive will do little, if anything, to actually cut the flow of narcotics into American cities.

To read more, see the original post.

The views expressed by contributing bloggers do not reflect the views of Worldfocus or its partners.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user dream2life under a Creative Commons license.

The retiring Central Intelligence Agency chief said last week the drug violence in Mexico could pose a bigger problem for President Obama than Iraq. Another report by the U.S. military says Mexico is at risk of “sudden collapse.” 

Meanwhile, Cuban President Raul Castro has expressed an interest in working with President Obama — while Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Monday that the new Obama administration already has what he called the “stench” of the Bush administration.

Shannon O’Neil, a specialist on Latin America at the Council on Foreign Relations, joins Martin Savidge to discuss how President Obama might tackle Mexican drug violence and relations with Cuba and Venezuela.

Read more about world reactions to Obama’s inauguration: The world watches as President Obama takes office.

Mexican drug trafficking organizations represent the “greatest organized crime threat” to the United States, according to a recent government report [PDF], and drug-related violence — which has already reached unprecedented levels — is expected to increase in the coming year.

Carol Wise, an associate Professor of international relations at the University of Southern California, joins Martin Savidge to discuss how the abductions and killings in Mexico have seeped across the border into the U.S. and how the incoming Obama administration can work to combat the escalating violence.

See more coverage of the Mexican drug wars, including video interviews and blogs.

Below, read what bloggers are saying about the Obama-Calderón meeting.

The “Security in Latin America” blog writes that the meeting between Obama and Calderón will be all talk and no action.

Worldfocus contributing blogger Greg Weeks argues that details are less important than the tone of the meeting, which he hopes reflects urgency.

The “Pura Vida” blog writes that Mexico should be Obama’s number one security concern, even eclipsing Iraq or Afghanistan.

A blogger at “Mex Files” claims that no one in the Obama administration is interested in or committed to Latin American affairs.

Sinaloa is home to top drug leaders.

On Tuesday, armed gunmen attacked a Mexican television station reporting on drug-related violence, which is reaching unprecedented levels.

At least 5,300 drug-related slayings were reported in 2008, and violence may escalate this year.

Sinaloa, Mexico, is home to some of the country’s top drug leaders, and many local government and police officials are corrupt. In the past, the drug culture — and its money — have brought status to the state.

Clayton Worfolk and Jordan deBree with the Pulizter Center on Crisis Reporting are in Sinaloa and write about the changing views of the state’s residents in the “Untold Stories” blog.

Sinaloa: The birthplace of the drug cartel system

Even before the latest iteration of this drug war kicked off in December 2006 (when President Felipe Calderon launched his offensive against the cartels), Sinaloa state had the reputation of being a violent place. It was home to bandits and smugglers who took refuge in the Sierra Madre mountain range on the state’s eastern border.

One writer told us that men here used to settle disputes by locking one arm to each other and, with a knife held in their other hand, dueling to the death. Another man we interview attributes Sinaloans’ reputed propensity for violence to a diet of too much meat and seafood, too much testosterone.

It’s a reputation that many here have nurtured. For some, the fact that Sinaloa is the birthplace of the Mexican drug cartel system only adds to the state’s romantic allure. For decades, the narco-traffickers nurtured a sort of Robin Hood reputation around Mexico — violent and power-hungry, yes, but generous with their earnings. Culiacán — from its high-end car dealerships, to its lavish estates, ­to its well-dressed young men and women — was built and still runs on drug money that came down from the Sierras. If this isn’t a point of pride for all Sinaloans, it has certainly over the years enhanced the state’s cachet in the country and made clear that Sinaloans are to be respected — sentiments that all here seem to relish.

But as the Mexican drug war enters its third year, things may be changing. Residents’ feelings about the drug trade are a little more complicated now, to say the least. Pinned down by the government and undergoing seismic shifts in their leadership structure, the narcotraffickers have changed the rules. Wives, children and civilians are no longer off-limits, and people here know it.

To read more, see the original post.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user  patotenere under a Creative Commons license.

Police search bags for drugs and weapons in Mexico.

Mexican drug trafficking organizations represent the “greatest organized crime threat” to the United States, according to a recent government report [PDF]. Traffickers wield influence in the U.S. drug market and are working increasingly with U.S. drug gangs.

Last week, an American security consultant was kidnapped in Mexico.

Drug-related violence has killed more than 5,300 people so far this year in Mexico. KPBS and TijuanaPress.com recently launched “Border Battle,” an interactive Web feature on drug violence on the U.S.-Mexico border and its impact on San Diego.

Blogger “Jim Baca” of New Mexico argues that Mexico’s problem is also America’s and encourages U.S. action.

Earlier this month, the U.S. released $197 million in anti-drug aid as part of the $1.3 billion “Merida Initiative” package.

Citizen journalist “Lewis Guess” writes about Mexican victims treated in Texas hospitals, and argues that Mexico — not the U.S. — should be more aggressive in dealing with violence.

The “Harvard International Review” blog says that Mexico has three options: Negotiating with the drug cartels, decriminalizing drugs or increasing military presence in Mexican society.

The “Stairs to Nowhere” blog writes from Tijuana that crossing the border is more nerve-wracking than it used to be, as the federal military has begun checking cars.

Read our previous coverage of drug violence in Mexico.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Prometeo Lucero under a Creative Commons license.

A girl lights a candle during a protest against violence in Mexico.

Drug violence has taken a toll on Mexico, and drug-related killing more than doubled this year compared to 2007.

In October, President Felipe Calderón issued a proposal to decriminalize possession of small amounts of cocaine and other drugs in an effort to more efficiently target large-scale perpetrators.

Kathleen Blake Bohne writes at OpenDemocracy about the legalization debate in Mexico.

Drug decriminalisation in Mexico

[...]As this situation becomes more desperate, citizens and policymakers are left wondering where else to turn. [...] On October 2, [President Felipe Calderón] proposed an additional tactic, presenting a drug legalization scheme to the Mexican Congress, where various members of all three main political parties support its passage. Legalization is the term being used to describe this proposal, however, it would be more accurate to describe it as decriminalization – it would offer the alternative of treatment rather than prosecution for possession of small amounts of marijuana, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines. The stated goal is to help unclog the judicial system - already sluggish from corruption and poor infrastructure – overloaded with cases against addicts, whom many believe should be treated as patients rather than criminals. This should also free up law enforcement to concentrate its efforts against dealers; the same proposal includes tougher penalties on those who sell drugs to minors, for example.

The Mexican Congress passed a similar legalization proposal presented by then-President Vicente Fox in 2006, but Fox himself vetoed it, raising suspicions that U.S. pressure had been applied. But the 2008 proposal has already been given a quiet nod of approval by the U.S. drug czar, John Walters, who also assured his country’s unwavering support for Calderón’s military crackdown. This about-face on legalization - which Walters has been vehemently opposed to in the U.S – is likely because it is seen as a local effort that can be encouraged, as long as the overall government strategy remains adamantly hawkish on the drug war. It also appears that the momentum towards at least partial decriminalization in the region may be overwhelming; as noted in a recent report from the Center on Hemispheric Affairs, Latin America is shifting towards a “more independent, region-centric approach to the issue of the economics of narcotics.”

A rising tide of similar legislation is being considered in Brazil, Argentina, Venezuela and Bolivia, and in an October OAS (Organization of American States) meeting, the President of Honduras stated that “the trade of drugs, arms and people…are scourges on the international economy, and we are unable to provide effective responses” because of ongoing drug prohibition. The speaker of Mexico City’s legislative assembly, PRD Senator Victor Hugo Cirigo has even suggested the legalization of the sale of small amounts of marijuana in the capital city, citing the fact that marijuana is a “soft” drug, and that it is obvious that a new strategy is needed – he advised it is time to “hit criminals where it hurts: their finances.” Even the great Fuentes has lent his voice in support: “The only way to curb the violence of the drug cartels in Mexico is by legalizing drugs…If six or seven countries agreed with each other to legalize drug-taking, we would end it with the drug traffickers.” Fuentes’s statement highlights the significance of an international consensus on legalization; without a doubt, the United States, as the most profitable drug market in the hemisphere, would need to participate in order to reduce the cartels’ spoils of prohibition.

Legalization/decriminalization is certainly not the solution favored by everyone, including a very vocal and indignant Catholic Church, which criticized the legislators responsible for their “lack of moral values and ethics…thinking this makes them more modern.” Many fear a dramatic increase in the number of addicts, although they have been multiplying in Mexico for the past decade. Mexican drug use has spiked up 52% since 2000, with cocaine use alone increasing 100% in the past six years; women’s use has almost doubled in the same period. In a country where close to 50% of the population is under the age of 25 (the fastest growing demographic for drug addiction is the 12-17 year-old group), and rapid urbanization has created vast, destitute slums, it seems a sad truth that drug use will only increase, whether or not addicts are jailed.

In considering this issue, it should be remembered that even the few successes in the panorama of failures in the war on drugs have been mostly accidental. The end of the crack cocaine epidemic that gripped cities across the United States in the 1980s and early 90s was one of them. This triumph over a specific, highly potent drug and its users and dealers was credited with single-handedly reducing crime on city streets. How was this enviable feat accomplished? The truth is, no one knows.

To read more, see the original post.

The views expressed by contributing bloggers do not reflect the views of Worldfocus or its partners.

Photo courtesy of flickr user edcarsi under a Creative Commons license.

Over 300 people have been killed in the border city in just three months, marking an upturn in violence. Rival drug cartels have turned Tijuana into their battleground.

Rodolfo de la Garza of Columbia University joins Martin Savidge to discuss the risks of using the military to fight the drug war, corruption in the Mexican government and the role of the U.S. in combating the violence.

Below, read what bloggers in Tijuana and elswhere had to say about the city’s turn for the worse.

A blogger at “Stairs to Nowhere” writes from Tijuana about her efforts to retain normalcy amid the violence.

Blogger Deborah Bonello of “Mexico Reporter” writes that in addition to cartel members and police, journalists have been targeted.

The “Across the Border” blog speaks with conflict photographer Eros Hoagland who compares and contrasts violence in Baghdad to that in Tijuana.

In Iraq, it’s estimated that 148 civilians were killed last month, while in Mexico, some 700 people were killed last month.

Blogger “Hugh Hewitt” says that while Iraq is moving towards stability, Mexico is moving away from it, deploring the lack of media coverage of Tijuana.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Brymo under a Creative Commons license.

Erika de la Garza, the program director for the Latin American Initiative at Rice University, speaks with Martin Savidge about the effect of drug violence on foreign investment in Mexico, government stability and U.S. support of Mexican law enforcement.

For more on drug violence in Mexico, see our previous report: Mexican drug violence connected to U.S.

AUDIO: Sara Miller Llana of The Christian Science Monitor speaks from Mexico about the controversy surrounding the Nov. 4 plane crash.

A soldier patrols the zone where a plane crashed, killing Mexican government secretary Juan Camilo Mouriño.

A plane crash in the Lomas de Chapultepec neighborhood of Mexico City killed Juan Camilo Mouriño, the country’s second most powerful official and a prominent figure in Mexico’s battle against drug cartels.

Mouriño’s death has led to suspicions of foul play and though officials say the crash was apparently an accident, an investigation is planned.

Richard Grabman is an American author living in Mexico. He writes at “The Mex Files” blog about the implications of the plane crash and how the death will impact the Mexican political scene.

Juan Camilo Mouriño, Secretarío de Gobernacion, killed

Like most U.S. citizens abroad I was following the U.S. election returns all night, and was out all day. It’s only now — at one in the morning — that I can sit down and write about what is likely to be a more dramatic and immediate change in the political landscape — here — than the overwhelming victory of Barack Obama.

At just past 7 P.M. (Mexico City time), a Lear Jet, carrying nine persons, including former deputy chief Federal Prosecutor José Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, who had resigned after complaints about his ineffectiveness as a “drug warrior” but stayed in the government as an official with the Public Security Secretariat and Secretarío de Gobernacion, Juan Camilo Mouriño, fell out of the sky, crashing into Lomas de Chapultepec, at the Periferico Miguel Aleman — near the monument to the oil expropriation, and killed all on board.

The Federal District Prosecutors’ Office has already opened an investigation.

This is a huge issue, with both national security, political and international implications. Mouriño, who was only 37 years old, but was the second most powerful figure in the Mexican executive branch. Secretaria de Gobernacion has no real equivalent in English. His title is sometimes translated as “Interior Mininster” or “Home Secretary” but the closest U.S. counterpart would be the Secretary of Homeland Security … as well as Director of National Security, and the closest thing Mexico has to a Vice-President.

His selection last March, as a replacement for President Calderon’s original Secretaria de Gobernacion, Francisco Ramírez Acuña, was highly controversial. Ramírez was widely despised even in his own party for his alleged ties to narcotics dealers, and accused of being AWOL — or at least negligent — in the anti-narco war, on top of his tolerance of human rights abuse during his tenure as Governor of Jalisco. Mouriño, though seen as a young, fresh face came with his own baggage. As a dual Spanish-Mexican national, there were lingering questions about his constitutional qualifications for the position (the Secretaria de Gobernacion is the acting President if the President dies or is unable to perform his duties until Congress elects an interim President. Mouriño was born in Spain, and Mexico — like the United States — requires Presidents to be “natural born citizens”).

In addition, Mouriño’s own ties to companies with contracts with PEMEX , and his family business’ dealings with PEMEX, have been under investigation in the Chamber of Deputies. AND… Mouriño was the point-man on the anti-narcotics crusade.  And, as head of internal security, Mouriño was responsible for the recent scandal that involved federal agents spying and wiretapping opposition legislatators, and for attempts to tie all domestic dissent to narcotics dealers.  As the national security chief,  Mouriño collaborated closely with his United States and other nation’s counterparts in anti-terrorist and criminal prosecution issues.

It’s going to be impossible NOT to speculate on the narcotics angle… but given that among Mouriño’s political activities during his short tenure was his attempt to “sell” PEMEX de-nationalization, the location of the crashsite is either an odd coincidence, or a very weird ironic statement.

To read more, see the original post.

The views expressed by contributing bloggers do not reflect the views of Worldfocus or its partners.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user Frecuenciaspopulares under a Creative Commons license.

Shannon O’Neil, a specialist on Latin America at the Council on Foreign Relations, speaks with Martin Savidge about the politicized and corrupt nature of the justice system in Mexico, the possibility of a mole within the country’s U.S. embassy and the challenge of combating this corruption.

An estimated 4,000 people have been killed due to drug-related violence in Mexico this year, with a significant rise in recent weeks.

Rodolfo de la Garza, a Columbia University political science professor, speaks with Martin Savidge about the U.S. connection to Mexico’s surge of drug violence. De la Garza attributes this violence to increased state challenges to the drug cartels in areas they both claim to control.

Read what a Worldfocus contributing blogger had to say about the violence in Mexico at our previous post: Nearly 80 killed in Tijuana drug wars.

Crosses commemorate victims of violence — some left unidentified — in Mexico.

On Sunday, seven were killed and three wounded in Tijuana, Mexico – the latest in a chain of deaths from drug-related violence. In the past two weeks, nearly 80 people have been killed in the city — a sign that the drug war is growing.

Many of the victims were members of the Arellano Felix cartel, which dominated the drug scene in Tijuana during the 1990s. Now, rival gangs are competing for control of the city — leaving a trail dead bodies.

Tijuana was once known as a tourist destination for its cheap alcohol and black market for prescription medication. Earlier this month, President Felipe Calderon deployed 20,000 troops in Tijuana, but Mexicans feel no more secure.

Kinsee Morlan, a writer for alternative news Web site “San Diego Citybeat,” is a Tijuana resident living near the site of the latest killings. She writes about the climate of fear surrounding Tijuana in her blog, “Stairs to Nowhere.”

The dead of Tijuana

Violence. Violence. Violence. And more violence in the city where I’ve chosen to live.

And the media reports aren’t nearly as frightening as the reports coming from neighbors and friends.  I don’t think I even want to go into those, but let’s just say I’m officially afraid for the first time. Last night, I got home from Las Vegas at around 11 p.m. and I drove by what I had always considered one of the happiest places in Tijuana, a seafood restaurant called Negrolandia.  The road was blocked off and federal police with their Hummers and machine guns were surrounding the area.  I still have no idea what went down, but I’m sure it was more violence, maybe a few more deaths.  When I pulled up in front of my house, I kept thinking, “What if a cartel caravan drives by, or what if the police chase the cartel up my street?”

All the murders so far seem to be obviously drug related. The dead are reportedly victims of a power struggle between different factions.  I’ve been told it’s the cartel from Sinaoloa trying to take over the drug trade in TJ since the Arellano Felix Cartel has been weakened due to arrests of top members.  I have no idea if this is really what’s happening, as I’m partly going off what I’ve heard and partly relying on what little I’ve allowed myself to read (if I get too caught up in reading about the violence, my ability to sleep at night will vanish).

Truth is, I don’t want to know too much about the cartel, and after this post, I don’t think I want to write about it at all.

So what can I say?  I’m not going to put my tail between my legs and leave just yet.  I’ll stick it out and hope that the violence mellows before my family comes to celebrate Thanksgiving in Ensenada. What else can I do?

See the original post.

The views expressed by contributing bloggers do not reflect the views of Worldfocus or its partners.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user pies cansados under a Creative Commons license.