Los Angeles Times, 8/22/2012
A study has found that Mexico’s homicide rate rose for the fourth year in a row in 2011, this time by 5.6% compared with the previous year -- a fact that will come as little surprise to Mexicans who continue to be bombarded each morning with the latest stomach-turning details of the country’s drug war.
What is less clear, however, is what the new numbers say about outgoing President Felipe Calderon’s controversial and nearly 6-year-old decision to deploy the military to battle the country’s entrenched drug-trafficking gangs.
The new homicide numbers “show that violence is still a really important issue,” said Eric Olson, associate director of the Mexico Institute at the Wilson Center in Washington.
“How [Peña Nieto] is going to seek to reduce violence is an open question, but it’s still a worthwhile priority,” he said.
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