I am used to living in a place where murders occur on the regular. I remember growing up in Jamaica and well over a thousand murders in a year was not that unusual. Believe me, for an island of about two million people that's a lot. Do the math. Now I live in a place I affectionately call Killadelphia (see my murder count on the side-bar) and even though we are doing much better, over three hundred killings in a given year is still way too much.
Still, when it comes to murders, both Philly and Jamaica might have to take a back seat to my friends south of the border. In 2008 alone they had well over 5,000 murders in that bad boy. That is Iraq type numbers. Since Calderon took office in 2006 they have had over 8,000 murders. Those are mind numbing numbers for a country that is not officially at war. Although, I take that back; they are at war, but it's a war against drug cartels, who are actually at war with each other. If you live on the American side close to the Mexican border, you have to be concerned, because now the violence is spilling over into the good ole U.S.A.. Thank goodness my Cancun days are over, because it's no fun getting your party on at Senor Frogs if you have to be listening for gunshots. It must be tough being a young buck on spring break down in that bad boy these days. Thirteen killed in Acapulco this past weekend alone.
And, sadly, now comes news that three people with ties to the American embassy were killed as well. Understandably our president is not pleased, and who can blame him?
"President Barack Obama expressed outrage over the killings, and Mexican President Felipe Calderon promised a swift investigation.Several U.S. citizens have been killed in Mexico's drug war, most of them people with family ties to Mexico. However, it is rare for American government employees to be targeted."
Don't hold your breath for President Calderon jumping on that investigation there O man, I suspect that some people very high up in his administration have dogs in these cartel fights. This is nothing new. We have seen this movie before, and I suspect that we will see it again. Unfortunately there is a lot of violence in this movie, and I am pretty sure that there won't be a happy ending.
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