His death came only days after the assassination of officer Carlos Reyes López, a member of an elite state squad that was created to tackle the growing violence. López along with eleven others was killed when his home was stormed by a group of armed men Saturday. Lopez’s wife, mother and several of her grandchildren as well as a strawberry vendor were among the dead; the youngest victim was 2 years old. Caledonio Reyes López, also a police officer and the brother of Carlos López, and two others were wounded.
Both officers were involved in joint anti-drug operations involving both police and military elements; authorities believe the assassinations are in retaliation for recent drug related arrest. They are also investigating the possibility that an ongoing feud between López and another family could have played a role in his death.
President Felipe Calderón has had some success in the war against the cartels; he has increased the number of drug seizures and arrested top cartel leaders. However despite the use of tens of thousands of soldiers and police officers throughout Mexico he has been unable to control the rapidly increasing violence. 5630 people died in the drug related violence in 2008 alone, with an estimated total of 9830 over the past three years. The majority of the deaths were in towns along the U.S.-Mexico border.
To complicate matters more Mexican protesters blocked roads and bridges entering the U.S. in the towns of Monterrey and Veracruz to protest the Military-backed drug war. Some protestors carried their children as they blocked the roads. Officials have accused the cartels of organizing the protest saying that they paid people and gave free school supplies to poor families in exchange for them marching in the protest.
President Calderon condemned the protest saying:
"Those who see ... their criminal structure weakened have tried to provoke the army's retreat,”and
"True to form as cowards, they have even used women and children for their wretched goals,"
No comments:
Post a Comment