Mexican Drug Wars Claim 5,000 Lives in 2008

It’s been a creeping tragedy that has escaped serious attention by many major media outlets, but the recurring waves of drug violence in Mexico have taken the lives of about 5,000 people in 2008. In response, the Mexican government has deployed more than 40,000 troops, though corruption within the state’s security forces remains a grave problem.

The BBC:

The bodies of 13 people have been found on a dirt road in Mexico’s Sinaloa state, home to one of the country’s most violent drug cartels.

The victims’ hands were bound and all had been shot. Most were teenagers.

Passersby found the bodies near a stolen truck in the northwest of the state on Thursday.

It comes a day after a leading newspaper, El Universal, said that at least 5,000 people had been killed in drug-related violence this year.

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nytimes.com / Adriana Zehbrauskas

Mexican security forces have militarized much of the country in an effort to eradicate drug cartel power, with many Mexicans getting caught in the crossfire.