"A record 69 people were murdered across Mexico on Saturday, making it the deadliest day since President Felipe Calderon took office just over three years ago," the Latin American Herald Tribune reported on Wednesday, January 13, citing Mexico's El Universal newspaper. The previous daily death toll record was 57 murders on Aug. 17, 2009.

"The country resembled a grim, statistical dart board Saturday as law enforcement and media reported the deaths from various regions, including 26 in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, 13 in and around Mexico City and 10 in the northern city of Chihuahua," the Associated Press reported.

The Latin American Herald Tribune article on the latest Mexican crime carnage noted:

El Universal, which keeps a running tally of the murders in the country, reported Sunday that 283 people have been killed so far this year in Mexico.... Last year, according to El Universal, was the deadliest in Mexico in the past decade, with 7,724 people killed in violent incidents attributed to organized crime groups.

The spiraling vortex of violence is being driven by ongoing turf battles among Mexico's competing drug cartels, which seem to be vying with one another to establish ever more gruesome displays of public assassination and torture. Decapitation, dismemberment, defacement, mutilation, hanging, burning - the ultra-violent methods keep evolving, as the cartels escalate their campaigns of terror and intimidation.

The recent murder-mutilation of 36-yearold Hugo Hernandez is an horrific illustration of the descent into barbarism on our border. Hernandez was kidnapped in the state of Sonora on January 2 and taken to the neighboring state of Sinaloa, apparently by rival cartel members. His body, cut into seven pieces, began showing up in separate locations. The last was his face, which had been sliced off and stitched to a football. The grisly "trophy" was delivered to the city hall of the town of Los Mochis in Sinaloa.

This followed closely on the heels of the high-profile mass-murder of the family of Mexican Marine hero Melquisedet Angulo Cordova. Cordova had been killed in the December 17 gun battle in Cuernavaca that also took the life of Arturo Beltran Leyva, known as the Mexican cartels' "Boss of Bosses." The young Marine was given a hero's burial with full military honors for sacrificing his life in the fight to bring down Mexico's most wanted criminal. Hours later, his home was invaded and his family gunned down. Among the dead: his mother, brother, sister, and an aunt.

A report one year ago on worldwide security threats by the U.S. Joint Forces Command warned of the potential for Mexico to descend into chaos, with serious security implications for the United States. The Command's "Joint Operating Environment (JOE 2008)" report said that in Mexico "the government, its politicians, police and judicial infrastructure are all under sustained assault and pressure by criminal gangs and drug cartels. How that internal conflict turns out over the next several years will have a major impact on the stability of the Mexican state."

The report continued: "Any descent by Mexico into chaos would demand an American response based on the serious implications for homeland security alone."

The current round of violence in Mexico is certain to reignite the campaigns for more state and federal gun controls here in the United States. As we reported last May ("Mexican Violence, Gun Controls"), the escalating violence south of our border caused a flurry of citations of false statistics from the politicians and media organs attempting to link Mexico's woes to the availability of guns in the United States. Senator Dianne Feinstein claimed that "ninety percent of the guns that are picked up in Mexico and used to shoot judges, police officers and mayors ... come from the United States." President Obama and others repeated that bogus 90-percent claim,  and it is now being trotted out again to build support to curtail sales at gun shows and further restrict firearms availability.
 
As The New American pointed out, the facts show almost the exact opposite of what the gun restriction/gun confiscation advocates are claiming. Such as, that more than 80 percent of the guns confiscated at crime scenes in Mexico do not come from the United States. And that most of Mexico's street warfare is being fought with automatic weapons that are not available from U.S. gun shops/gun shows, but are coming from Central and South America and from deserters from the Mexican military.

Photo: AP Images

Related articles:

Mexican Violence, Gun Controls

Gun Ownership Up, Crime Down

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (15)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Bonnie said:

Chaos pretty much describes the history of Mexico.

January 13, 2010

BeSafe said:

Warning....Mexico Vacation Deaths......Shocking Mexico is not safe period! A shocking 32% of all non-natural deaths of U.S. citizens outside this country occur in Mexico. Many of these deaths are a direct result of poor or nonexistent safety standards both inside and outside of the resorts. To read tragic Mexico vacation DEATH stories, many written by heartbroken family members as well as stories written by victims that "survived" their Mexico vacation go to: WWW.MEXICOVACATIONAWARENESS.COM

January 14, 2010 | url

Viva Mexico said:

Mexico is far safer than the US I visit areas of rural Mexico for a month every year. I have been doing this for about 20 years now. I have many friends who live there. The consensus there is that the American media has over-hyped an issue that has always existed in Mexico. Drug cartels have been killing each other in Mexico for many, many years. Tourists are very rarely the target of these assassinations, and the belief amongst most Mexicans I have met is that one would have a greater chance of being murdered in the United States. You will find many more "tragic" stories of senseless deaths in the US, than you will find in Mexico. Mexicans in general are very humble and peaceful people, most of them being devout Catholics. The many indigenous tribal populations there are even more community-oriented and close-knit. To suggest Mexico is a dangerous place is ridiculous. I personally worry more about my American neighbors, than I will ever worry about my Mexican neighbors down south. I feel this issue is being overblown in the US media to make the case for removing guns from US citizens. Please hang onto your guns, and bury them and your ammo in your backyard in case you ever need to protect your community.

January 14, 2010

ronnie said:

... The corrupt mainstream media tries to attribute the ongoing spike in firearm and ammo sales in America to a Democratic Presidency and the fear that Obama may try to implement more gun laws . I have disagreed with this theory all along and believe the citizenry of America have recently armed themselves to the 'teeth' because of the horrific violence just south of our border and our govts. failure to secure our border.

January 14, 2010

Rick said:

Reply to Viva Mexico "Bury my guns" in case I need them? Excuse me Mr. armed killer, can I have minute to dig up my guns and ammo? I grew up and still reside close to the border.Until two years ago I visited Mexico 4-6 times a year usually spending most of my time fishing.Well, maybe a little drinking also but my point is Mexico HAS changed.It is clearly more dangerous than is was the previous 40 years of my life. My last trip was interrupted by 200-300 soldiers who surrounded the restaurant I was dining in.Apparently a General had decided to dine at the same place and that was his personal protection squad.Not to mention the main highways littered with soldiers and .50 caliber machine gun emplacements.It was not the Mexico I grew up loving.

January 14, 2010

Gerald said:

Gun Ownership Prohibition Mexico prohibits all Mexican citizens from owning fire arms. Only the politically well connected are allowed to have firearms to defend themselves. The average citizen is subject to the rule of the armed criminals, and is not allowed to protect himself or his family. You must pay protection. The crime solution is to re-arm the general population. That worked in KYC to eliminate the Protection Rackets.

January 14, 2010

Barbara said:

Not really. You can actually buy guns here if you want to. The only thing is that you have to buy them at the SEDENA (Secretary of National Defense). If you're enrolled in a hunt club, you can buy any weapon that is allowed for civilians. If you're not enrolled, you can only buy one weapon, to protect your home. You can own a maximum of 10 weapons, you're not allowed to have/get more, unless you sell some. And you're only allowed to buy a maximum of 3 weapons per year.

January 14, 2010

Doug said:

Really, Barbara Barbara claims... "You can actually buy guns here if you want to. The only thing is that you have to buy them at the SEDENA (Secretary of National Defense). If you're enrolled in a hunt club, you can buy any weapon that is allowed for civilians. If you're not enrolled, you can only buy one weapon, to protect your home. You can own a maximum of 10 weapons, you're not allowed to have/get more, unless you sell some. And you're only allowed to buy a maximum of 3 weapons per year." Like the provision of the Mexican Constitution that every child will be educated, this 'official' pronouncement means nothing in reality. To buy any firearm LEGALLY in Mexico requires connections and mordida.

January 14, 2010

Viva Mexico said:

For Rick Hi Rick, Your experience seems very specific to the northern border towns and cities in Mexico. My experience is in all parts of Mexico. Everyone knows the northern border areas are violent, but that's really nothing new to anyone living there. I learned long ago to stay away from the northern towns. When I lived in OC for 12 years, I visited the northern and southern areas of Baja every other weekend. Now I visit one month of every year. Try travelling in the other 98% of Mexico sometime. Most of it is extremely rural and the people are very peaceful and friendly. I spent a few hours recently reading through the web sites that caution folks to not visit Mexico, due to how dangerous it is there. Sorry to report that the vast majority of the injuries/deaths reported on those sites were avoidable situations. If the people who were injured or killed used some common sense, they would be fine today. Going to Mexico on vacation and really believing it's just like the US really can get you killed. Just like a Mexican visiting the US can get killed for all the same reasons. Darwinism at its best.

January 14, 2010

Victor said:

Violence? in NY or LA... I travel a lot to NY an LA, I was robbed in NY 15 times in the last 5 years, and robbed 7 times in LA in the past 3 years. In Mexico city? 0 times In Monterrey? 0 times In Hermosillo? 0 times In Tijuana? 0 times Mmmmm, maybe the gringos don't have a good information about Mexico.

January 15, 2010

Jim said:

RE:Violence? in NY or LA... Robbed 15 times in NY in 5 years. You have police reports and or case report numbers to prove your lie?

January 15, 2010

Never been robbed in NYC said:

RE:Violence? in NY or LA.. Being suckered into buying a "Rolex" for $20 from a street vendor shouldn't count as being "robbed". (And, NO, I never bought a watch from a street vendor...)

January 15, 2010

Viva Mexico said:

Mexico vs USA on crime Who cares about NYC? I was living in South Seattle for many years and every single one of my neighbors' homes was broken into once or twice during that time. It's about spiritual poverty caused by a desire to possess material objects in order to be "whole." The vast majority of Mexicans are comfortable living in what most Americans would label "poverty."

January 15, 2010

Rick said:

@ Victor Could you please refrain from using racist language in your comments?The majority of us Americans are tired of your hate for the white man.

January 19, 2010

Rick said:

@ Viva Mexico Good grief man, can you get your head around the fact that I has seen firsthand the drastic increase in violence? "Shall I believe you or my eyes?" You people are insane who try and tell me that what I have witnessed is somehow not the reality.I'm sorry your friends are losing money because tourism has dropped, I truly am.They are my friends also but I'm NOT going back until things improve, OK.

January 19, 2010