Mexico drug wars claim new victim

Americas

President says Mexicans will not 'live in submission' amid wave of gang violence.

Last Modified: 10 May 2008 21:08 GMT

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About 1,100 people have been killed this year despite a large military deployment [Reuters]

A senior police officer has been killed in Mexico - the fifth in less than a week - in what the government says is a wave of violence by drug gangs.

Esteban Robles, a senior detective in Mexico City, was shot seven times in the head, neck and chest in front of his apartment on Friday.

Felipe Calderon, Mexico's president, said the killing was an attempt by weakened gangs to counter his fight against drug trafficking.

He said: "

"They know that Mexicans will no longer live in submission, and we are determined to take back our streets."

Calderon spoke after attending the funeral of Edgar Millan, one of Mexico's senior federal policemen, who was killed outside his home on Thursday.

Millan was responsible for the recent arrests of Sinaloa Cartel leaders, a violent group fighting other crime rings for control of cocaine shipping routes into the United States.

Wave of violence

Two other senior policemen were shot in the capital in recent days and drug hitmen are believed to be responsible for the death of Saul Pena, a senior police officer in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas.

"They know that Mexicans will no longer live in submission, and we are determined to take back our streets"

Felipe Calderon, Mexico's president

This week has seen about 100 people killed, including several key crime-fighting officials, according to authorities.

More than 1,100 people have lost their lives in the bloodshed this year.

Observers say the drug cartels have infiltrated Mexico's police agencies so deeply that most of the murders go unsolved.

Ricardo Ravelo, a drug violence analyst, said: "Killings in Mexico go unpunished, so drug traffickers feel free to kill. They know they can pay to corrupt the justice system."

Since taking office in 2006, the president has deployed more than 25,000 soldiers to the regions most affected by drug violence.

Cartels have responded with unprecedented violence, beheading police and killing soldiers. Drug-related violence killed more than 2,500 people last year alone in Mexico.

Part of the spike in the violence is blamed on a well-trained armed group called "los Zetas", at the service of the Golfo cartel, which was formed in the 1990s by army deserters.

Source:

Al Jazeera and agencies

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