More Carnage in Mexico

Since June 21, narco-gunmen have been on a pre-announced rampage, resulting in the death of at least 41 people in Ciudad Juarez, the Mexican border town opposite El Paso, Texas, announced local authorities. Though the year is only half over, the city’s annual death count now exceeds 500, despite the Mexican government’s heavy deployment of federal troops and police to combat the country’s violent drug cartels.

With thousands of Americans crossing the border every day—some just to take advantage of cheap gasoline prices—and with violence on the rise not just in border cities but in metropolitan areas like Monterrey and resorts like Acapulco as well, it’s inevitable that, sooner or later, American citizens will get caught in the crossfire.

At this point, there is no evidence the violence will end any time soon. More than half of all Mexicans recently surveyed by Mexico City newspaper Reforma said they believe the cartels are defeating the federal and local forces that are undertaking the nationwide crackdown on Mexico’s cartels, while only 24 percent said they think the government is winning.

Recently, Notivisa, a Mexican news channel, aired footage of a gun battle in Tijuana that appeared as if it could have been shot in Baghdad. The BBC also reported that the cartels are running commando-like training camps in the northern desert.

How long can the U.S. afford to ignore this war on our border?