Mexico bodiesThe mass dumping of headless bodies administers a shock to Mexico, long numbed by a death count of nearly 50,000 brought on by president Felipe Calderon's war against the crime cartels. By the time his tenure ends this December, six years after his declaration, that number will likely surpass 60,000.
What kind of headway has the country made since 2006? Of the seven major cartels, some have vanished, but smaller syndicates have scrambled into the vacuum. The two largest—Sinaloa and Los Zetas—remain in power and at each other's throats. A beefed-up federal force has supplanted Mexico's underpaid, poorly treated, corrupt police force, but corruption persists, and journalists are being killed.
The U.S. has been guarding its borders closely against violence, although the demand for drugs hasn't deviated much since 2006. Nor have the American gangsters who facilitate the network. Worse, the barbarism—with notes taken from the al-Qaida playbook—has escalated.
Mexico crime siteMother's Day massacre in
