Mexico ( 4,249 drug related murders in 4 months in Mexico )

Mexico Registers 4,249 Drug-Related Killings in 4 Months
Some 685 fewer murders occurred between Dec. 1, when Peña Nieto took office, and March 31, compared to the prior period, Deputy Government Secretary Eduardo Sanchez said

MEXICO CITY – A total of 4,249 drug-related killings occurred in Mexico from December 2012, when President Enrique Peña Nieto took office, to March 2013, marking a drop of 14 percent from the comparable four-month period in 2011-2012, the Government Secretariat said.

Some 685 fewer murders occurred between Dec. 1, when Peña Nieto took office, and March 31, compared to the prior period, Deputy Government Secretary Eduardo Sanchez said.

Drug-related killings also fell 17 percent compared to the August-November 2012 period, Sanchez said.

A total of 184 law enforcement agents were murdered during the Peña Nieto administration’s first four months, the official said.

The war on drugs launched by former President Felipe Calderon, who was in office from 2006 to 2012, left about 70,000 people dead, or an average of 32 per day, in Mexico, officials say.

Calderon, of the conservative National Action Party, or PAN, deployed thousands of soldiers and Federal Police officers across the country to fight drug cartels. EFE