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Drug Crime Looms Over Everyday Life in Mexico

Posted Aug 31, 08 1:38 PM CDT in Crime & Courts,  World 

(Newser) – The effects of the wave of violent drug crime in Mexico--one paper puts this year’s related deaths at 2,682--have seeped into everyday life in the once-pacific country, the New York Times reports. “You have to be more careful with everything these days,” says a watchdog. Some are thinking twice about going to local restaurants, while others take measures like bulletproofing their cars.

Once, the drug war, intensified by president Felipe Calderon’s recent crackdown on cartels, was a vague concept seen only in the news. Now, “those who don’t see the drug war going on around them have their heads stuck in the sand,” says an activist actress. “We all live in fear now,” the watchdog added. “Any of us could be taken or killed.”

Source New York Times

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Police officers look on for drug addicts near the US-Mexico border fence in Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, June 26, 2008.   (AP Photo/Guillermo Arias)
Members of the Independencia choir, greet the audience after singing the song "A Tijuana la quiero segura", or I want a safe Tijuana, as part of the city's 119 th anniversary celebrations in Tijuana,...   (AP Photo/Guillermo Arias)
Soldiers display seized heroin during an anti-drug operation in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Tuesday, May 13, 2008. President Felipe Calderon sent thousands of soldiers and police to confront cartels.   (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)
A Tijuana cop detains a suspect as part of the "Safe Community" program at the neighborhood of El Pipila, in east Tijuana, Mexico, Tuesday, July 15, 2008.   (AP Photo/Guillermo Arias)
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We all live in fear now. Any of us could be taken or killed. I try to wear nothing and do nothing that attracts attention. I wear T-shirts and a hat. I have no jewelry. I don’t want to stand out. - Tijuana businessman

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Mexico • drug trafficking • drug cartel • drug war



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