A war is raging south of the U.S.-Mexican border, one that increasingly poses a direct threat to Americans.
The vicious battle for power among Mexican drug cartels claimed another 1,000 lives in March. That's a record even for Mexico, a country that's home to the most dangerous city in the world outside a declared war zone: Ciudad Juarez.
That metropolis across the border from El Paso, Texas, averages seven executions a day. Three Americans associated with the U.S. consulate were among the casualties one day last month. People who can afford to leave do; as many as 30,000 houses have been abandoned. Those left behind hunker down, avoiding eye contact with strangers, cell phone calls from unknown numbers and large gatherings.
The growing body count across Mexico puts this year on pace to surpass 2009, when 9,635 people died in violence tied to organized crime. In all, more than 22,700 gang members, police officers, soldiers and bystanders have been killed in drug-related violence since the Mexican government’s crackdown on cartels began more than three years ago.
Mere proximity to so much lawlessness automatically puts Americans at risk. But the root cause of this violence — the relentless race to supply Americans’ insatiable demand for illicit drugs — practically guarantees that carnage won’t stop at the border.
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