User talk:Rcroach

Mexico violence.
The database, which catalogues murders presumed to be linked to organised crime, lists 30,913 execution-style killings; 3,153 killings in what are termed "confrontations" or shootouts, and 546 deaths classified as "aggression" or other clashes.

Where are the worst-hit areas?

Violence had tended to be concentrated in Mexico's northern border regions, especially Chihuahua, as well as Pacific states like Sinaloa, Michoacan and Guerrero. Ciudad Juarez (just across from El Paso in Texas) is the city suffering the most. In 2010, some 3,100 people were killed in Juarez, which has a population of more than a million.

2010 saw violence spread to other regions, including Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas states. However, Mexico is a large country, and there are still many areas where the serious crime rate is unexceptional. The overall murder rate is lower than several other countries in the region.

According to government figures from Janaury 2011, there were 18.4 murders per 100,000 inhabitants, compared with 25 in Brazil, 37 in Colombia and 61 in El Salvador.

In its latest figures, the government said half of the killings in 2010 took place in Chihuahua, Sinaloa and Tamaulipas.

What explains the jump in killings and spread of violence in 2010?

Analysts point to rifts between formerly allied cartels. The split between the Gulf Cartel and its former armed enforcers, Los Zetas, erupted into bitter fighting in eastern parts of Mexico that had been relatively free of violence. Much of the violence in Ciudad and Juarez and the rest of Chihuahua is attributed to a turf war between the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels.