Mexico’s drug war death toll nears 50,000

Mexican officials said Wednesday almost 13,000 people died in drug violence in the first nine months of 2011, pushing the toll since the start of a five-year military crackdown above 47,000. Drug-related killings in 2011 were up 11% compared with the same period in 2010, the federal attorney general’s office said, noting it was a slower rise than in previous years. Drug-related killings rose 70 percent in 2009-2010, 63% in 2008-9 and 110% in 2007-8, a statement said. The Attorney General’s Office said 12,903 people were killed between January and September 2011, including 1,206 in the violent border city of Ciudad Juarez and almost 800 in the Pacific resort city of Acapulco. Drug violence killed 15,273 people in 2010, the deadliest year since the launch of the crackdown according to official figures, though it was still unclear if last year’s statistics would surpass that toll...more