Drug-Kingpin Takedowns Spur Turf Wars as Murders Surge in Mexico Nacha Cattan and Eric Martin - Bloomberg News
go to original August 17, 2016

Jesus Alfredo Guzman Salazar was among six people who were abducted from a restaurant in Mexico on Monday, according to authorities. (WSJ)

Update: No Evidence a Second Son of Drug Lord Kidnapped, Mexican Official Says (EFE)

Three years after Mexicans elected President Enrique Pena Nieto on a pledge of putting an end to the murder and violence gripping the nation, killings have returned to the dark days of his predecessor’s administration.

Homicides rose 15 percent to 9,400 in the first half from a year earlier, the government said in July, reaching levels of former President Felipe Calderon’s term. But drug-related killings have soared even more according to one tally: Milenio newspaper, which has tracked organized-crime deaths since 2006, reports a 33 percent surge through July.

The rebound in cartel violence flies in the face of Pena Nieto’s efforts to target the deadliest crimes by taking out the heads of gangs. It comes as the nation already is disillusioned by economic growth lagging behind government forecasts, corruption scandals, and the president’s inability to resolve the case of 43 students almost two years after they disappeared at the hands of police allied with heroin traffickers.

"You don’t really have a coherent set of policies to reduce violence," said Alejandro Hope, who worked in a management position at Mexico’s intelligence agency, known as Cisen, from 2008 to 2011. "What you’re seeing is that you still have a significant institutional weakness that hasn’t been corrected."

The violence has grown more brutal in the past three months. The home of drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman’s mother was raided in June, mayors have been assassinated, the director of a beauty pageant was shot to death and, just two days ago, at least six people were kidnapped at an upscale restaurant in Puerto Vallarta. Police say one of El Chapo’s sons was among those abducted.



The rise in murders has cratered Pena Nieto’s popularity. His approval rating plunged to 23 percent in a Reforma newspaper poll published last week, the lowest level since the late 1990s, from 30 percent in April. Seventy-one percent of respondents disagreed with the way the president is combating organized crime.

"Security was already there as a concern, but it was improving during the first years of the administration," said Alejandro Schtulmann, president of Mexico City-based political-risk advisory and consulting firm Empra, whose work includes a focus on Mexico’s organized crime and violence. "Now the government doesn’t appear capable of solving this problem. It has a trickle-down effect on perceptions that crosses from tourism to business to concerns about political stability."

Read the rest at Bloomberg

Related: Taking Down Zeta Cartel Leaders Has Triggered More Violence in Mexico (VICE News)

Related: Abduction of Chapo's Son May Signal War Between Mexico Cartels (Insight Crime)

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