Mexican Gov't: 34,612 Drug War Deaths Since '06

A new set of official, Mexican government drug war statistics released Wednesday say 34,612 people have been killed in drug war-related killings since President Felipe Calderon ratcheted up military efforts against cartels some four years ago. The new numbers highlight a significant spike in violence in 2010: the bloodiest year on record. According to security spokesman Alejandro Poire, 15,273 individuals were killed in 2010, a 60% increase from 2009 when the government says 9,616 murders were recorded. As the Wall Street Journal points out, the figures are significantly higher than numbers discussed by Attorney General Arturo Chavez in November 2010. At that time, Chavez said 12,456 killings had occurred over the previous 11 months.

Beyond the gross death totals, this somewhat interesting breakdown of the new murder numbers: of the 34,612 murders since 2006, 30,913 are being registered by the government as “execution-style killings.” Just 3,153 deaths are considered the result of “shootouts between gangs” while 546 deaths involved “attacks on authorities.”

Government officials were quick to emphasize Wednesday that murders peaked in the third quarter of 2010 while then dropping by almost 11 percent in the fourth quarter. Nevertheless, public patience is wearing thin. As the Journal notes, a group of Mexican intellectuals made a new public plea this week that the government end its offensive against the country’s cartels. A new poll, meanwhile, shows 54% of Mexicans now believe violence would decline should the government seek a truce with drug lords.

The new data was presented at a meeting with anti-crime groups Wednesday, the AP reports – a meeting which also included the unveiling of a new “data system” to monitor drug-related crimes. The wire service says this is something that has long been demanded by civil society groups interested in being able to “better measure whether public security efforts are effective.” The AP speculates that the implementation of the new system and the availability of new information on drug war deaths “may also help diminish the doubt that surrounds drug-related killings, many of which go unresolved or get scant investigation in Mexico.”

Also revealed at Wednesday’s talks was a prototype of a new national identity card to be distributed to youth under the age of 18 in a number of yet unspecified Mexican states. The new cards, the AP says, “will have better security measures, including digitalized fingerprints and iris images, to prevent criminals from using false IDs.”

To other stories:

· No major English language reports yet but the Honduran Congress, in a 103-16 vote, approved significant reforms to its constitution Wednesday. Tiempo, which strongly backed the proposed reforms in an editorial yesterday, describes the reforms, saying they will “make more flexible the ability to hold popular consultations about any matter through the use of plebiscites or referendums.” (The full wording of the reform measures are available here). Of particular significance, the reforms open the possibility of a popular vote to amend the constitution’s so-called “petrified articles” (Art. 374), which include but are not limited to the country’s current prohibition against re-election. In addition, the reform lowers the bar re: the number of signatures that must be collected to activate a national popular referendum or plebiscite. As El Heraldo reports, the vote on reform appears to have divided the Liberal Party along pro and anti-Zelaya lines while the National Party, PINU, the Christian Democrats, and the left-leaning Unificación Democrática joined together to support the measures (the exception being one National Party deputy, Antonio Rivera Callejas).

· Also in Honduras, a first interview (Spanish here) with Juan Chinchilla – the MUCA/FNRP activist who was kidnapped over the weekend but later escaped. Among other things, Chinchilla speaks of incidents of torture and says he believes his abduction is connected to on-going land disputes between peasant groups and large landowners in Bajo Aguan. One thing that jumps out from the interview: Chinchilla saying his captors included “foreigners,” some speaking English to one another and others speaking a language he did not know.

· Ecuador, Bolivia, and Nicaragua have come out with strong statements against OAS Sec. General José Miguel Insulza for his earlier criticism of Venezuela’s “enabling law.” In a statement from Ecuador’s foreign ministry, the Correa government says the statement “could set a precedent, which in the future may have an impact on any other OAS Member State, in inacceptable meddling in the internal affairs of States, in the sovereign exercise of their intrinsic functions and powers.” For his part, Bolivia’s Evo Morales is reported to have expressed “solidarity” with Venezuela on the issue. No word yet on where the non-ALBA countries – particularly Brazil – might come down on the issue. But four Venezuelan opposition lawmakers representing the MUD coalition were in Washington Wednesday meeting with Sec. General Insulza, Dow Jones reports. In Venezuela, a strong rebuke of the Chavez government from the Venezuelan Catholic Church which pronounced its opposition to the enabling law in a special session Tuesday. The Inter-American Dialogue’s Michael Shifter, meanwhile, provides his analysis of the current Venezuela-OAS showdown to BBC Mundo.

· IPS’s Jim Lobe talks with Professor Abe Lowenthal and others about the state of US-Latin American relations, both during the first two years of the Obama presidency and moving forward. After early signs of change, Lowenthal calls the last two years “more than disappointment.” “In Latin America, there is great appreciation for major differences [from the George W. Bush administration], on key issues,” he notes, “but there's a lot talk about 'decepcion', or …being misled.” Those feelings are likely to only increase as the far Right takes over the reins of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and its Western Hemisphere Subcommittee, writes Lobe.

· Some US-Latin American differences are already emerging over the decision of many South American countries to offer diplomatic recognition to an independent Palestinian state. In Chile Wednesday, US Asst Sec. of State Arturo Valenzuela said while Latin American nations have a right to recognize who they wish, there are risks that being too specific about things like borders could “complicate negotiations.” Eliot Engel (D-NY) has also come out with similar criticisms of the move by South American countries to recognize Palestine.

· EFE reports on new Colombian Attorney General, Viviane Morales, who assumed her new post Wednesday.

· The New York Times reports on the opening of the Luis Posada Carriles trial in El Paso on Wednesday.

· The Times also reports on devastating floods and mudslides in Brazil that are believed to have killed over 250 people north of Rio de Janeiro.

· Chile’s La Tercera this week on the possibility of extending the mandate of the Valech Commission in order that more victims of the Pinochet dictatorship can petition for reparation.

· Also in Chile, more national discussion of Fundación Progresa’s recent survey on drug use and drug perceptions among Chilean university students.

· NACLA looks at new pension reforms in Bolivia that have moved against global trends by lowering the retirement age.

· The Wall Street Journal reports on Ecuador’s strained public health system, which President Rafael Correa declared to be in a “state of emergency” this week.

· Finally, opinions. On Honduras, Professor Dana Frank comments on on-going repression against peasant groups in Bajo Aguan – of which Juan Chinchilla’s abduction appears to be the latest example. In the Miami Herald, Sen. John Kerry writes on Haiti, apparently backing the OAS’s attempt at resolving the crisis (Kerry: “Any candidate sabotaging efforts by the Organization of American States to solve the election crisis should be disqualified”) while making a variety of other demands of Haitians and the international community. Other Haiti views – among them Professor Alex Dupuy, Haitian democracy activist Patrick Elie, and author Edwidge Danticat – on Democracy Now yesterday. And Uruguayan journalist Raul Zibechi, for the Americas Program, with big-picture insights about some of the major changes that have occurred in Latin America over the last decade – as well as future prospects.