drug war

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Let's play a game of guess-who. Name the country where 80,000 people have been killed in a brutal conflict pitting a weak central government against powerful warlords; civil authorities regularly quit or join up with the warlords; and entire towns have been depopulated as the sides vie for control. It may sound like Yemen, Iraq or Afghanistan, but this country is a NAFTA neighbour.


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To optimists, the arrest in Mexico this week of the world's most wanted drug lord, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, and Mexico’s bloody drug war generally, are proof that the Mexican government is standing up to the cartels. But pessimists look at Mexico and see a failing state on America’s border.

More than 80,000 people have been killed in Mexico’s brutal conflict, with the victims beheaded, shot, tortured and worse. Civil authorities regularly quit or join up with the warlords, and entire towns have been depopulated as government forces and warlords vie for control.