| | |  Editorials | Issues | October 2008 
Poll: Mexico Feels Less Secure Amid Drug Crackdown
 E. Eduardo Castillo - Associated Press
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| | Mexico's Jesus Martinez Espinoza arrives hand cuffed to the National Anti-drug Office (D.O.A.) after his first court hearing in Asuncion, Friday, Oct. 3, 2008. Martinez is one of three men arrested in Paraguay in suspicion of being Mexican fugitives wanted in Argentina for trafficking ephedrine, a chemical used to produce methamphetamine. (AP/Jorge Saenz) | | |
Mexico City - More than 40 percent of Mexicans say they feel less secure since the start of a government crackdown on the drug trade, according to a poll published Friday.
Only 25 percent of Mexicans polled say they feel safer since President Felipe Calderon sent more than 20,000 troops to battle drug cartels nationwide, the newspaper El Universal reported. Another 27 percent say they feel the same level of security.
Still, half of all respondents say they believe the country will be safer in the next three years if the government continues the battle.
Violence has soared since the army and federal police stepped up attacks on the drug trade nearly two years ago.
On Friday, an official at the Baja California state prosecutor's office said five bodies were found dumped in an empty lot and two others were found decapitated two blocks from the Tijuana offices for Mexico's ruling National Action Party. The official was not authorized to give her name.
Nearly 40 people have been killed in drug-related violence in the past week in the border city, bringing the total so far this year to more than 400 dead.
State prosecutor Rommel Moreno has blamed the violence on warring leaders within the city's Arellano Felix drug gang.
Asked what they believed was driving the violence, 40 percent of those polled said it was a sign that organized crime had overtaken the government, 35 percent said it was a reaction to the crackdown and 21 percent believed it was drug cartels fighting for territory.
The poll by Buendia & Laredo had a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points and quizzed 999 adults Sept. 26-29. |
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