| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico | December 2008 
MEX, US Set Extradition Records in 2008
 Noel Randewich - Reuters
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| | Weapons are destroyed by the Mexican Army in Tijuana, Mexico, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2008. The Mexican Army collected 1,932 weapons, 70 grenades, and 2,131 cartridges, turned in voluntarily by citizens as part of a campaign to remove weapons from the streets in Baja California State. (AP/Guillermo Arias) | |
Mexico City - Mexico turned over 85 alleged drug smugglers, murderers, sex offenders and other criminals to U.S. authorities this year, a record number of extraditions to the United States as Mexico struggles in a war against violent drug cartels.
Mexican and U.S. officials in recent years have increased cooperation against organized criminals shipping cocaine into the United States from Mexico.
"This year, our governments set records in both the number of extraditions from the United States to Mexico and the number of extraditions from Mexico to the United States," U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza said in a statement.
In 2007, Mexico extradited 83 people to face criminal charges in the United States, Garza said.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon has launched a frontal assault on powerful drug gangs since taking office at the end of 2006, deploying tens of thousands of soldiers and federal police to violent hotspots around the country.
His crackdown has led to large seizures of drugs, weapons and cash, as well as arrests of high-level traffickers, but drug-related killings have soared to more than 5,400 this year.
The United States extradited 32 fugitives to Mexico this year, seven more than in 2006, Garza said.
In June, Mexican police nabbed and returned to the United States a convicted U.S. sex offender on the FBI's list of 10 most-wanted fugitives.
(Editing by John O'Callaghan)
2008 Winds Down with 843 Killings in Tijuana
Associated Press
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Tijuana, Mexico — This border city across from San Diego is winding up a violent year with at least 843 killings so far in 2008, a Mexican official said Tuesday.
Baja California state attorney general Daniel de la Rosa said in a statement that 90 percent of the killings are related to drug trafficking in Tijuana, which is home to 1.5 million people.
Two men were shot to death on the city's streets the same day the tally was issued.
Tijuana's murder rate of about 56 per 100,000 is still below that of the deadliest U.S. city: New Orleans, which had about 95 killings per 100,000 inhabitants in 2007.
Officials estimate that more than 5,300 people died across Mexico in organized crime-related slayings in the first 11 months of 2008. |
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