| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico 
Drug Deaths Resonate for Mexico's Day of the Dead
 Agence France-Presse
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November 01, 2010
Mexico City - Mexicans prepare to celebrate the Day of the Dead on Monday and Tuesday in the shadow of a particularly gruesome week of drug violence, including at least four massacres across the country.
Elaborate altars in homes and public places, all night vigils in cemeteries brimming with orange Mexican marigolds and sugar-candy skulls form part of the celebrations by family and friends to remember loved ones who have passed away.
But some citizens plan to turn this year's festivities into a public memorial for the victims, particularly children, of a relentless wave of drug violence that has killed more than 28,000 people since 2006.
Rights groups have called for contributions to a Mexico City altar called "Enough now... not one more (death)!" and other protest altars, and plan black-clad demonstrations on Monday.
They stress that children, women, migrants and journalists are victims of an increasing number of massacres, explosions and shootouts spreading across the country.
Mexico has seen a gradual rise in violence since President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive on organized crime in 2006 involving some 50,000 troops.
Suspected drug violence has claimed more than 7,000 lives nationwide so far this year, making it the deadliest since the start of the crackdown.
A string of apparently unrelated attacks in the past week were surprising for the number and young age of the victims.
More than 100 people were killed, including six young men in the capital - a rare occurrence - 14 young people mostly teenagers at a birthday party in the border city of Ciudad Juarez and 15 recovering drug addicts at a car wash in western Mexico.
Another 13 people were gunned down at a drug rehabilitation center in the border city of Tijuana and nine police officers were killed in an ambush on a highway in the western state of Jalisco on Thursday.
Ten people were wounded in grenade attacks in Jalisco and the northern state of Nuevo Leon, police and local media reported, while police recovered 28 bodies from separate attacks near the Pacific resort of Acapulco.
In the north, four factory workers, including three women, were killed and 15 others injured in an attack as they traveled home from work near Ciudad Juarez.
Feuding drug gangs and their offshoots are blamed for much of the violence as they fight for control of key trafficking markets and routes across the northern border into the United States.
But the military is also coming increasingly under fire for alleged human rights abuses in its crackdown, and citizens are running out of patience with the government's heavy-handed strategy as the death toll continues to rise.
As brightly-decorated altars filled public spaces ahead of the November 1 and 2 festivities, some were looking forward to the celebrations to provide some needed relief from the daily dose of death and violence.
"Young people are terrified when they go out partying. Now we don't feel safe anywhere. Coming here is a way to forget all the killings for a moment," said 20-year-old Erika Tinajero, carrying small toy skeletons as she visited the spectacular offerings in the capital's main Zocalo square.
Mexicans leave drinks and food for their departed loved ones in the belief that they will join them again for one night, in a tradition which dates back to pre-Hispanic times.
Jose Rodriguez explained the history as he toured the Zocalo with his grandson.
"I want him to see that death in Mexico isn't only about what appears in the news," Rodriguez said.
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