Mexico opened 2,599 homicide investigations last month, the worst number in Mexican history.

A Mexican police officer stands near the body of an auxiliary cop who was killed. Los Angeles Times. 

Mexico has opened 2,599 homicide investigations in July which is the most since record keeping began in Mexico. LA Times. The number of investigations does not equal the number of deaths because many of the cases had multiple victims. Violence has increased dramatically in Mexico due to the war on drugs and the cartels. The war has succeeded in weakening the cartels but has also caused the splintered factions to fight against each other in order to regain power. 31,174 people died last year with many of those cases due to the drug war. This year looks to be even more violent with 16,399 homicide investigations in the first seven months of the year, with many of those cases involving multiple victims. Incoming Mexican president Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (Almo) has said that his government will change strategies in the drug war by offering amnesty to low level cartel members and drug growers. 

My Comment:

Once again, the drug war in Mexico is getting much worse. If you count all the murders in Mexico as  deaths in the drug war (which is probably too high because there are of course non-drug related murders) the Mexican Drug War is outpacing every other war besides Syria. Absolutely brutal wars like Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen have all had fewer deaths than the Mexican Drug War this year if the figures cited in the LA Times report and by Wikipedia are accurate. 

Amazingly, considering how brutal the violence is, how over the top the cartels are and how many people are dying, the Mexican Drug War gets zero coverage most of the time. Though pieces like the LA Times report do exist the media talking heads and pundits ignore the story and even the politicians ignore the story. 

I can see why the Democrats in America ignore the story as it is harmful to their open borders and free immigration model, but I never understand why Republicans don't use the war as a campaign issue. I am guessing Trump's wall would get more support if people realized that the wall could also protect us from the violence in Mexico. 

It also should influence the immigration debate. As much noise that is being made about the Mollie Tibbetts case, way worse has happened in the Mexican Drug War. Any war where things like this happen is one that should be paid close attention too. The cartels are capable of horrific violence and we have an obvious interest in not bringing people that are capable of forcing people to fight to the death into this country.  

Of course the concerns the United States have over Mexico are nothing compared to Mexicans themselves. With new president Almo coming into power it's clear that the strategy is going to change. I am not impressed with Almo's amnesty plan. I doubt many will take him up on his offer due to the fear of the cartels that is universal in Mexico. 

Then again, I do agree that the recent response to the war has increased the violence. Taking out the Cartel leaders has resulted in power struggles which has resulted in quite a few deaths. If there was only one big cartel with no other competitors violence would decrease but that cartel would have an immense amount of power. It would lead to even more corruption and would essentially stop any efforts by the United States to stop the drug trade. 

I also think that the violence is due in part to the cartels trying to move beyond just drugs. They are now moving into ISIS style ways of making money that worked so well for them in Syria. Like ISIS they have begun to kidnap random people for ransom and are taking over the oil industry. This is why I don't buy Almo's plan because even more people are falling under the influence of the cartels. 

It's not like I have any answers for the drug war either. It's going to be up to Mexico to fix and I don't have any solutions for this problem. I think things will calm down once one of the cartels gets big enough to stamp out all of the others but that will be a bloody process and won't be the end of the violence. I think it's going to get worse before it gets better...