U.S. sees no let-up in Mexico drug war killings

REUTERS

6:49 p.m. June 18, 2007

MEXICO CITY – The ferocious rate of killings in Mexico's drug war is unlikely to slow despite President Felipe Calderón's military assault on the cartels, a senior U.S. anti-drug official said Monday.

More than 1,000 people have died this year in a battle between the Mexican government, the Gulf Cartel and an alliance of traffickers from the northwestern state of Sinaloa.

The U.S. official said Calderón's dispatch of 25,000 troops across the country was putting pressure on the cartels but that the rivalry between the gangs was too great for them to stop killing each other.

“Would I anticipate less killings? Not necessarily,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “There is a significant level of retribution being passed from one group to the other.”