Q&A: Mexico's drug-fuelled violence

Ciudad Juarez on the US-Mexico border is the country's most violent city

Drug-related violence continued to surge in Mexico throughout 2009, with more than 7,000 people reported to have been killed.

Beheadings, attacks on police, and shootings in clubs and restaurants are a daily occurrence in some regions.

Some 45,000 troops and extra police have been deployed to crack down on the drug gangs.

The question is whether the high level of violence is in response to the security operations or a sign that the situation is out of control.

What is the scale of the violence?

If the violence is judged by the number of homicides linked to organised crime, the situation appears extremely serious and worsening. The overall number of drug-relate deaths since late 2006 when the security crackdown began stands at more than 14,000. There were approximately 6,000 such murders in 2008. That figure is similar to the number of US soldiers and civilians killed in Iraq in the same year. The rate appears to have increased in 2009, with the number of deaths up to the end of November put at some 7,300 by Mexican media. Government officials say that the statistics need to be seen in context, and suggest that nine out of 10 of all the deaths involve people connected with the drug trade, or law enforcement officials.

Where are the worst-hit areas? Is it spreading across Mexico?

Mexico's northern border towns are experiencing the worst of the violence, with Ciudad Juarez (just across the frontier from El Paso in Texas) standing out as the country's most violent city with some 2,100 murders in 2009. High levels of violence have also been seen in Michoacan and Guerrero states. However, Mexico is a large country, and there are still many areas where the serious crime rate is unexceptional.

Why is the violence seemingly increasing?

There are two main points of view on this. The Mexican government's position is that the violence, however regrettable, can be seen as a reflection of the success of its policy of taking a hard line against drug-running. It suggests that the "monster" has been wounded, and what we are witnessing is a brutal fight between leaderless cartels for fewer spoils. But others argue that the cartels have become so powerful that they effectively control some parts of the country, and the violence, which is getting worse, is evidence of their gang law.

President Felipe Calderon has deployed troops. Is this strategy working or is it backfiring?

Around 45,000 troops are actively involved in Mexico's war on drugs. The Mexican government says that the strategy is working. It is true that record amounts of drugs have been seized, and senior cartel leaders have been imprisoned or killed. But another consequence has been an explosion of violence, as the drug cartels fight both the army, and each other.

What concerns have been raised about the use of troops?

Human rights groups caution against using the military to enforce law and order. Their main concern is a lack of accountability: if a member of the public has a complaint against the army, it is tried by a military court with military judges. Public access to such tribunals appears limited. Others say that President Calderon's extensive deployment of the army leaves him with few options in the future. They argue that if the army loses the battle, or gets so close to the drug cartels that it is itself corrupted, then there is nothing left between the cartels, and the government.

There are regular cases of police officers being arrested on corruption charges, or being in the pay of the drug gangs - how serious a problem is this?

The problem is far-reaching. One reason why the government has deployed the army so extensively in its war on drugs is that it feels the police cannot be trusted. Drug cartels with massive resources at their disposal have repeatedly managed to infiltrate the underpaid police, from the grassroots level to the very top. Efforts are underway to rebuild the entire structure of the Mexican police force, but the process is expected to take years, if not decades.

Reference is often made to Mexico's powerful cartels, who are they? Who are the Zetas?

The cartels control the trafficking of drugs from South America to the US, a business that is worth an estimated $13bn (£9bn) a year. Their power has increased in recent years, mainly as a result of increased US anti-narcotic operations in the Caribbean and Florida, which has pushed more of the flow of drugs through Mexico. In a report on 23 March naming the 24 top drug lords, the Mexican Attorney General's office listed six main cartels, indicating that the gangs have splintered.

Four main cartels are known after the places where their operations are based or after their supposed leaders or founders. They are the Sinaloa cartel, reportedly led by Mexico's most-wanted man Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the Tijuana cartel once led by the Arellano Felix brothers, the Carrillo Fuentes organisation based in Ciudad Juarez and the Gulf cartel.

A group known as the Beltran Leyva has split from the Sinaloa cartel. Another gang based in the state of Michoacan, La Familia, was for the first time regarded as a separate cartel. Los Zetas, once seen as the enforcement arm of the Gulf cartel, are now described as powerful figures within the organisation, with their alleged leader Heriberto Lazcano on the list. Most of the members of Los Zetas are deserters from the Mexican army special forces. They carry highly sophisticated weaponry, and are dedicated to the protection of drug-trafficking routes.

Is talk of civil war, or a threat to the state, alarmist?

The Mexican government vehemently rejects suggestions that Mexico is close to becoming a failed state. As yet, the violence does not appear to be having a significant effect on the economy and most of the country is functioning normally. Government ministers do, however, concede that the stakes are high. Economy Secretary Gerardo Ruiz Mateos said that if the cartels were not confronted, Mexico ran the risk of having a drug-runner as its next president.

To what extent is the violence spilling over the US-Mexican border? What has been the US response so far?

Most of the violence remains firmly on the Mexican side of the border, although there is some evidence of increasingly violent attacks on US border patrol agents by drug traffickers. There has also been a reported rise in drug-related shootings and kidnappings in some US cities and towns, especially in the south-west US.

A US Congress report in 2008 drew on evidence from intelligence sources suggesting that Mexican cartels have forged closer links with established drug gangs inside the US. Congress has authorised the spending of $1.6bn to confront the threat of drug trafficking and organised crime from Mexico and Central America.

What policies is the Obama administration pursuing on this issue?

On 23 March, the US government announced that the number of immigration, customs and anti-drug agents and gun law enforcement officers would be increased. There are also to be more efforts to disrupt the illegal flow of weapons and drug profits from the US to Mexico - a key demand of the Mexican government.

A series of high-level visits, culminating mid-April when President Obama was in Mexico for talks with President Calderon, showed how seriously Washington is taking the drugs problem.