The death toll in Mexico’s cartel-related drug wars has exceeded 10,000 for this year — with nearly half of the murders occurring in the U.S.-Mexico border region.
As of Nov. 19, the toll stood at 10,514, according to the Mexican newspaper Reforma. Given that the number of killings averaged 230 a week in the past two months, the total could reach 12,000 by the end of the year.
That figure is about twice the number of American military fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan for the entire duration of the two wars, according to CNSNews.
Reforma’s tally includes the murders of police officers and members of the military engaged in battles with drug cartel members. It also includes the murders of 800 people tortured before they were killed, and more than 300 decapitations.
More than 65 people have been killed in the past eight weeks alone in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, most of them in Ciudad Juarez, which borders El Paso, Texas. Murders in the U.S.-Mexico border region account for 46 percent of the total deaths.
Confrontations between law enforcement officers and drug traffickers often result in shootouts that claim the lives of innocent bystanders, according to the U.S. State Department.
Since 2006, “Large firefights have taken place in towns and cities in many parts of Mexico, often in broad daylight on streets and other public venues,” the State Department said.
“During some of these incidents, U.S. citizens have been trapped and temporarily prevented from leaving the area.”
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