12   Drug-Related Violence and Forced Migration from Mexico to the United States

Eva Olimpia Arceo-Gómez

INTRODUCTION

It is a well-known fact that the drug-related violence in Mexico has seen an upsurge in recent years. This increase in violent crimes has been attributed to the so-called “war against drug trafficking,” which was declared when President Felipe Calderón took office in 2006. According to a report from the Procuraduría General de la República (the attorney general of Mexico) from 2006 to September 2011 there have been around 47,515 drug-related deaths in Mexico—10 percent of which are considered civilian casualties.1 As a result, Mexicans have been fleeing areas where the conflict between drug cartels, or between drug lords and the ...

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