Sinaloa, Mexico, rocked by soaring drug violence

"At least 21 people, including a 12-year-old girl and other ordinary citizens, have been killed by warring drug gangs since Thursday in the western Mexican state of Sinaloa, in one of the worst spasms of violence in memory in a region long conditioned to narcotics-related savagery," writes the Times' Marla Dickerson and Cecilia Sanchez.

The wave of deadly mayhem began with the audacious daytime shooting of a dozen people in the capital, Culiacan, and continued during the weekend and into Monday. The deaths of innocents, including the young girl, who had just left a party, have terrified the public and left many questioning the effectiveness of the federal government's ongoing crackdown on drug trafficking.

The United States Congress recently approved The Merida Initiative, which will give the Mexican Government U.S. $400 million to spend on their fight against the country's drug cartels.

-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles

Comments

[Merk]

Buy home-grown and Canadian marijuana until it is legalized. Weed is a huge part of the Mexican gangs' income.

[gassem]

We are giving Mexico $400 million to fight their drug wars even though we pay them billions for their oil? I think they can afford to pay for their own drug wars. We have plenty of needs in this country that can be helped with that $400 million.