Drug Related Murders

Another Honduras television reporter was recently gunned down as he left the studios in San Pedro Sula. In the past few weeks six Honduran journalists have been killed.

Carlos Lauria from the Committee to Protect Journalists, which has documented six killings since March 1st, says reporters in Honduras are working in an atmosphere of "rampant crime". This creates an atmosphere where journalists can easily find themselves targeted.

One journalist who was killed was an entertainment reporter. He was however, only the driver of a car that carried a political reporter as a passenger. It is thought the passenger was the actual target of the attack. "Most of the journalists killed," Lauria claims, "Had been reporting on organized crime, land disputes, or had taken strong political stances."

Lauria reports that in addition to the six journalists killed, a seventh journalist fled the country after armed men raided his home.

The authorities are still looking into the latest killing, as it's not been established whether Orellana was gunned down because of his work. Lauria calls the lack of progress in the police investigations "very discouraging". He says the police have made no arrests and have initiated no prosecutions.

The Mexican drug war appears to be escalating as well, as three drug cartels unite to challenge a rival gang of hit men, in a move that has fuelled bloody confrontations along the Texan border.

In the northern city of Monterrey, Mexico, six people were recently abducted from hotels, by between 20 - 30 gunmen. Four guests and a receptionist were hauled away from the Holiday Inn, after the assailants had searched at least seven rooms. They then moved to the nearby Hotel Mision where they abducted another receptionist. The gunmen seemed to be accompanied by a handcuffed man, who had apparently led them to the Holiday Inn.

Filipe Calderon, President of Mexico, ordered government soldiers to tackle the drug cartels. However, there is growing concern that the three year-old military strategy has been counter-productive, as drug related violence spreads across the border, with drug-related shootings and kidnappings reported in many U.S. towns and cities, especially in the south-west.

9,635 people were killed in 2009, compared to 2,837 drug-related deaths in 2007. Already 3365 people have died, in the first three months of this year alone.

Roughly 50,000 troops are actively engaged in Mexico’s war on drugs, however, so tight is the surveillance by the cartels' members, the government troops are unable to move, without detection and warning signals being sent ahead of them.

In a $13 billion a year industry it is estimated that up to 90% of all drugs consumed in the United States, enters via Mexico.

About Drug Related Murders
For more information: http://www.tropicpost.com/drug-related-killings/

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