Mexico's War On Crime Now Ranks Among Latin America's Bloodiest Conflicts

Mexico’s War On Crime Among Bloodiest Conflicts
Forensic personnel work on the body of a man murdered by gunmen, in Acapulco, Guerrero state, mexico on August 17, 2012. Acapulco is one of Mexico's most popular seaside resorts. More than 50,000 people have been killed after President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown on the drug cartels in December 2006. AFP PHOTO/Pedro PARDO (Photo credit should read Pedro PARDO/AFP/GettyImages)
Forensic personnel work on the body of a man murdered by gunmen, in Acapulco, Guerrero state, mexico on August 17, 2012. Acapulco is one of Mexico's most popular seaside resorts. More than 50,000 people have been killed after President Felipe Calderon launched a crackdown on the drug cartels in December 2006. AFP PHOTO/Pedro PARDO (Photo credit should read Pedro PARDO/AFP/GettyImages)

The revelation that as many as 27,000 people may have gone missing in Mexico in recent years renews attention to the huge human toll left by the war on crime that former President Felipe Calderon waged during his six years in office.

Combined with the 70,000 dead acknowledged recently by the new administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto, who succeeded Calderon on Dec. 1, the number of the disappeared makes the Calderon tenure the bloodiest period in Mexican history since the Mexican Revolution of the early 20th century.

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