We are drowning in death in Mexico. Over the weekend, dozens killed in the country's internal narco-military war. Ciudad Juarez, in agony.
An execution in this state, a drive-by shooting in that state, a grenade attack on a police station in that one over there. A kidnapping, a beheading. Ten people are shot to death in a bar in Torreón. Then eight more are killed in a battle and chase the night after.
Sixteen people, mostly kids, are gunned down at a party in Juarez. Dead. Teenagers. Shot down while scrambling over fences to save their lives.
Where was all that military? All those federal police officers? The guy they think ordered the massacre then dies, supposedly, in a gun battle with Mexican soldiers. But then four people who might have witnessed the party massacre -- as in, survived it -- just today get "picked up." When narco-paramilitary death commandos kill people, they often go back to kill the witnesses. As it happens, one of the youth initially killed at the party had apparently been a witness to a previous massacre.
See how that works?
When will it end? Families of the high school victims in Juarez are burying their dead, and telling President Felipe Calderon that he is the assassin. They're saying the same thing on Twitter right now, scores of people, using an unkind slashtag. Since the start of the new year, 1,000 people have died in Mexico's drug war, the quickest accumulation of that benchmark ever. At this rate, 2010 could be the bloodiest year we've ever seen.
When will it end?
Come on now. Everyone knows that right now there's no end in sight. None.
* Image above via Reuters.