This one stuck with me. From the daily story in Friday's La Jornada rounding up the drug-war deaths of the day:
En Tepic, Nayarit, hombres armados irrumpieron en el hotel Colonial en busca de un grupo de personas que se hospedaba ahí; la mayoría alcanzó a huir mientras una corrió a la azotea y al verse cercada se lanzó al vacío y falleció.
Translation:
In Tepic, Nayarit, gunmen burst into the Colonial Hotel in search of a group of people staying there; the majority of them managed to escape while one ran to the roof, and upon realizing he was surrounded, he threw himself into the void and died.
A local news source identifies the victim as a young man, and has photos. What image could this guy have had of his death had he been caught up by the assassins who were hunting him? What was going through his head?
In all, 46 people died in suspected drug-related violence in Mexico in 10 states on Friday, La Jornada reported. Just on Friday. And that's more or less a daily tally. Day after day, day after day, if you can make it through the daily carnage story back in the 12th or 13th page of the paper or whatever.
This leaves me ... nodding in agreement with Debra Saunders?
* Previously, "In Mexico, more deaths than we can imagine."
** IMAGE: 'More than numbers,' a pic via Yfrog from the Sicilia caravan.