Felipe Calderon

By Franc Contreras in Americas on November 2nd, 2011
Katiushka Rodriguez, Mexican lawyer and family member of some of the murder victims [Image: Franc Contreras]

Morelia, Mexico - Lawyer Katiushka Rodriguez says she can not find the words to express the deep sorrow she feels one year after several of her family members were found dead in a clandestine grave near the resort city of Acapulco.  

The victims were mostly mechanics who were on their annual beach holiday. Upon arrival in Acapulco gunmen from a drug trafficking organisation mistook them for members of a rival criminal organisation. The men, all from western Michoacan state, went missing in September 2010. Their badly decomposed bodies were discovered on November 2, 2010 stacked up in a mass grave near Acapulco.

One year after the crime was committed, Rodriguez says state and federal authorities have failed to investigate the murders and the crime remains unpunished, despite promises by President Felipe Calderón that those responsible would be brought to justice.

I spoke with Rodriguez and asked her what the tragedy meant for her family:

By Lucia Newman in Americas on August 17th, 2011

Almost five years ago, Mexicans watched their President Felipe Calderon send soldiers out onto the streets of cities like Ciudad Juarez, announcing an unprecedented frontal attack on the country’s drug cartels.

Then, they saw the death toll rise year by year, from around under 3,000 in 2007 to almost 20, 000 in 2010. This year could be even higher.

When I went to Cancun for the Climate Summit in late November, a taxi driver told me that the leve of violence was seriously disrupting the economy - especially tourism - and that he hoped the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) , which ruled Mexico for 70 years, would be brought back to power in the next presidential elections.

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