Low Pay

Mexico has been involved in a bloody battle with drug gangs over the past five years. The terrible violence of the drug cartels, not only against each other but also against security forces and innocent people, is truly shocking and continues to dominate headlines. There have been 50,000 drug-related murders in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon inaugurated a crackdown on the gangs five years ago. In 2011, the number of murders was 9% higher than it was in 2010. Yet when one looks slightly closer, it emerges that the level of drug-related violence has stabilised, especially when one realizes that from 2009 to 2010, killings increased by a staggering 60%.

There has been an improvement in the cities that were worst hit by drug-related crime over the past especially, and in Ciudad Juarez in particular. Murders in 2011 decreased by 40% from 2010, which indicates that the problem of drug-related crime is no longer as terrible as before. If only the drug lords looked at their uhrens and saw how short life was, they may reconsider their lifestyles!