Friday, June 17, 2011

Mapping the Dead from Mexico's Drug War

This website tracks and maps the narco-related killings in Mexico, which now exceed 40,000 since the start of the Mexican drug war in December 2006.  The map above (click to enlarge) shows the deaths in Mexico over just one 6-1/2 month period from May 15, 2010 to December 2010.  Death maps for other periods are available at the website.  Here's the map legend:

The RED balloons are civilians. The RED balloons with a dot are politicians, and other high profile killings. The BLUE balloons are police officers and soldiers (and other law enforcement officials). The BLUE balloons with a dot are high ranking officers.  The YELLOW suns represent car bombs and the 2 GREEN people represent mass graves.

16 Comments:

At 6/18/2011 9:40 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Campeche here I come!

 
At 6/18/2011 1:13 PM, Blogger juandos said...

Be careful what you wish for...

 
At 6/18/2011 3:21 PM, Blogger PeakTrader said...

Mexico has a crime war. If drugs didn't exist, that wouldn't stop the crime war.

 
At 6/18/2011 6:58 PM, Blogger Benjamin Cole said...

Where are balloon colors for police and soldiers who were also part of the drug-running efforts?

One unintended side effect of drug laws is that it corrupts police--so much money sloshing around.

 
At 6/18/2011 7:52 PM, Blogger Michael Hoff said...

How about mapping the dead from America's drug usage?

 
At 6/18/2011 10:18 PM, Blogger Mark J. Perry said...

Mexico has a narco-related death problem. Without the prohibition on narcotics, you don't have the narco-related deaths. If we made alcohol illegal, we would have thousands of alcohol-related deaths tied to organized crime. Without prohibition of alcohol we don't have any deaths related to the distribution of alcohol.

 
At 6/18/2011 10:28 PM, Blogger PeakTrader said...

Mexico
Crime
Wikipedia

"Since President Felipe Calderón launched a crackdown against cartels in 2006 more than 28,000 alleged criminals have been killed.

Of the total drug-related violence only 4% are innocent people, mostly by-passers and people trapped in between shootings; 90% accounts for criminals and 6% for military personnel and police officers.

Total crimes per capita average 12 per 1,000 people in Mexico, ranking as the 39th worst in a survey of 60 countries.

As of 2009 Mexico's homicide rate varied from 10~14 per 100,000 inhabitants; the world average is 10.9 per 100,000 inhabitants."

 
At 6/18/2011 11:29 PM, Blogger PeakTrader said...

We can eliminate the crime of murder by making it legal.

However, would that have a positive or negative effect on society?

 
At 6/19/2011 12:34 PM, Blogger Ron H. said...

"We can eliminate the crime of murder by making it legal."

Surely you understand the difference between a crime with a victim and a crime without one.

 
At 6/19/2011 1:04 PM, Blogger Narniaman said...

"Mexico has a narco-related death problem. Without the prohibition on narcotics, you don't have the narco-related deaths. If we made alcohol illegal, we would have thousands of alcohol-related deaths tied to organized crime. Without prohibition of alcohol we don't have any deaths related to the distribution of alcohol."

Are you suggesting that if Mexico completely legalized drugs, then all the drug related problems would vanish?

 
At 6/19/2011 1:24 PM, Blogger Ron H. said...

"Are you suggesting that if Mexico completely legalized drugs, then all the drug related problems would vanish?"

No, I believe he is suggesting that if the US legalized all drugs, that there wouldn't be narco related deaths in Mexico.

 
At 6/19/2011 3:37 PM, Blogger PT said...

How many are from ATF's Fast and Furious gun smuggling debacle?

 
At 6/19/2011 4:04 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Actually, Mexico legalized personal possession of small amounts a couple of years ago when I was living there.

It's still illegal to transport and sell the drugs which is what the violence is about. The US is a lucrative market and the drugs will move one way or another.

 
At 6/19/2011 5:04 PM, Blogger Benjamin Cole said...

Michael Hoff: You mean, like, cigarettes? It would be huge, millions every year.

However, I do not recommend outlawing cigarettes.

I will say this: If I had a choice of just one drug to outlaw, it would be cigarettes. There is no more destructive, yet addictive, drug than cigarettes.

Lots of people drink too much, and start smoking in college. As they become adults, they usually drink less--but cannot quit the cigs.

 
At 6/19/2011 11:10 PM, Blogger Dave Thomas said...

We get a ton of drugs from Canada, yet Canada doesn't have the dead from the "Drug War" that Mexico has. How do you explain this? Is it because Mexico's civil society- courts & police- were corrupt long before the "drug war" and Canada's civil society wasn't.

 
At 6/20/2011 6:37 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The amount coming in from Canada is trivial compared to the amount coming thru Mexico.

Mexico is on the direct route to the US while Canada is a backdoor and out-of-the-way route ... which BTW, must go past the primary destination (the US and the police state there) to get to Canada ... Why would you bypass the whole west coast to smuggle drugs into Canada in order to bring them to the US?

 

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