Organized crime dropped

Mexican official: Crime killings dropped 26 percent in first quarter

Killings attributed to organized crime in Mexico dropped by 26 percent during the first three months of 2009 compared to the last three months of 2008, a government official said this week.

Monte Alejandro Rubido, the technical secretary of the National Council of Public Security, told reporters Sunday that the number of homicides fell from 2,644 in the last three months of 2008, to 1,960 in the first three months of this year.

He credited a governmental strategy that "is constantly defining new targets and new objectives, adjusting to the structural modifications that the drug cartels favor."

Rubido based his conclusion on figures from the states of Chihuahua, Baja California and Sinaloa, including the three municipalities of Ciudad Juarez, Tijuana and Culiacan, all of which have been wracked by drug violence.

In the state of Chihuahua, killings dropped 26 percent — from 842 in the last three months of last year to 625 in the first three months of this year, he said.

In the municipality of Ciudad Juarez, the number of executions dropped from 547 to 331, down 39 percent, he said.

And in Baja California, the number for the same time period dropped from 515 to 108, down 79 percent, he said.

The municipality of Tijuana experienced a similar drop.

The state of Sinaloa saw a 49 percent drop, from 346 homicides in the late quarter of the year to 177 in this year’s first quarter, he said.

And in Culiacan, homicides fell 45 percent, from 173 to 94, he said.

"March was a month of important successes for the administration of President [Felipe] Calderon, successes more than symbolic," he said.

He said the arrests of "important leaders" of drug cartels had helped reduce the carnage.

(Published by CNN - April 13, 2009)