EL PASO, TX -- The hunt is on in Mexico for the culprits behind the killings of three U.S. consulate workers in Juarez. Meanwhile, the U.S. government announces that the drug violence in Mexico is spreading out of Juarez and into another region near the U.S. border.
With law enforcement officials saying that the two Americans and a Mexican citizen linked to the American consulate were likely killed by mistake by gunmen likely targeting rival drug traffickers the horrors of the violence in Juarez Mexico have come clearly into focus.
Last year there were some 2,600 murders in that town and this year already some 500 people have been killed in and around Juarez, Mexico. Also in an interview in Washington, DC, the head of the DEA's intelligence division the violence seen in Juarez is now spreading throughout Mexico.
The latest hot spot is in north-east Mexico where two drug trafficking cartels are battling it out over control of the smuggling routes there.
The DEA's intelligence chief also says that law enforcement officials believe that the traffickers here in Mexico are increasing their violence on purpose, and the brutality of that violence in an attempt to intimidate the government. However, Mexican President Felipe Calderon says he will not back down and in that he is supported by the US government as the violence in Juarez and around the country continues to spread.
Report Courtesy: Mark Potter
NBC News El Paso, Texas.
