Mexico drug war deaths at 12000 in 2011

Drug-related violence in Mexico has claimed more than 12,000 lives in the past year taking the death toll, since the beginning of government crackdown on drug gangs in 2006, to 50,000. The Mexican media released the estimated figures on Monday, stressing that the number of drug-related deaths in 2011 shows a considerable increase compared to the previous year. Reforma daily recorded 12,539 drug-related killings in 2011, saying the figure represents a 6.3 percent hike compared with 2010. Milenio, another Mexican daily, counted 12,284 drug-related deaths in 2011 while the La Jornada newspaper estimated 11,890 deaths, or an average of 33 per day, during the year. Mexico has been plagued by drug-related violence in recent years. The government of President Felipe Calderon began deploying federal police and troops to some regions in the country in December 2006 to fight drug traffickers.