Organized crimes like kidnapping and murder led to the deaths of 550 people in Mexico last month, registering the highest crime rate so far this year, according to data released by the leading newspaper Milenio.
Nearly one million Mexicans marched across the country Saturday to protest the relentless tide of killings, abductions and shootouts, and demand government action to crack down on violent crimes.
The protests were triggered by the recent abduction and murder of a 14-year-old boy on his way to school.
The body of Fernando Marti was found in the trunk of a car in Mexico City on Aug. 1, even though his businessman father had paid the ransom demanded.
According to a survey, there were 400 cases of abduction across the country in the first half of this year, equal to that for the whole of 2007. Most of the hostages were killed by the kidnappers.
On Aug. 16, a group of armed gangsters massacred 13 people, including a baby, in the town of Creel in the northern state of Chihuahua.
The violent crimes target not only entrepreneurs and civilians, but also police and drug traffickers.
On Aug. 20, two officers of the Mexican federal investigation bureau were killed on their way to Mexico and Toluca cities.
Seventy-five policemen have been killed in August alone, the Milenio reported.
Last week, a dozen headless bodies were found in the town of Buctzotz, 70 km northeast of Merida, home to Mexico's most popular beach resort, Cancun.
According to the local daily Reforma, all the victims were drug traffickers.
Drug-related murders have become a a major contributor to the surge in violence in recent years, as drug cartels fight each other for control of trafficking routes and mount attacks against police nearly everyday.
More than 2,300 people have been killed in drug-related violence across the country this year.
In order to fight organized crime, the Mexican government held a national security summit on Aug. 21, approving an action plan that includes a purge of corrupt police and the creation of a national citizens' observatory.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon on Sunday called on all citizens to help in the fight against crime.
He urged Mexicans to create civil committees to cooperate with police in fighting crime.
Since taking office in 2006, Calderon has launched a war against crime and deployed more than 36,000 soldiers nationwide to combat organized crime, especially drug trafficking.
Yet, local media say the bloodshed in August has taken the number of people killed in organized crime-related incidents this year to 3,000.
Source:Xinhua
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