Voices of Mexico no. 91

Our Voice

I will deliberately begin this editorial by expressing how profoundly upset and unsettled
we Mexicans feel about the increase in violence over recent months. The government has
been adamantly maintaining that the victims were, for the most part, members of the drug
cartels and their security platoons. However, the horrific scenes that flashed around the
world after the August attack on Monterrey's Casino Royale, which resulted in more than
50 dead, force us not only to go into national mourning, but also to seriously reflect about
the chaos threatening to devour us.

We were shaken again a month later when the coastal state of Veracruz experienced another
chapter in this dramatic saga: 35 more victims were dumped in broad daylight on one of the
city's most heavily traveled streets in front of shocked, disbelieving passersby.