A recent report by the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars - Mexico Institute discusses the current increase of drug-related violence in Mexico and describes the new US-Mexico strategy which has been referred to as the "Beyond Merida" plan to combat the escalating violence.   The report outlines the new direction which focuses primarily on expanding the current Merida Initiative from mainly concentrating on military assistance to building democratic institutions as well as effective rule of law mechanisms.

The murder of three US citizens with ties to the American consulate in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juárez on March 14, 2010 has drawn the attention of the Obama administration and the national media to the violence wracked city.  Lesley A. Enriquez, a 35 year old US consulate employee who was four months pregnant, and her husband Arthur H. Redelfs, a detention officer at an El Paso County Jail were murdered in their SUV shortly after leaving a birthday party.

The Mexican government's war with the drug cartels under the Calderón administration, which includes tens of thousands of soldiers, has led to an explosion of violence in the region along the American border. In an attempt to aid the Mexican government, the US State Department launched the Merida Initiative, or Plan Mexico, in 2007. This programme aims to provide US$1.4 billion in aid to Mexico, Central America, and the Dominican Republic and Haiti for counter-narcotics programs. This assistance includes arms, training and equipment for the military and police forces.

The Mexican government's war with the drug cartels under the Calderón administration, which includes tens of thousands of soldiers, has led to an explosion of violence in the region along the American border. In an attempt to aid the Mexican government, the US State Department launched the Merida Initiative, or Plan Mexico, in 2007. This programme aims to provide US$1.4 billion in aid to Mexico, Central America, and the Dominican Republic and Haiti for counter-narcotics programs. This assistance includes arms, training and equipment for the military and police forces.

Peter ONeil, Canwest News Service

A record number of extraditions have occurred over the Mexican border this year, with numbers reaching 100 at the beginning of November.

Police officers in Mexico, like anywhere else, face dangers every day. The threats to officers' lives have increased in recent years, however, due to a cartel war that has broken out in Northern Mexico. More than 12 000 people have been killed since 2006. Ciudad Juarez, on the border with El Paso, Texas, has experienced 1300 murders in 2008 alone, 40 of which were of police officers. The drug gangs are known for brutal violence, including beheadings and amputations.

When President Felipe Calderon stepped up the Mexican War on Drugs in 2006, he called upon the military to fight it, tacitly acknowledging that large swaths of the state's police force were beholden to drug cartels. In the three years since, more than 45,000 troops have been deployed in seven problem states, and levels of violence have escalated - more than 11 000 Mexicans have died.