InfoAnda - Drug war graves unveil drama of Mexico's disappeared |

Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case
Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They

Taiwan denies boycotting Australian film festival
Thursday, August 6, 2009

AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e

Merkel's support dips, regional ally resigns International
Thursday, September 3, 2009

By Sarah Marsh and Noah Barkin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German

Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who

Asian markets mixed after Wall Street rally
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an

Lockheed says cyber attacks up sharply, suppliers targeted | | 13 November 2012
S.Korea c.bank: globalisation complicates policy | 14 September 2009
Taylor Swift wins Grammy for album of the year | 1 February 2010

Indonesia to relocate its first planned nuke power plant | 2 December 2010

Forum Views () Forum Replies ()

Read more with google mobile : Drug war graves unveil drama of Mexico's disappeared |

Edition: U.S. Article Comments (0) Full Focus Editor's choice A selection of our top photos from the past 24 hours. Full Article Follow Reuters Facebook Twitter RSS YouTube Read Predictor of May 21 Judgment Day to monitor news broadcasts | 11:06am EDT Media zoom in on mystery Schwarzenegger mistress | 18 May 2011 Cannes expels Von Trier for Hitler remarks | 11:11am EDT Strauss-Kahn may face civil suit for alleged assault 8:13am EDT LinkedIn share price almost doubles in NYSE debut | 11:09am EDT Discussed 100 Texas county official says ”stupid” feds sparked fire 80 Israel-Palestinian violence erupts on three borders 66 Boehner says ready to cut budget deal today Watched Fire ants form rafts to defy floods Tue, Apr 26 2011 Strauss-Kahn photo released 4:08am EDT Schwarzenegger's mistress identified, Oprah hosts celebrity send-off 1:43am EDT Drug war graves unveil drama of Mexico's disappeared Tweet Share this By Anahi Rama MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Reina Estrada lost contact with her husband just after he traveled to Mexico's border with Texas on business in March 2009, and has never heard from him or the colleagues he was with again. One of more than... Email Print Related News Tanks storm south Syria city as U.S. piles on pressure Tue, May 17 2011 Syrians find 13 bodies in Deraa mass grave-residents Mon, May 16 2011 Assad broadens Syria crackdown, tanks push south Thu, May 12 2011 Syrian tanks shell towns with at least 19 killed Wed, May 11 2011 Obama stresses immigration benefits at Mexico border Tue, May 10 2011 Analysis & Opinion The Rajaratnam Verdict: Tip of the Iceberg – ANALYSIS Self-help from Bill Rhodes easier read than done Related Topics World » A skull is left next to a shovel at the site of a mass grave in Durango in this April 14, 2011 file photo. Credit: Reuters/Jorge Valenzuela/Files By Anahi Rama MEXICO CITY | Thu May 19, 2011 11:31am EDT MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Reina Estrada lost contact with her husband just after he traveled to Mexico's border with Texas on business in March 2009, and has never heard from him or the colleagues he was with again. One of more than 5,000 Mexicans to disappear since drug war violence escalated across the country in 2006, Estrada's husband, a paint salesman from central Mexico, is part of a phenomenon which until recently was eclipsed by the killings that fill newspapers and TV news bulletins daily. The grisly discovery of almost 400 bodies in shallow graves in northern Mexico since early April has highlighted the terrible fate of many citizens who have been abducted by drug gangs and forced to work for the cartels, or killed and buried for refusing to do so. "We never had word from him or the rest of them. It's like the earth just swallowed them," Estrada said, her voice quivering in despair. In an echo from some of Latin America's military dictatorships of the 1970s and 80s, Mexico's National Commission Human Rights has documented 5,397 disappeared people since 2006. But it says the real figure is much higher as many victims' families are too frightened to come forward, not trusting the authorities. In many cases, corrupt police are involved in the disappearances, or at least turn a blind eye to them. "People are just disappearing, a lot of the time in groups, and there is no demand for ransom payments," said Blanca Martinez, a Catholic human rights group in the northern state of Coahuila that borders Texas. "A week doesn't go by without us registering a new case." Local authorities suspect many of the disappeared are forced by the rival Zetas and Gulf cartels to work as hitmen, or pack drugs in basements as the cartels find it increasingly difficult to win new recruits to a brutal business where careers are short-lived and often end in capture or death. Others are killed for refusing extortion attempts. Central American illegal migrants en route to the United States are also easy prey for the drug gangs, and many of the bodies unearthed in the graves are believed to be those of migrants who never made it to the border. The disappearances are putting more pressure on President Felipe Calderon, who sent the army to fight cartels in December 2006 after his narrow election victory, with the death toll from the drug war during his government nearing 40,000. Mexico's next presidential election is just 14 months away, and Calderon's conservative National Action Party (PAN) is trailing its main rival in polls amid widening despair at the government's inability so far to stem the bloodshed. HOPE, FRUSTRATION "There's no line you can draw that says: 'here ends the power of the criminals and here are the authorities'," said Gabino Gomez, a human rights worker in the particularly violent border city of Ciudad Juarez who has reported his findings to the U.N. High Commission for Human Rights. "The gunmen simply turn up and take people away," he said. The disappearances of people ranging from students to illegal immigrants make it harder for Calderon to argue that drug war victims are predominantly gunmen and traffickers, activists say. The federal attorney general's office and a host of state governments across Mexico say they are working on tracking down those reported as missing. With bodies still unidentified in cramped morgues after the discovery of the mass graves, some families still hope to at least find their loved ones and give them a proper funeral. Dozens have traveled to the town of San Fernando in Tamaulipas, the site of Mexico's biggest drug war grave, clutching photographs of the missing and giving blood samples. But there is increasing frustration. The attorney general's office says the DNA tests will take three to four weeks and one forensic worker who declined to be named said authorities are overwhelmed. Only four of the 183 bodies found in San Fernando have been identified. Activists and victims' families also complain that authorities are not doing enough to investigate. "They say they are working, but they are not, because there are no results," said Estrada, who like many has taken to searching for her husband herself. (Editing by Kieran Murray) World Tweet this Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints We welcome comments that advance the story directly or with relevant tangential information. We try to block comments that use offensive language, all capital letters or appear to be spam, and we review comments frequently to ensure they meet our standards. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. Comments (0) Be the first to comment on reuters.com. Add yours using the box above. Social Stream (What's this?) © Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters Editorial Editions: Africa Arabic Argentina Brazil Canada China France Germany India Italy Japan Latin America Mexico Russia Spain United Kingdom United States Reuters Contact Us Advertise With Us Help Journalism Handbook Archive Site Index Video Index Reader Feedback Mobile Newsletters RSS Podcasts Widgets Your View Analyst Research Thomson Reuters Copyright Disclaimer Privacy Professional Products Professional Products Support Financial Products About Thomson Reuters Careers Online Products Acquisitions Monthly Buyouts Venture Capital Journal International Financing Review Project Finance International PEhub.com PE Week FindLaw Super Lawyers Attorney Rating Service Reuters on Facebook Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests. NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.

Other News on Thursday, 19 May 2011
No sign Pakistan knew bin Laden whereabouts: U.S. |
Toilet row grabs headlines in South African election |
Jazeera reporter held in Syria says heard beatings |
Egypt's army says has no plans to pardon Mubarak |
Sony finds another security flaw, shutters site |
China piracy cost U.S. firms $48 billion in 2009: report |
Intel eyes Apple as it plans future chips |
UK backs revamp of 300-year-old copyright laws |
Lady Gaga ousts Oprah on Forbes celebrity power list |
Sarkozy bio pulls Cannes into French political fray |
Al Qaeda releases posthumous bin Laden audio recording |
IMF chief resigns, says to fight sex charges |
Is it worth it? Pakistan, U.S. weigh aid calculus |
Afghan, foreign troops kill more than 60 insurgents: NATO force |
Early South Africa local vote results show ANC in lead |
Yemen crisis deal collapses despite U.S. pressure |
Afghan prisoner at Guantanamo dies in apparent suicide |
Syria under pressure as U.S. sanctions Assad |
LinkedIn IPO prices at $45 per share, top of range |
Inventories to cap phone market growth: Gartner |
Baidu, China sued in U.S. for Internet censorship |
Apple and Android phones face strict laws in Europe: report |
New Lady Gaga album leaks ahead of May 23 release |
Lady Gaga ousts Oprah on Forbes celebrity power list |
NATO chief confident Gaddafi rule will collapse |
Quake knocks Japan into recession |
Former Irish PM Garret FitzGerald dies at 85 |
Gulf ministers to meet on Yemen after deal breakdown |
Police open fire to disperse Afghan protests |
EU set sharply to expand Iran sanctions: diplomats |
Drug war graves unveil drama of Mexico's disappeared |
Whistleblower says Russian troops fed dog food |
Google, Apple not unassailable in smartphone race |
Amazon says e-books now outselling paper books |
Online ad growth sparks rush for Yandex IPO |
Alcatel CEO looks to future growth |
Toshiba to buy meter maker Landis+Gyr for $2.3 billion |
Cannes expels Von Trier for Hitler remarks |
Media zoom in on mystery Schwarzenegger mistress |
Almodovar catches Cannes off guard with horror film |
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights

USD EUR - 1 year graph		BlogMeter 1.01