Since Mexican President Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006 and went after the drug cartels more than 60,000 people have been arrested for drug trafficking according to a report in The Washington Post by William Booth and Steve Fainaru:
Drug trafficking in Mexico employs an estimated 150,000 people, according to U.S. officials, so 60,000 arrests could represent progress in the fight against the cartels. * * * The statistics reveal the expanding reach of the Mexican military in the drug war. From December 2006 to March this year, according to the Defense Ministry, the army had arrested 12,251 people, nearly one-quarter of the drug-related arrests reported by the government. Since 2007, monthly detentions by the military rose 129 percent, the figures show. The military said it had arrested only those who were caught in the act of committing a crime.
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