멕시코의 마약 전쟁: Mexico's Drug War: 50,000 Dead in 6 Years

Mexico's Drug War: 50,000 Dead in 6 Years

Since Mexico's President Felipe Calderón began an all-out assault on drug cartels in 2006, more than 50,000 people have lost their lives across the country in a nearly-continuous string of shootouts, bombings, and ever-bloodier murders. Just last weekend, 49 decapitated bodies were reportedly discovered on a highway in northern Mexico. The New York Times reports on an increasing numbness and apathy among Mexicans after years of worsening carnage, about which they've been able to do virtually nothing. Gathered here is a collection of recent photographs from Mexico's drug war and the people so horribly affected by it

A masked Mexican soldier patrols the streets of Veracruz, on October 10, 2011. Soldiers of the Army, Navy and members of Federal Police patrol the streets of the city as part of "Veracruz Safe Operation" after a rising tide of violence plaguing this tourist city.(Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images) 

 

A police officer stands near evidence markers at a crime scene in Ajijic on the outskirts of Guadalajara, on April 9, 2012. Gunmen shot dead three who were sitting in two different cars outside their homes, according to local media. (Reuters/Alejandro Acosta) 

The body of a man lies behind the wheel inside a car in Acapulco, on February 10, 2012. Two men were shot by gunmen, one was killed and the other seriously injured, according to local media. (Reuters/Jacob Garcia) 

Poet and peace activist Javier Sicilia (center) embraces family members and relatives of his 24-year-old son Juan Francisco Sicilia and his friends at their flower wreath, during Juan's death anniversary in Temixco near Cuernavaca, on March 28, 2012. The bodies of Juan and his friends were discovered on March 28, 2011, in a car in Cuernavaca by the police along with a menacing message from drug cartels.(Reuters/Margarito Perez Retana) 

Morgue workers place a coffin holding an unidentified body into a grave at San Rafael cemetery on the outskirts of the border city of Ciudad Juarez, on December 27, 2011. The bodies of 36 unidentified people, killed in drug-related incidents, were buried after being held in the city morgue for several months without being claimed by relatives. (Reuters/Jose Luis Gonzalez) 

A forensic technician points his flashlight at the shoes of a man at a crime scene in Mazatlan, on February 13, 2012. The man was shot dead by gunmen while he was walking on the street, according to local media. (Reuters/Stringer) 

Baseball players belonging to the Saraperos de Saltillo team take cover during an intense shootout that broke out during a game in the parking lot of the stadium in the city of Saltillo, northern Mexico, on March 13, 2012. According to a state police spokesman, three gunmen were killed and another was injured and captured after the gunmen battled with a special tactics unit of the state police. (AP Photo) 

Thousands of guns are destroyed in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua State, on February 16, 2012. At least 6,000 rifles and pistols seized from drugs cartels were destroyed by members of the Mexican Army. (Jesus Alcazar/AFP/Getty Images) 

Jose Lopez Tapia, 8, rests in hospital after he and his mother were attacked on February 6 in Ciudad Juarez, on February 8, 2012. Sonia Tapia and her son were attacked by members of the Municipal Police, she was accused of carrying weapons and arrested for 36 hours.(Jesus Alcazar/AFP/Getty Images) 

Mexican marines escort Marcos Jesus Hernandez Rodriguez, aka "El Chilango", alleged leader of assassins and member of the Los Zetas drug cartel, in Veracruz state, during his presentation for the press in Mexico City, on May 11, 2012. Rodriguez was arrested last May 9, during a military operation in the city of Xalapa, Veracruz state, a navy spokesman said. (Yuri Cortez/AFP/Getty Images) 

A young man lies dead next to a skateboard and a bicycle after unknown gunmen opened fire in the eastern part of Saltillo, Mexico, on December 7, 2011. According to the state attorney general, three young men were killed in the attack. (AP Photo/Alberto Puente) 

Soldiers put the final touches on a giant "No More Weapons" billboard composed of crushed firearms, placed near the U.S. border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on February 17, 2012. President Felipe Calderon unveiled the billboard Thursday and urged the United States to stop the flow of weapons into Mexico. (AP Photo/Raymundo Ruiz) 

Firefighters remove the body of a man hanging from a bridge in Ciudad Juarez, on March 3, 2012. The body was found hanging from its neck on a bridge late Saturday, local media reported. The body showed signs of torture and the head was covered with duct tape.(Reuters/Jose Luis Gonzalez) 

Mexican soldiers burn marijuana plants in a field, in Los Algodones community, Culiacan, Sinaloa State, on on January 30, 2012. Mexican soldiers found the marijuana field and incinerated the drug as part of the Culiacan-Navolato operation.(Alfredo Estrella/AFP/Getty Images) 

Pictures of victims of violence are hung on the facades and walls of houses in the neighborhood of Cerro Gordo in Ecatepec, outside Mexico City, on March 7, 2012. The Murrieta Foundation opened an exhibition called "Giving face to the victims in Ecatepec" with 15 giant photographs placed on houses as part a campaign against violence (rape of women, kidnappings, murders and robberies) in Ecatepec.(Reuters/Henry Romero) 

The body of a dead man, a rifle next to him, lies in a field after a shootout with police on the outskirts of Monterrey, on February 28, 2012. According to local media, 11 people were killed in different violent incidents in the city. (Reuters/Daniel Becerril) 

A soldier stands guard inside a clandestine chemical drug processing laboratory discovered in Tlajomulco de Zuniga, on the outskirts of Guadalajara, Jalisco State, on February 9, 2012. (Hector Guerrero/AFP/Getty Images) 

An abandoned neighborhood in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua state, on March 30, 2012. Violence in Ciudad Juarez has changed the lives of its residents, where many have fled. Among those who remain, anxious mothers look for missing daughters, families cross the border daily to sleep in neighboring Texas, and men live alone among abandoned houses. (Jesus Alcazar/AFP/Getty Images) 

Blood flows near the arm of a killed boy, on the pavement in Acapulco, Mexico, on August 15, 2011. (Pedro Pardo/AFP/Getty Images) 

An unidentified woman weeps for her relatives at the scene where gunmen attacked a tow truck business in the resort city of Acapulco, on July 8, 2011. Two men and a woman died after unknown gunmen opened fire at the tow truck business.(AP Photo/Bernandino Hernandez) 

Cuban citizen Joel Rodriguez Barrero, after being detained in Xochitepec in this April 6, 2012 photograph. Rodriguez Barrero 'El Cubano', was detained on April 6 by soldiers and policemen during a patrol and found to be in possession of drugs and weapons. Barrero is responsible for the recent murder and dismemberment of four minors and drug trafficking, according to the State Attorney's Office.(Reuters/State of Morelos Attorney's General Office) 

Two men with their hands tied behind their back and with their faces covered with duct tape lie by the side of the road as police secure the area in the city of Veracruz, Mexico, on December 6, 2011. A total of 4 men were found killed in separate incidents in the Gulf port city, which has recently suffered growing violence as drug gangs battle for control of the region. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez) 

A truck burns on the road in Guadalajara, Mexico, on March 9, 2012. Drug criminals set 25 city buses and other vehicles on fire in 16 different places, spreading fear throughout Mexico's second-largest city after an army operation, according to officials.(AP Photo / Bruno González) 

Police stand next to the body of a dead colleague in Ixtapaluca, on the outskirts of Mexico City, on January 23, 2012. Municipal police were transferring two detainees when they were ambushed by gunmen, who shot dead all five police officers and one of the detainees, according to local media. (Reuters/Stringer) 

Children lie on the ground among silhouettes representing people allegedly killed by soldiers during Mexico's drug war, during a protest organized by the National Regeneration Movement, MORENA, at the Zocalo central square in Mexico City, on March 4, 2012. Mexico's Defense Secretary Guillermo Galvan recently conceded that the military has committed errors in the fight against organized crime and drug traffickers, such as torture, homicide and drug-trafficking but said those responsible have been punished. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) 

Students at the University of Ciudad Juarez and participants of the "Illuminate Juarez" event prepare to release lanterns in Samalayuca, Ciudad Juarez, on May 28, 2011. According to the organizers, the event was held to seek the return of peace to the city, which is considered one of the most violent in the world as a result of drug trafficking, and to promote tourism. (Reuters/Gael Gonzalez) 

A forensic technician holds the head of a woman at a crime scene in San Pedro on the outskirts of Monterrey May 15, 2012. The decapitated body of a woman and her head were found early Tuesday on the foot of a hill next to a low-income neighborhood, according to local media. (Reuters/Daniel Becerril) 

Pallbearers carry the coffin of Regina Martinez, a journalist and correspondent for the Mexican magazine Proceso, as friends and family members attend her funeral in Xalapa, on April 30, 2012. Martinez, from Veracruz, was found dead in the bathroom of her house on Saturday with signs of violence, according to local media. (Reuters/Stringer) 

Photojournalists place their cameras on the floor during a demonstration condemning the alleged murder of fellow journalist Regina Martinez in Mexico City, on April 29, 2012. The Mexican government's human rights commission said Sunday that it will investigate the apparent slaying of Martinez, who often wrote about drug trafficking. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte) 

The body of a man, covered by a cloth in a restaurant after he was shot by unknown assailants in Acapulco, Mexico, on July 30, 2011. Once a glamorous beach mecca for international tourism, Acapulco's image has steadily deteriorated as a fierce turf war continues between rival drug gangs. (AP Photo/Bernandino Hernandez) 

Relatives of Elmer Constantino Castro Andres, a Guatemalan immigrant whose body was found in a mass grave in Tamaulipas in northern Mexico, mourn over his coffin at the air force base of Guatemala City, on March 21, 2012. The bodies of 11 Guatemalans, who were among a group of 193 immigrants believed to be killed by members of the Zetas drug gang and whose bodies were found in a mass grave in Tamaulipas in April 2011, were repatriated to Guatemala on Wednesday after DNA tests confirmed their identities.(Reuters/Jorge Dan Lopez) 

Fliers for missing people hang on the door of the city morgue in Acapulco, Mexico, on March 1, 2012. Drug violence surged in the coastal resort last year, making Acapulco the second most deadly city in Mexico after Juarez. (John Moore/Getty Images) 

A skeletal corpse lies in Betania neighborhood, Acapulco, on March 27, 2012. During a recent wave of violence lived in Acapulco, eight people were killed, three of them found decomposed in the outskirts of the City. (Pedro PARDO/AFP/Getty Images) 

Working on a scarf, a woman embroiders the account of a murder in a park in Mexico City, on November 13, 2011. The "Red Fountains" civil movement proposes the "Embroidery for Peace, a scarf, a victim" action for each of the victims of violence in Mexico.(Omar Torres/AFP/Getty Images) 

The body of a young man who was shot several times, reflected in a mirror next to an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe inside a bus in Acapulco, on August 1, 2011. (AP Photo/Bernandino Hernandez) 

Demonstrators march to protest against violence in Mexico City, on August 14, 2011. The continuing tide of drug-related killings in Mexico has drawn thousands of protesters to march against violence. The sign reads in Spanish: "Stop the war. No to the National Security Law".(AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo) 

The body of a man killed in a suspected drug-related execution lies along the path where he was shot on March 1, 2012 in Acapulco.(John Moore/Getty Images) 

Medical workers stand next to the bodies of 10 men and one woman, discovered in a pile near a well in Valle de Chalco, Mexico, on July 8, 2011. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo, file) 

A woman rests prior to a protest against violence as part of the campaign "March of National Dignity - Mothers searching for their children and justice" at the Revolution Monument in Mexico City, on May 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini) 

Colleagues, relatives and friends of murdered journalists place candles and pictures on an altar erected at the Independence Angel monument in Mexico City, on May 5, 2012, during a vigil to protest against violence towards the press. Days earlier, Mexican security forces found the dismembered bodies of missing news photographers Guillermo Luna Varela and Gabriel Huge and two other people in bags dumped in a canal in the eastern state of Veracruz. The bodies of the photographers, who worked for the Veracruz news photo agency, also showed signs of torture. (Yuri Cortez/AFP/GettyImages) 

A suspected drug-related execution victim lies on Acapulco's famous Caleta Beach in Acapulco, on March 4, 2012.(John Moore/Getty Images) 

Locals look at the screening of names of 10,000 victims of violence in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, on the facade of Annunciation House, a shelter for immigrants and indigent people in the US city of El Paso on April 23, 2012. Annunciation House organized a mournful tribute called Voice of the Voiceless in which more than 10,000 names were screened on the facade of the building.(Jesus Alcazar/AFP/Getty Images) 

A woman covers her daughter with a towel as they walk past a crime scene in the municipality of San Nicolas de los Garza, neighboring Monterrey, on September 14, 2011. Six men were gunned down by unknown assailants in separate incidents in this municipality, local media reported. (Reuters/Tomas Bravo) 

A forensic technician sweeps blood off a street at a crime scene in Monterrey, on February 8, 2012. A taxi driver was shot dead by gunmen as another group of hitmen attacked three taxi drivers in a different neighborhood, killing two and injuring one, according to local media. (Reuters/Daniel Becerril)