Drug War Condemned by Roman Catholic Bishops

Over the weekend, The Mexican Council of Bishops released a report condemning the militant drug war policies of the Calderon administration.

Since becoming president in 2006, Calderon has deployed thousands and thousands of troops through Mexican border cities in order to control drug cartel activity. Since his avowal to wrestle territory back from the cartels, however, gang violence has become more vicious and prevalent. Citing international human rights groups, the bishops noted in their report abuses made by these military forces including arbitrary killings, false accusations, and other misuses of power.

The Catholic bishops call for reform in their government, and stated that Calderon ought to improve education and tackle unemployment instead of wasting resources on this violence, and believe that the thousands of troops can return to more suitable duties if focus was put on cleaning up police.