sign and flowers from a recent march against violence

The Milenio newspaper’s independent count of drug war-related deaths finds 1,402 victims were reported in the month of April. That makes last month the deadliest since the start of the four and a half year-old military offensive against organized crime.

Nearly a quarter of April’s documented deaths were found in mass graves. The largest discoveries were in the states of Tamaulipas and Durango, where dozens of mass graves have yielded some 300 victims…and those deaths may only be the tip of the iceberg.

News of the mass graves prompted families of missing persons to come forward en masse. The Mexican attorney general’s office now acknowledges the number of people who have disappeared since 2007 may number more than 6 thousand.

The steadily rising death toll has also sparked a national movement critical of both the president’s militarization strategy and the targeting of civilians by organized crime networks. The “No More Blood” movement plans to carry out a series of actions this upcoming weekend, including a four-day march on foot from Cuernavaca to Mexico City.

Thirty-two cities in Mexico and more than 10 abroad will hold demonstrations this afternoon to condemn the violence that has claimed the lives of some 36,000 people. Many predict today’s marches will be the largest organized public outcry to date against the militarized Drug War President Felipe Calderon launched in late 2006.

The marches come at the behest of well-known writer, Javier Sicilia, whose son and close friends were found dead last week. In a press conference in the city of Cuernavaca, Sicilia slammed the government for its Drug War polices and criticized the drug cartels for abandoning the codes that, in the past, made civilians off-limits to attacks. Sicilia called on people to attend in large numbers to overcome fear and create a safe space for dissent against the Drug War. Marches will take place in some of the hardest-hit cities in the north – including Ciudad Juarez, Reynosa, and Monterrey.

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Most major national news outlets in Mexico have signed onto a 10 point plan that lays out ground rules for reporting on the Drug War.

Some hail it as a necessary code of ethics in a media environment that often sensationalizes violent news stories. Others condemn it for further restricting a press that already practices a significant amount of self-censorship.

Among the rules are the requirements that reporters take a position against violence perpetrated by organized crime, not allow themselves to become “involuntary spokespersons” for the cartels, and “not interfere in the combat against crime” by publishing information that could put an investigation or operation at risk.

Only four major national media outlets have not signed onto the pact; 2 newspapers (La Jornada and Reforma), the weekly investigative news magazine Proceso, and the MVS broadcasting company. Another notable exception is the Diario de Juárez, the leading newspaper in the city known as ground zero for the militarized offensive against organized crime. But even those outlets may face pressure to conform to the new guidelines.

Mexican senators have indicated they’ll move a proposal as early as next week to make the voluntary reporting guidelines law.

More than 35,000 Mexicans have been killed since President Felipe Calderón launched a militarized offensive in areas with a strong drug cartel presence. More than 15,000 of those deaths occurred in 2010.

It’s gotten to the point that massacres have become near daily events in Mexico…and behind each of those massacres are the stories of the people who died and their families. These back stories are what investigative reporter Marcela Turati has documented in her new book, “Fuego Cruzado” – or “Crossfire” in English.

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Turati sat down with South Notes recently to discuss these stories that go uncovered in a media landscape that can barely keep up with registering the daily death toll. The audio is in Spanish.

It can be hard to write about the violence in Ciudad Juárez without using clichés. It’s known as “the world’s most dangerous city” or “the most lethal place on earth” at the “center of a cartel turf war” in which mass murders have become so common that only the most over-the-top massacres seem to illicit a mention in the US press. This, despite the fact that you can literally see Juárez from El Paso, Texas…and that US market demand for drugs is at the heart of the bloodshed.

In a militarized Drug War that has claimed more than 35,000 Mexican lives since December of 2006, no city has paid as high a price as Ciudad Juárez. However, criticizing the government’s militarization strategy can be dangerous.

The homes of 2 vocal activists were set on fire this week. Both had become active as a result of seeking justice for murdered family members.

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