CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico — A new surge of killing, kidnapping and extortion is the latest sign that the violent crime wave in Mexico has not subsided since President Enrique Peña Nieto took office Dec. 1 and could grow further in the weeks to come, U.S. law enforcement officials say.Fresh intelligence indicates that the paramilitary group known as the Zetas is pushing farther into northern Coahuila and Chihuahua states, threatening to reignite deadly violence in areas bordering Texas, including Ciudad Juárez.via Mexicos drug war undiminished in some areas close to Texas, authorities say | Mexico News – News for Dallas, Texas – The Dallas Morning...

It’s no surprise that, as Mexico’s presidency changed hands, commentary on both sides of the border focused on the drug war. During the previous administration, cartel-related killings had more than doubled, despite government crackdowns. The incoming president, promising to make his country safer, announced a controversial new approach. The year? 2006.That’s right: Felipe Calderon’s “war,” declared only weeks into his presidency, was intended to crush the cartels and reverse the deteriorating security situation. Instead, it unleashed an eightfold increase in killings – 60,000 so far – that not even his harshest critics predicted, devastating proof of how poorly we understand drug-war dynamics.Leaving office in 2012, Calderon sought to lock in his “no quarter” approach; the cartels, he argues, are in their death throes. But newly inaugurated Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and his Institutional Revolutionary Party (the once all-powerful and highly corrupt PRI) see a crucial opportunity to recalibrate Mexico’s drug policy. Amid the maelstrom of drug-related violence that still racks Mexico, and the overfilling of prisons in the U.S. with drug offenders, such change is welcome.via Mexico needs laser focus in drug war –...