Mexico stresses anti-crime battle
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Mexican President Felipe Calderon Thursday highlighted his administration's scores in fighting organized crime in his 4th annual speech to the nation.
![Mexican President Felipe Calderon delivers his 4th annual speech to the nation at the National Palace in Mexico City, capital of Mexico, September 2, 2010. [Jorge Dan/Xinhua]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20100903/000cf1bdd03f0deaf2f13e.jpg "Mexican President Felipe Calderon delivers his 4th annual speech to the nation at the National Palace in Mexico City, capital of Mexico, September 2, 2010. [Jorge Dan/Xinhua]") |
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Mexican President Felipe Calderon delivers his 4th annual speech to the nation at the National Palace in Mexico City, capital of Mexico, September 2, 2010. [Jorge Dan/Xinhua] |
Addressing the nation from the National Palace, he talked a lot about fighting organized crime, a battle he started days after taking office.
Calderon compared campaigns against organized crime and poverty to the country's independence struggle of 1810 and the revolution of 1910.
"The fight has cost human lives, including those of citizens who were not part of the conflict... We will keep going forward until we achieve the secure Mexico that we all want," he spoke of the anti-crime campaign, during which some 28,000 have been killed so far.
He said police and armed forces have seized 10 billion U.S. dollars worth of marijuana, cocaine and heroin over the last three and a half years, which he said was equivalent to 1,500 doses for every Mexican aged 15-30.
Some 120 bosses of criminal groups have been captured during that period, including "three of the most important" this year alone, he added.
This week, the Mexican authorities arrested Edgar Valdez, alias La Barbie, a 37-year-old drug lord trying to build his own smuggling cartel and linked to Mexico's most wanted man, drug billionaire Joaquin Guzman.
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