The war down south

**Posted by Phineas

Here’s some data to chew on this Sunday evening, while America’s biggest narcissists engage in a public act of self-congratulation. In the last year, more civilians have died in Ciudad Juarez than in all of Afghanistan:

More civilians were killed last year in Ciudad Juarez, the Mexican city across the border from El Paso, Texas, than were killed in all of Afghanistan.

There were 3,111 civilians murdered in the city of Juarez in 2010 and 2,421 in the entire country of Afghanistan.

On a per capita basis, a civilian was 30 times more likely to be murdered last year in Juarez, where there are 1,328,017 inhabitants according to Mexico’s 2010 census, than in Afghanistan, where there are 29,121,286 people according to the CIA World Factbook.

The number of civilians killed in Afghanistan was compiled by the Congressional Research Service and published in a CRS report released on Feb. 3. The number of civilians killed in Juarez was compiled by Molly Molloy, a research librarian at New Mexico State University who maintains a count of murders Juarez and published it on the Frontera List Web site. Molloy’s work on civilian murders in Juarez was also referenced in a recent CRS report on Mexican drug cartels.

Much of the violence in JuΓ‘rez is sparked by drug trafficking organizations battling over one of the major smuggling corridors into the United States.

In other words, you’re safer in Kabul 7,500 miles away than in Juarez, just over the border from El Paso.

But there’s nothing to be concerned about.

via Fausta

(Crossposted at Public Secrets)

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