Via the BBC: Hillary Clinton backs Mexico drug war comes the following:
The Mexican authorities argue that the rising violence shows that the gangs are being weakened and turning increasingly on each other, but critics argue the use of troops has only served to provoke increasingly gruesome murders.
Emphasis mine.
This is not an isolated notion (see here for another, more egregious, example). Of course, if increased violence is to be considered a metric for success, perhaps we need to reassess our goals, yes?
Meanwhile, the violence in Mexico is, indeed, staggering in scope: “Last year was the bloodiest so far, with 15,273 drug-related killings, according to Mexican government figures.”
The trend in recent years is as follows:
