Nota Roja Country

This chapter documents the violence, murders, human rights violations, public security crisis, and the failed war on drugs during the six-year term of President Felipe Calderón. Mexico has high levels of violence, which is documented in the nota roja (“red press”). While NAFTA and drugs devastated rural communities, other segments of Mexican society thrived. Fears of future violence, extortion, and exploitation caused communities across Mexico to form self-defense groups and community police and protest government security forces.