Mexico needs to act against cartels

The gang violence in Mexico has reached truly alarming proportions with 81 people beheaded in the last 10 days, with the worst incident consisting of 49 headless and mutilated bodies being left in plastic bags on the roadside outside the industrial city of Monterrey.

Most of these killings are to do with rival gangs fighting to establish control over particular territories, but they are also a clear warning to the candidates in the presidential elections due in six weeks, reminding the would-be president that the drug cartels are powerful and will resist any attempt to crack down on their vicious and lucrative criminal empires.

But the state has failed in its duty for far too long, and is now losing control. It cannot allow such institutional terrorism to continue. It is not for the government just to comment that these "reprehensible acts" are designed to sow fear among the civilian population and the authorities. Action is needed.