Drug Cartel, Mexico Drug War | featured news

January, the first month of 2013 and the second month of Enrique Peña Nieto’s presidency, passed with a barrage of news about two topics: the health of the economy and drugwar violence. Both topics are themes with which Mexico’s previous president, Felipe Calderon, had become accustomed to talking about by the end of his term.

The Mexican press, as evidenced in recent attacks on two newspaper offices, grapples with decisions about how — and whether — to cover the drug war in ways that won't endanger lives.

Two decapitated bodies were found at the entrance to one of Mexico's most luxurious shopping malls on Wednesday and prosecutors announced that more than 47,000 people have been killed in drug violence in the five years since President Felipe Calderon launched a military crackdown against drug cartels.

Mexican cartels are taking advantage of U.S. gun laws to buy thousands of weapons that are being used in an escalating drug war that has claimed more than 31,000 lives since late 2006, experts and law enforcement officials tell NBC News.

The biggest newspaper in Mexico s most violent city will restrict drug war coverage after the killing of its second journalist in less than two years, just as international press representatives will urge the government to make security for journalists a national priority.