Maybe you’ve heard about the violence that’s been unleashed in the state of Michoacán. Thanks to Mexico’s new president and his personal war against drug trafficking, the army has taken over small towns throughout the state.

Allow me to let you in on a few of the incidents that have taken place as a result. There have been numerous accounts of people tied to posts and submerged in tanks of water as a means of getting useful information on local drug cartels. The tanks have rolled into residential areas and several houses have been lost as collateral damage. Just this morning I heard about one woman who ran out of her house when the bullets started ricocheting off the walls. She was apprehended and incarcerated only to later be released. It turns out that our threatening suspect was nothing more than a housewife trying to get out of the line of fire.

This morning, on the front page of La Jornada, I read that the troops are now moving into Veracruz. It seems Fidel’s risky business is now out of his hands. An armed group shot and killed four bodyguards working for the governor of the state of Mexico. Keep in mind that this is the latest incident since an elderly indigenous woman was raped and beaten by soldiers in the mountainous, rural areas surrounding Xalapa, where there has been a strong military presence since the 1990s. Now, president Calderón ordered that federal troops be stationed in Veracruz.

So there you have it. It’s now even closer to home. This will mean more checkpoints on the highway, more violence in rural areas and possibly even more military presence in Xalapa. I’m starting to get nervous…

Photo courtesy of Por Esto!