4:17pm UK, Tuesday January 12, 2010

Katie Cassidy, Sky News Online

Mexico’s drug wars have entered another year in a gruesome fashion – with a victim’s face removed from the skull and sewn onto a football.

More than 6,500 drug-related killings were recorded in Mexico in 2009

The country’s government has been trying to crackdown on the powerful cartels that engage in near-daily violence with one another.

President Felipe Calderon declared war on the drug gangs in late 2006 and since then, more than 45,000 soldiers have been deployed to fight organised crime.

The cartels are fighting for control of cocaine-smuggling routes running up from Central America into the world’s top drug consumer, the US.

American authorities are concerned the violence will spill over the border and have pledged millions of dollars in aid to help Mexico combat the cartels.

But 2010 has begun with the grim distinction – with a staggering 69 deaths reported in just one day.

Authorities and media said the deaths happened in various regions, including 26 in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, 13 in and around Mexico City and 10 in the northern city of Chihuahua.

In a separate incident, authorities identified the remains of 41-year-old former police officer who had been divided into two ice chests.

“You wonder how this will end, and it seems impossible,” said Daniel Vega, an architect in the northern city of Monterrey.

“I doubt Mexico can override drug use, especially since demand for the drugs, as well as all the money and weapons, come from the United States.”

Last year, more than 6,500 drug-related killings were recorded.

While almost all of the victims are linked in some way to the cartels, wider society has been affected by the drug wars.

“I’m afraid to take to the streets every day because of the violence,” said Silvana Cervantes, a nurse in Monterrey.

Many have blamed poverty for the drug problems and the bloody fighting.

Mr Calderon said last week he would shift his priority to creating jobs and reducing poverty, rather than the fight against the cartels.