It was late 2006 when then-President Felipe Calderon launched Mexico's war on drugs by sending thousands of troops to his home state of Michoacan, where powerful cartels were battling for turf. Military officers were regarded as less corrupt than poorly trained local and state police forces, some of whom collaborated with criminal groups, and in the subsequent years many thousands more soldiers and marines were deployed across the country.

Source: Los Angeles Times December 15, 2017 22:41 UTC