Leaders | Drugs and security in North America

Mexican waves, Californian cool

Three things to stop the gangs: better police in Mexico, stricter gun laws in America and legal pot in California

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THERE have been gunfights outside the American school and a big private university. The mayors of two suburbs have been murdered. And a grenade has been thrown at Saturday evening strollers in a square, injuring 12. All this has happened since August not in Kabul or Baghdad but in Monterrey in northern Mexico (see article). The latest battleground in a multilateral war between drug-trafficking gangs and the authorities, Monterrey is not a dusty outpost. It is one of the biggest industrial cities of North America, a couple of hours' drive from Texas and home to some of Mexico's leading companies.

This article appeared in the Leaders section of the print edition under the headline "Mexican waves, Californian cool"

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From the October 16th 2010 edition

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