[News Hawk]

A Mexican military assault on marijuana farms in the central state of Michoacan destroyed 2,116 growing operations in a week, the defense minister said.

Troops took out crops on 237 hectares (586 acres) and found other drugs in the raids, Defense Minister Guillermo Galvan said during a news conference today in Mexico City. Based on a price of 18,000 pesos per kilo -- the market rate north of the U.S. border -- the marijuana, seeds and other drugs destroyed have a value of about 6.7 billion pesos ($619.2 million), Galvan said.

President Felipe Calderon is using the military to escalate Mexico's drug war and make good on his campaign promise to reinforce the rule of law. Calderon, who took office Dec. 1, sent more than 5,000 troops to conduct anti-drug raids in Michoacan on Dec. 11.

"This operation shows the government's will to use the power of the state to return peace and tranquility to our communities,'' Francisco Ramirez Acuna, Mexico's interior minister, said at the news conference.


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Source: Bloomberg.com
Pubdate: Dec. 18, 2006
Author: Patrick Harrington
Copyright: 2006 Bloomberg
Contact: Pharrington8@bloomberg.net
Website: http://www.bloomberg.com