The drug violence in Mexico continues unabated. Mexican President Felipe Calderon has pledged to fight crime, and in his first few months as president, has already sent the Mexican Army and police on various operations directed against the drug cartels. And,

in a recent international summit in Campeche, Mexico, Mexican President Calderon and Colombian president Alvaro Uribe pledged to work together to fight the drug cartels.

Meanwhile, Mexico City Mayor Marcelo Ebrard continues his own war against crime, drug trafficking, contraband and illegal street vending. In a new exchange program designed to get weapons off the streets, the Mexico City police are offering some real incentives. For example, if you turn in a machine gun, you can receive a computer in exchange, and for a smaller weapon, you can get cash or an Xbox video game console. Reducing crime in Mexico City would go a long way toward helping Ebrard’s presidential ambitions, come 2012.

Nevertheless, the cartel killings in Mexico continue , with an average of 7 narco-executions per day. The killings didn’t even stop during Holy Week. For a narco hitman, a holy day is just another work day . On Holy Saturday , for example, Ernesto Moreno, police commandant in the southern Guerrero state, was gunned down as he ate in a restaurant with his wife and children.

In another publicized case, Televisa correspondent Amado Ramirez was shot on Good Friday, as he left a radio station in Acapulco. There is still some doubt as to whether or not the Amado shooting was narco-related, but there is no doubt that reporters are at risk. In today’s Mexico, a journalist can say what he wants about a politician, but if he gets too specific about narco activities, he may disappear or wind up dead.

On Thursday and Friday of Holy Week, 21 persons were slain in narco attacks. This compares to 3 such murders on the same days a year ago.

The total tally in calendar year 2007 up to this point is 673 persons killed in narco attacks in Mexico . At this point in time last year, the tally was 542.

During all of calendar year 2006, over 2,000 Mexicans were slain in narco killings. In contrast, during all of calendar year 2006, there were 895 U.S. military personnel who died in Iraq.

Besides the carnage, there’s the impunity of it all . The perpetrators are hardly ever caught. In one possible exception, suspects have been arrested for the murder of a politician slain in Acapulco. However, some are suspicious of the arrests and think those arrested may just be scapegoats.

The victims of narco executions include narco criminals who are killed by rival cartels, and many police officers. Of the policemen slain by narco hitmen, how many of them were corrupt cops who ran afoul of particular narco gang, and how many were honest cops slain in the line of duty? Nobody can say for sure, but either way, the bold impunity of the narco-slayers and their mayhem is truly disturbing.

On the other hand, most Mexicans aren't directly impacted by the cartel wars, and their lives continue as usual. The same day Amado Ramirez was shot in Acapulco (for whatever reason), the hotels there were at 96.6% capacity.

And yet, narco war is a scourge on society which Mexican governments are struggling to contain.

The problem is that drug trafficking and its attendant violence is it is driven by so many factors: the big budgets available to narco-chiefs, police corruption, judicial inefficiency, and, lest we forget, the massive demand for drugs north of the border.

In a recent column, Mexican pundit Sergio Sarmiento laid out what he believes are Mexico’s only two options: “There are only two ways to stop this wave of executions. One is to suddenly endow our police with a miraculous efficiency that makes the impunity vanish. If we begin to see the capture of those truly responsible for the murders, the hired assassins would at least think a little more before carrying out an execution.” “The other way would be to recognize that we have lost the war against drugs, that it makes no sense to continue spending resources and human lives in an attempt to stop what no one can stop.”

Sarmiento is speaking here of drug legalization, and he continues with a U.S. historical analogy - the end of Prohibition in the early 1930s. According to its proponents, drug legalization would actually decrease cartel violence.

Controversial, yes, but if things don’t improve, more people may be ready to consider the legalization option.

Allan Wall (www.allanwall.net ) recently served a tour of duty in Iraq, and currently resides in Mexico.