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A girl looks at a window with a hole made by a shot near the place where two policemen were killed in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico on November 19, 2009. Four policemen were killed Thursday in Ciudad Juarez. More than 14.000 persons have been killed since 2006, year in which President Felipe Clalderon started an operative against organized crime with the participation of 50.000 militarymen. The Mexican government attributes the majority of these crimes to struggles among drug-traffickers.

Shortly after taking office in December 2006, Mexican President Felipe Calderón started taking action against Mexico’s drug gangs but despite the deployment of thousands of troops and millions of dollars spent, drug-related violence in Mexico has sky-rocketed. Last weekend was a particularly bloody one. Nearly 50 people were killed nationwide in drug-gang violence, including attacks in Acapulco as American college students began arriving for spring break. Among those ginned down were three people with ties to the American consulate in Ciudad Juarez. Is the Calderón drug war policy working? Larry and expert guests discuss.

Guests:

John Ackerman, author of op-ed in today's Los Angeles Times, How Mexico Got it Wrong and professor, Institute of Legal Research, National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

Shannon O’Neil, the Douglas Dillon fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). She recently directed CFR’s Independent Task Force on U.S.-Latin America Relations: A New Direction for a New Reality. She is currently working on a book on Mexico, analyzing the political, economic, and social transformations Mexico has undergone over the last two decades, and the significance of these changes for U.S./Mexico relations.

Andrew Selee, director of the Mexico Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars; adjunct professor of government at Johns Hopkins University.

Sam Quinones, staff writer for the LA Times, and author of True Tales from Another Mexico: The Lynch Mob, The Popsicle Kings, Chalino and the Bronx (University of New Mexico Press)