MEXICO CITY – A request has been submitted to the Defense Secretariat for a complete list of military personnel killed since December 2006 following the review of a report that listed the deaths of 410 armed forces personnel, the Mexican Federal Institute for Access to Information (IFAI) said.
The original request made by an individual covered military personnel killed for any reason between September 2012 and Jan. 6, 2014, the IFAI said in a statement.
The figures provided by the secretariat, however, related only to military personnel killed fighting the war on drugs.
The Defense Secretariat listed 410 armed forces members who died between Dec. 12, 2006, and March 31, 2014, from automobile accidents (170), attacks with firearms (90), murders (73), aviation accidents (50), being run over by vehicles (10), drowning (seven), dehydration (four), falls (three), heatstroke (two) and lightning strikes (one).
The northern state of Nuevo Leon led the way in deaths, with 48, followed by Michoacan, 40; Sinaloa, 40; Tamaulipas, 35; Coahuila, 35; Veracruz, 33; and Guerrero, 29.
Chihuahua registered 27 deaths; Sonora, 25; Jalisco, 25; San Luis Potosi, 25; Durango, 20; Oaxaca, eight; Nayarit, five; Baja California, four; Aguascalientes, three; Baja California Sur, two; Zacatecas, two; Chiapas, two; and Campeche, two.
A total of 181 privates, 80 corporals, 68 second lieutenants, 55 lieutenants, 20 sergeants, four captains and two majors were killed during the period.
IFAI commissioner Maria Elena Perez-Jaen reviewed the information and concluded that the Defense Secretariat did not interpret the request correctly because it only provided death figures linked to the war on drugs.
Former President Felipe Calderon, who was in office from 2006 to 2012, declared war on Mexico’s drug cartels shortly after taking office and deployed thousands of soldiers and Federal Police officers across the country to fight the criminal organizations.
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