MEXICO'S 23,100 MURDERS

Mexico City : This year, Mexico has registered its highest murder total since modern records began,  dealing a fresh blow to-

President Enrique Pena Nieto's pledge to get *gang violence* under control with presidential  elections due next year.

A total of 23,101 murder investigations were opened in the first 11 months of this year-

Surpassing the 22,409 registered in the whole of 2011, figures published on Friday by the Interior Ministry showed.

Pena Nieto took office in December 2012, pledging to tame the violence that escalated under his predecessor, Felipe Calderon.

He managed to reduce the murder tally during the first two years of his term, but, since then, it has risen steadily.

The data showed that at 18.7 per 100,000 inhabitants, the Mexican murder rate this year was still lower than in 2011, when it reached almost 19.4 per 100,000. The rate was also below levels reported in several other Latin American countries.

According to the United Nations Figures used in the World Bank's online database :

Brazil and Colombia had a murder rate of  27 per 100,000 ; Venezuela 57; Honduras 64; and EL Salvador 109 last year; the last year for which data were available.

Pena Nieto's failure to contain the killings has damaged his credibility and hurt his institutional Revolutionary Party, which faces an uphill struggle to hold onto power in next year's presidential election.

The law bars him from running again.