Ballard said Mexico's new government must take action to detain and bring to justice more leaders of cartels in order to effectively weaken their influence. He indicated the decline of the U.S. mafia due to numerous arrests, convictions, and long prison terms during the 1980s and 1990s.

A mayor has been killed and decapitated just days after taking office in a violence-ridden city in Mexico, officials have said. A mere six days after taking office as mayor of Chilpancingo in the country's south,