According to Mexican government 47,000 dead from drug violence in past five years

Newly released numbers by the Mexican government set the death toll for the past five years in drug-related violence at 47,000. According to Ecuador’s El Comercio, the number exceeds previous press estimates, with 12,903 deaths being reported for 2011 through September only – a monthly average of 1,433.

The number still is not as high as Venezuela’s, which was named the most violent country in the region for 2011, with 19,336 people murdered this past year, according to a recent study by Observatorio Venezolano de Violencia (Venezuelan Violence Monitor).

But places such as Ciudad Juárez remain a stronghold for the bloody drug cartels. Some 120 killings per 100,000 residents happen every year, and 50% of all murders in Mexico happen there, according to Reuters. The city ranks 2^nd in some of the World’s Most Dangerous Cities in the World lists.

Not long ago a tourist’s paradise, Acapulco ended up with 795 murders, second to Juárez, and even beating out Tijuana.

But, depending on how you look at, there may be some good news. Ciudad Juárez’s 1,206 murders for 2011 is an improvement from the 3,000 reported the year before. Mexico’s Office of the General Prosecutor said of the deaths: “According to their characteristics, could have occurred in the context of rivalries among crime organizations.”

The Office of the General Prosecutor also acknowledged that the killing sprees are concentrated in specific regions of the country. Seventy percent occurred in 8 out of the 32 Mexican federal estates.

Adding together the totals reported, some 51,000 people have died in drug-related violence since president Felipe Calderón began his tenure in 2006, El Comercio says.