Mexico gives its drug warriors a raise

Reuters/NY Times:

Mexico gave the military salary increases of almost 50 percent on Monday to reward it for leading the fight against violent drug gangs.

President Felipe Calderon has sent thousands of troops to combat drug cartels in several states since he took office last December.

``Our armed forced are first in the line of battle, and each soldier, without respite, has faced up to this battle against organized crime,'' Calderon told troops in a ceremony to mark army day.

The monthly pay of rank-and-file troops will increase to about $472 from $318, backdated to the start of the year, he said. Other ranks will get similar raises proportionate to their salaries.

More than 2,000 people were killed last year in a feud between rival drug gangs for control of smuggling routes to the United States.

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The deserve the raise and they have been doing good work since Calderon took over. Their loyalty should be rewarded. It should be noted that the civil war between drug gangs in Mexico took over twice as many lives as the number of American troops killed in Iraq last year.