While American citizens and tourists are asked to extreme precautions when visiting Mexico thanks to family and acquaintances of members of criminal organization "Zetas" being captured, Mexican President Felipe Calderón spoke to Wall Street Journal about the rates of violence dropping as a result of his war against drug cartels.

During the first five months of the present year, the damages caused by the battle on drugs have descended for the first time by 12%, he declared; this same approach has been responsible for over 60 thousand deaths in the six years he has been in office.

Calderón stated that violence has declined for the first time in the last eight years; even so, independent research institutions say it's too early to know if the trend will persist.

The President believes that his successor must continue with a strong safety tactic and hopes his Office will be remembered for having making a difference, even if this accomplishment has come at a great cost he explained how he has taken measures nobody had wanted to take before him. He emphasized how the next Mexican President must work hard to attain an effective justice system and an honest police force.

Like a cancer eating away at society, drug cartels are one of Latin America's main issues and it's because of that Calderón, along with Guatemala's and Colombia's Presidents, has been campaigning for lighter drugs like marihuana to be legalized by Barack Obama. He stated that this action depended not only on the US President but also on the Congress and the citizens themselves should support the idea.

Ciudad Juárez is cited as an example of the change President Calderón talks about. Until recently Juárez was one of the top violent cities; during the first 5 months of 2011 there were 958 deaths registered while on the same period of 2011, the figures dropped to 491.

editorial@sandiegored.com