Mexico's escalating drug war
Updated on 18 December 2008
President-elect Barack Obama says he has two wars to deal with: Iraq and Afghanistan. But there is another one much closer to home.
Police in California say the spiralling drug war in Mexico poses more of a threat to them than terrorism.
The Mexican government has launched an assault against the drug cartels, who are also fighting among themselves. The result is murder, kidnappings and corruption on an unprecedented scale.
In the past year there have been almost 5,400 drug-related murders in Mexico - more than double the previous year.
Our international editor Lindsey Hilsum went to Culiacan in Sinaloa state, the centre of the drug trade. From there she went to Tijuana, across the border from San Diego in California.
Lindsey Hilsum's report contains images some viewers may find distressing.
