for more on the worsening violence, we turn to tracy wilkinson, the mexico city bureau chief for "the los angeles times." >> tracy, the headlines are shocking. 21 dead in a gun battle, 19 in a drug rehab center, 13 killed at a party. three and a half years in the mill tarization of the war against the drug gangs is the state of the violence rising, the tide of violence rising still? >> yes, in fact, as you mentioned, more than 23,000 people killed since december of 2006. we're still tallying up june but it's going to be one of the deadliest months yet so indeed the violence continues, the number of dead continues to rise. right now part of that is related to the elections but really quite apart from that, we have just enormous numbers of people being killed in part because the government forces are going after the cartel. but also because they're fighting among themselves for control of routes, territory, power. and so increasingly, i mean there doesn't seem to be an end in sight to this kind of violence and it continues to increase. >> along with the rising numbers, has there also be