Crime-Ravaged Mexico City Deploys 140,000 National Guard Troops To Enforce Order

Mexico is deploying its new militarized National Guard police force within Mexico City in an effort to quell a recent surge in violent criminal activity, according to President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

"We need a stronger presence of security forces and more protection for residents of the capital," Lopez Obrador said during his daily news conference on Thursday, pointing to increases in homicides, kidnappings and extortion amid intense cartel turf wars, according to Reuters.

The sprawling urban area that has a population over 21 million was for years a bastion of relative calm while much of the country slid into violent drug wars.

That said, Reuters notes that Mexico City is still safer than some US cities - including the Democratic strongholds of Baltimore, Detroit and St. Louis.

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