Mexican army soldiers walk towards their vehicle after seven bodies were found inside a vehicle in the Gulf port city of Veracruz, Mexico, late Friday Oct. 7, 2011. AP Photo/Felix Marquez.
On December 11, 2006, days after being sworn in, Mexico's then-President Felipe Calderón announced that his administration was deploying thousands of federal troops to combat organized crime in his home state of Michoacán.
Interior Minister Francisco Javier Ramírez Acuña said at the time that "the battle against organized crime is only just beginning, and it will be a fight that will take time."
