MEXICO CITY — President Felipe Calderon on Thursday rejected U.S. concerns that Mexico is losing control of its territory to drug cartels.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Calderon said his government has not "lost any part _ any single part _ of the Mexican territory" to organized crime. He also called "absolutely false" the idea that Mexico is in danger of becoming a failed state if the violence continues.
That concern has been a major topic of discussion in Mexico and along the U.S. border since the U.S. military first raised it in November. The Pentagon report on potential future threats singled out Mexico and Pakistan as countries where state control is at risk.
Earlier Thursday, Mexico's top prosecutor said that more than 1,000 people have been killed in drug violence so far this year, but that he believes the worst is nearly over.
Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora also told the AP that 6,290 people were killed last year _ the most specific government accounting yet of drug killings that doubled the 2007 toll.
Medina Mora said the world's most powerful drug cartels are "melting down" as they engage in turf wars and fight off a nationwide crackdown.
The government doesn't expect to stop drug trafficking, but hopes to make it so difficult that smugglers no longer use Mexico as their conduit to the United States.
"We want to raise the opportunity cost of our country as a route of choice," Medina Mora said.
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