22 die in Mexico drug gang-police shootout "Twenty-two people, including five police officers, were killed in a gunfight in northern Mexico in the bloodiest clash of a five-month-old government offensive against drug gangs." Internal disintegration Mexico's problems are deeply entangled with larger societal developments in the United States. As demand for drugs remains high, Mexico will continue to act as a conveyor belt between the coca fields in Colombia and cities in the US which in turn will strengthen the criminal economy in Mexico. See also: Armed gang kills Mexican police