TIJUANA – For months, state authorities have said that a majority of the murders occurring in the city are related to disputes among street drug dealers.

On Thursday, Mexico's top law enforcement officer agreed, calling for a coordinated campaign to fight drug dealing at that level.

Mexican Attorney General Marisela Morales said that street drug dealers not only poison society but are the real engine of violence.

Morales issued a statement from Boca del Río, Veracruz, where she was attending a national conference of judges and prosecutors. It's also where the bodies of 35 murder victims were dumped in the street Tuesday, twelve of them women, in a mass killing authorities are blaming on organized crime.

"The battle among criminal groups has as a goal of not only gaining territorial control but also controlling street drug dealers," Morales said.

She said all levels of government need to coordinate their efforts to carry out solid investigations that will support the judicial process against street drug peddlers.

The Attorney General said she was confident that agreement would be reached on proposals to coordinate federal and local authorities to respond to organized crime.

"We need to act in unison immediately, because if we don't, we will continue to see despicable crimes like we have just seen. Let's avoid washing our hands of this matter through indifference because we run the risk of sullying our conscience."

In Tijuana alone, state authorities have logged 364 murders through Thursday of this year. Some 80 per cent of these homicides, about 291 of them, are linked to street-level drug dealing, according to the Baja California Attorney General's Office.

At the conference, the judges and prosecutors took up subjects such as a proposed reform of juvenile justice, kidnapping, money laundering and crimes against women.

omar.millan@sandiegored.com