Drug Violence Claims 6th Mexican Mayor

A staggering number of mayors -- six as of Wednesday -- have been killed this year in the expanding blanket of drug-related violence suffocating Mexico.

In the latest incident, an armed gang stormed a municipal building in the Mexican town of El Naranjo and killed Mayor Alexander Lopez.

The town is in the state of San Luis Potosi. Perhaps the most disturbing part is that San Luis Potosi is one of the states least affected by the drug violence. Its problem, however, is that it shares a border with Tamaulipas, which has been ravaged by violence.

"The only danger in El Naranjo was its proximity to Tamaulipas state," an official said.

72 migrants were massacred there last month, and a governor was murdered in July.

Some 28,000 people have been killed since 2006, when President Felipe Calderon launched a military crackdown on the drug cartels.

Meantime, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said this is starting to look like an insurgency that brings back terrible memories. "It's looking more and more like Colombia looked 20 years ago, when the narcotraffickers controlled certain parts of the country," she said.

Mexican officials quickly downplayed Clinton's comparison with Colombia.

"We don't share this opinion. There are very significant differences between what Colombia faced and what Mexico is facing," national security spokesman Alejandro Poire said.