2009 highest American murder toll in Mexico

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Preliminary statistics and other sources show 2009 was by far the deadliest year for U.S. citizens in Mexico since the Department of State first began releasing international American homicide statistics in 2002.

Final 2009 data is not yet available, according to Jeffrey Galvin, a spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City. But by June of last year, 37 murders already had been added to the State Department registry, compared with 50 in all of 2008 in Mexico. Dozens of additional homicides have been reported by the U.S. and Mexican media in the last half of 2009.