The First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, speaks at a youth forum at Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City on April 14, 2010. This is the First Ladys first solo international trip.

Demonstrators take to the streets to fight against violence caused by drug cartels in Mexico. BELO’s Mexico Bureau Chief Angela Kocherga, based in El Paso, Texas, reports from the border region and though Mexico with the latest from Mexico’s war on drugs.

Obama Signals Readiness to Further Militarize Drug War with Potential Deployment of National Guard to Mexico Border

President Obama is considering deploying National Guard troops along the border with Mexico in response to the escalating drug war. More than 7,000 people have been killed in Mexico in drug-related violence in the last year. Much of the drug-related violence in Mexico has been fueled by the ability of drug cartels to purchase AK-47 assault rifles and other arms in the United States. We host a roundtable discussion with Laura Carlsen of the Center for International Policy, NYU professor and author Greg Grandin, and Paul Helmke of the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Mexico’s government is showing no signs of winning its war against the drug gangs.

It has cost at least 28,000 lives since Felipe Calderon, the president, took power less than four years ago, and the numbers keep rising.

Al Jazeera’s Mariana Sanchez joined police on patrol in Ciudad Juarez, one of Mexico’s most violent cities, where one emergency call follows another.

Drug-cartel fueled violence has turned into a war in Mexico, with thousands of deaths and the government battling well-armed gangs whose military-quality weapons come mostly from U.S. dealers. CNN’s Anderson Cooper reports.