AP Photo

For the first time in more than five years, Mexico is showing signs that its spasmodic violence is beginning to recede. National statistics comparing January to May 2012 with the same period in 2011 indicate an 8 percent drop in homicides, the most troubling symptom of violence related to drug cartels. For a country buffeted by levels of brutality that climbed ever higher each successive year since Mexican President Felipe Calderón launched an offensive against the cartels in 2007, this is indeed welcome news.