When Felipe Calderón, Mexico’s president, slipped out of his work suit and put on military fatigues shortly after taking office last December, the chances are he did not look as macho as he might have liked but the message was clear enough: the government would declare an all-out war against organised crime, particularly the narcotics trade.

“I was very concerned about the growth of drugs-related violence and the existence of criminal groups trying to take over control of entire regions,” Mr Calderón told the FT in an interview at the time.