Mexico’s Congress is to vote on a drastic security plan after another week of Iraq-style violence, including the dumping of 12 partially naked bodies, most with their tongues cut out, next to an elementary school.

Analysts blame the staggering violence and lawlessness over recent months in Mexico on the Government’s crackdown on drug cartels, which has cut off their income and caused rival organisations to wage war against each other.

The problem has been exacerbated by endemic police corruption — in one notorious case, the police were responsible for kidnapping and killing a 14-year-old boy even after his wealthy businessman father paid the ransom — and a rapidly deteriorating economy, which is heavily dependent on so-called “remittances”, or money wired back from illegal Mexican workers in the United States.

The US media, preoccupied by the Wall Street crisis and the presidential election, has shown little interest in Mexico’s troubles, even as the discovery of beheaded corpses becomes a weekly event and the country’s kidnapping rate — three or four a day — is worse than Iraq’s.

Another 24 bodies — all of them killed in execution-style — were discovered outside Mexico City a fortnight ago, while last week three decapitated bodies were found in the Pacific coast state of Sinaloa. Headless bodies have even turned up in the touristy Yucatan state.

The violence now also has a political element, aimed at destabilising the government of President Felipe Calderón — the authority of which is not even recognised by the Mayor of Mexico City after a disputed election two years ago.

During a recent celebration of Mexico’s Independence Day, suspected members of the Zetas cartel threw two military grenades into a crowd, killing eight and injuring 100. The attack took place in Mr Calderón’s home state of Michoacan.

The Mexican President has sent a sweeping security Bill to Congress, aimed at weeding out police corruption and improving the exchange of information on criminals.

President Calderón urged members of Congress to swiftly approve his proposal so that “police can serve the people and not criminals”.

The Bill was drawn up several weeks ago with the help of Mexico’s 32 governors — each of whom controls rival police forces. It calls for the creation of a national database on criminal activity and aims to standardise police training and put in place a system of controls to ensure that Mexican officers meet minimal anti-corruption requirements. In addition, President Calderón has promised to crack down on criminals who use police uniforms or badges — a common tactic for kidnappers, although in many cases the kidnappers are actually real police officers.

The Bill also regulates police procedures to protect human rights and includes stronger penalties for those officers who sell drugs to people on the street.

The initiatives were a step towards “returning to Mexico the security and peace it hopes for,” said President Calderón.

Although Mexicans are used to drug wars, police corruption, and crime, there has been widespread shock and outrage over the levels of lawlessness seen this year. In August, hundreds of thousands of people dressed in white marched through Mexico City’s streets to demand action from the Government. Even the national football team wore white during a international game against Jamaica.

Meanwhile, in the border town of Tijuana, school was suspended on Tuesday after the discovery of the 12 tortured bodies, an hour before children were scheduled to arrive. A plastic bag containing five of the seven missing tongues was found nearby. Human rights workers said the latest murders came as the drug baron Arellano Felix was trying to fend off a push into the region by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.

“We’re in a war,” said General Romel Moreno, Baja California’s state attorney.

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