For the past few years this sprawling capital has weathered the country's drug war as an island largely free from the violence that the drug trade brings. But a series of high-profile kidnappings and murders has raised fears that crime is once again on the rise in Mexico City.Reuters今年5月，12名年轻人遭绑架。图为上周五，其中一名被绑者的家属在一栋政府大楼外听到官员证实已发现其中五人的尸体后失声痛哭。

过去几年，墨西哥城这个范围广阔的首都在墨西哥的毒品战中得以独善其身，基本没有遭受到伴随毒品交易而来的暴力。但一系列备受关注的绑架案和谋杀案令人不禁担心，墨西哥城的犯罪活动开始再次抬头。

In contrast to the nation's cartel wars, in which thousands of people have been slaughtered by the country's drug gangs, the recent killings in Mexico City have been far fewer, and appear to involve local street gangs. But many cases have been no less grisly. 在墨西哥的毒枭战中，数千人被毒品帮派杀害；与此截然不同的是，墨西哥城最近的谋杀案要少得多，而且似乎只涉及到当地街头帮派。但很多案件同样令人发指。

One of the most notorious involves authorities' discovery late last week of a mass grave holding the bodies of 13 people in a poor Mexico City suburb. Officials on Friday confirmed that five of the bodies belonged to a group of 12 young people who vanished in a mass kidnapping in May from a nightclub in the Zona Rosa tourist district-the first such crime the capital had seen in years. 最知名的案件之一是，上周末当局在墨西哥城贫困的郊区发现了一个集体墓穴，里面埋有13具尸体。官员们上周五证实说，其中五人属今年5月在Zona Rosa旅游区的一个夜店中遭集体绑架的12个年轻人之列。这起案件是多年来墨西哥城发生的首起绑架案。

Mexico City authorities say that while the city has seen some shocking events in recent months, figures show a decline in crime. Jesús Rodríguez Almeida, the police chief, said so-called high-impact crimes, such as murders, kidnappings and extortion, have dropped 12% in the past nine months compared with the same period a year before. Still, Mexico City's homicide rate of 22 per 100,000 people remains much higher than Los Angeles's rate of 7.7 per 100,000 and New York City's 3.8 in 2012. And many crimes in Mexico City go unreported due to distrust of the police, the government has said. 墨西哥城当局说，尽管该市最近几个月发生了一些令人震惊的事件，但数据显示该市犯罪率有所下降。墨西哥城警察局长阿尔梅达(Jesus Rodriguez Almeida)说，所谓的“具有轰动效应的”犯罪，比如谋杀、绑架和勒索，过去九个月较上年同期减少了12%。尽管如此，2012年，墨西哥城每10万人就有22人被杀，比洛杉矶的7.7人和纽约市的3.8人高很多。此外，政府说，由于人们对警方缺乏信任，墨西哥城的很多犯罪活动并没有报案。

Mr. Rodríguez said the mass abduction in May resulted from a fight between rival gangs that had gotten into a territorial dispute downtown, but that it shouldn't be seen as a trend. 'It happened in a specific point, this isn't generalized over the entire city,' he said. 阿尔梅达说，5月的集体绑架案起因是敌对帮派之间为争夺市中心的地盘大打出手，但不应该被视为是一种普遍趋势。他说，此事发生在一个具体的地点，不应该泛化到整个城市。

Alberto Islas, a Mexico City security analyst, said recent crimes in the city can be traced to Mexico's growing domestic drug market, where local gangs are vying for control-essentially replicating in miniature the fight for the U.S. market. 墨西哥城安全分析师伊斯拉斯(Alberto Islas)说，最近该市的犯罪活动可以追溯到墨西哥日益增长的国内毒品市场。在毒品市场上，地方帮派争夺控制权，实际上是美国市场争夺战的一个缩影。

Mr. Islas estimated that the city's consumption of illegal drugs including marijuana and cocaine has nearly doubled in the last five years to a value of close to $500 million this year. Local mafia bosses have taken advantage of the growth, opening nightclubs that function as havens for drugs and illicit activity, as well as flash points for crime. 伊斯拉斯估计，该市的非法毒品（包括大麻和可卡因）的消费量过去五年增长了近一倍，今年价值接近5亿美元。当地黑帮头目利用毒品消费的增长，开办夜店用作毒品和非法活动的避风港，这些场所也是犯罪频发之地。

'Mexico City has long had low levels of violence, but will this hold?' asked Jorge Chabat, an academic who studies organized-crime groups at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics. 经济学研究与教学中心(Center for Research and Teaching in Economics)从事黑社会组织研究的学者沙巴(Jorge Chabat)问道，墨西哥城长期以来暴力水平都较低，但这种局面会保持下去吗？

While a wave of gentrification has hit Mexico City in recent years, it belies decades of troubles. In the 1990s and early 2000s, muggings and extortion were commonplace and many public parks were no man's lands after sunset. 尽管近年来墨西哥城出现了一波中产阶级化热潮，但掩盖了背后数十年的问题。上世纪90年代和本世纪初，抢劫和勒索司空见惯，很多公园在日落之后就变成了无人地带。

Criminals pioneered the so-called express kidnapping in which a robber, often posing as a taxi driver, would hold victims at gunpoint in a vehicle and force them to make repeated withdrawals from cash machines for hours.

犯罪分子“首创”了所谓的“特快绑架”，抢劫者常常假扮成出租车司机，用枪劫持车里的受害人，强迫他们连续几个小时从取款机中反复取款。