Mexican Drug War became the starting point of the war between the government and the drug cartels. Calderón escalated his anti-drug campaign, in which there are now about 45,000 troops involved in addition to state and federal police forces. In 2010 Calderón said that the cartels seek "to replace the government" and "are trying to impose a monopoly by force of arms, and are even trying to impose their own laws." As of 2011, Mexico's military captured 11,544 people who were believed to have been involved with the cartels and organized crime. In the year prior, 28,000 individuals were arrested on drug-related charges.
Philippine Drug War testified that they had paid bribes to de Lima. She denies the allegations. In a speech on September 20, Duterte promised to protect police in the Drug War: At a press conference on September 30, Duterte appeared to make a comparison between the Drug War and The Holocaust. He said that "Hitler massacred three million Jews. Now there are three million drug addicts. I’d be happy to slaughter them." His remarks generated an international outcry. United States Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said the statement was "deeply troubling". The German government told the Philippine ambassador that Duterte's remarks were "unacceptable."