In what is being called the first major initiative since his inauguration earlier this month, Mexican President Felipe Calderon ordered the deployment of about 4,000 troops to help combat drug crime in his home state of Michoacan, the BBC reported Dec. 12.

Authorities estimate that more than 500 people in the western Mexico state have died this year as a result of fighting between rival drug gangs. The state has become a major air and sea transit point for cocaine, heroin and amphetamines heading to the United States.

The day after Calderon's troop deployment order, navy ships patrolled a Pacific port in his home state, and federal police and soldiers established checkpoints for searches of vehicles.

Calderon said that the effort is "about recovering the calm, day-to-day life of Mexicans who live in the state." The attorney general has called the operation one of "reconquering territory" that is presently under drug gang control.