Police officers walk into their headquarters in downtown Tijuana, Mexico, today, the morning after seven policemen were slain by masked gunmen.

7 police officers die in Tijuana attacks
The bold assaults by heavily armed gunmen are said to have been aimed at intimidating the force.

Competing Mexican drug cartels are destroying each other ... and that's where 'Warrior' begins ...."
http://www.warriorthemovie.com
http://www.warriorthemovie.blogspot.com

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-208917617001990565&q=warrior+mexican+OR+drug+OR+cartels+duration%3Ashort+genre%3AMOVIE_TRAILER

"the action adventure fantasy feature film "Warrior" ... about the son of a divine force ... is a story of a young man's quest to find his true identity set against the twin backdrops of Native American folklore and the treacherous Mexican drug trade and a portrayal of the classic confrontation between "good and evil" ... filmed in the exotic jungles of Costa Azul in the State of Nayarit and the urban grit of Puerto Vallarta in the State of Jalisco, Mexico .. with action, adventure, romance, comedy, a multi-ethnic cast, a major movie studio music score and spectacular cinematography ..."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-fg-tijuana-police29-2009apr29,0,502531.story
From the Los Angeles Times
MEXICO UNDER SIEGE
7 police officers die in Tijuana attacks
The bold assaults by heavily armed gunmen are said to have been aimed at intimidating the force.
By Richard Marosi

April 29, 2009

Reporting from Tijuana — Heavily armed gunmen staged a series of surprise attacks against municipal police forces in this tense border city, killing seven and wounding three in brazen assaults that shattered a four-month period of relative calm.

Six police officers and an auxiliary officer died within a 45-minute span late Monday in ambushes at a hillside substation, on busy streets and outside an OXXO mini-mart, where four were killed in a hail of bullets, including one who tried to fight back.

"He took out his gun and tried to fire at them, but they shot him and he fell backward, and his eyes rolled up in his head," said a teenager who witnessed the shooting in the tough Los Arenales neighborhood.

With authorities placing the blame on organized crime gunmen, municipal police Tuesday retreated to substations and headquarters and patrolled mostly in groups or with army escorts. The tension was palpable outside the 8th Street headquarters downtown, where motorcycle cops were being held back from patrol until further notice.

"We've had it," one said. "We're sitting ducks out here."

Municipal police officers across Mexico have become frequent targets of organized crime groups vying to control drug-trafficking routes. More than 500 police officers and soldiers have been killed in Mexico since December 2006.

Monday's attacks resulted in one of the biggest one-day police death tolls in recent memory.

It was too early to tell whether the assaults would re-trigger the drug war between rival gangs in Tijuana that raged last year, claiming about 800 lives. A military-led offensive has brought the capture of several key crime bosses and seemed to strike major blows against rival factions of the Arellano Felix drug cartel, which has long controlled drug trafficking in the border city.

In the first quarter of this year, the number of homicides and kidnappings plunged in Tijuana, but police have remained on edge.

The 2,200-member Tijuana police force has seen its ranks purged of hundreds of officers in the last year, many of them fired for suspected corruption. And 14 have been killed since the beginning of the year.

In key drug-trafficking corridors such as Tijuana, police are typically shot down for running afoul of organized-crime groups, either for trying to do their jobs or for siding with rival gangs. Sometimes, the killings are meant to frighten the already demoralized police.

Tijuana's secretary of public security, Julian Leyzaola, who has lashed out against corrupt cops, said Tuesday that the officers killed Monday appeared to have been targeted as part of an intimidation campaign.

Some of the officers were shot in the back, and the auxiliary officers were unarmed, he said. He called the gunmen "cowardly bandits" who don't show their faces and shoot their victims in the back.

"It's a way of intimidating the police," said Leyzaola at a news conference. "We have feelings of indignation and impotence because we can't strike back in the same way. . . . But we'll regroup and jail these attackers."

Authorities said the attacks, by men firing AK-47 rifles from late model cars and SUVs, were preceded by a spate of threats over police radio frequencies. Such threats are so common, Leyzaola said, that authorities didn't feel a need to take precautionary measures.

The first act of violence against police Monday occurred about 9:15 a.m., when a female officer was wounded, shot in the back while on patrol in her vehicle near the airport. But the frenzy of attacks erupted at 8 p.m. in the ramshackle Los Arenales neighborhood of east Tijuana, where residents say police rarely venture. The four police officers arrived at the mini-mart to take a report of an assault and were ambushed as they left.

Witnesses said two or three cars pulled up and that several masked men opened fire with high-caliber automatic weapons. The officers didn't stand a chance, even though they were wearing bulletproof vests, the witnesses said.

Two were shot in the back and fell near the door. A female officer was struck in the face and died while trying to take cover under a car. The fourth was shot in the neck and died with his gun still in his right hand.

The teenager who witnessed the attack said he placed his sisters on the floor and then peeked outside and saw the last officer go down.

"When the assassins saw him fall, they tore out of there," said the boy, who declined to give his name for safety reasons.

Within minutes, groups of gunmen killed a motorcycle officer on a street in another east Tijuana neighborhood and ambushed a pair of officers in a coastal area, killing one and wounding the other.

At 8:45 p.m. gunmen pulled up outside a police auxiliary substation in Colonia Libertad near downtown and riddled the small, stucco building with high-caliber rounds. Carlos Rios, the substation commander, suffered fatal chest wounds and another officer was wounded.

A neighborhood shopkeeper said Rios was a dedicated auxiliary officer who handled low-level police duties, taking reports and responding to petty crime complaints. Rios visited his store regularly to buy peanuts and Cheetos. He was an honest guy, he said, who always repaid the 300-peso credit line that he gave him.

"Rios was a very nice guy," said the shopkeeper. "Calm, and always ready to help people out."

Outside the police substation Tuesday afternoon, the walls bore the marks of the shooting, with large chunks of stucco gouged out and windows shattered.

A young man arrived to make a report. He banged on the heavy double doors. But nobody answered.

richard.marosi@latimes.com

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Soon after announcing that Joaquin Guzman, above, head of the Sinaloa cartel, lived nearby, an archbishop issued an apology and backed down.

MEXICO UNDER SIEGE

Drug cartels keep Catholic officials in fear
In one case, Archbishop Hector Gonzalez calls attention to a drug trafficker in his neighborhood and accuses the government of ignoring the situation. The prelate later apologizes for his comments.

Competing Mexican drug cartels are destroying each other ... and that's where 'Warrior' begins ...."
http://www.warriorthemovie.com
http://www.warriorthemovie.blogspot.com

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-208917617001990565&q=warrior+mexican+OR+drug+OR+cartels+duration%3Ashort+genre%3AMOVIE_TRAILER

"the action adventure fantasy feature film "Warrior" ... about the son of a divine force ... is a story of a young man's quest to find his true identity set against the twin backdrops of Native American folklore and the treacherous Mexican drug trade and a portrayal of the classic confrontation between "good and evil" ... filmed in the exotic jungles of Costa Azul in the State of Nayarit and the urban grit of Puerto Vallarta in the State of Jalisco, Mexico .. with action, adventure, romance, comedy, a multi-ethnic cast, a major movie studio music score and spectacular cinematography ..."


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-priests21-2009apr21,0,3888664.story
From the Los Angeles Times
MEXICO UNDER SIEGE

Drug cartels keep Catholic officials in fear
In one case, Archbishop Hector Gonzalez calls attention to a drug trafficker in his neighborhood and accuses the government of ignoring the situation. The prelate later apologizes for his comments.

By Tracy Wilkinson

April 21, 2009

Reporting from Mexico City — In the tense state of Durango, Roman Catholic Archbishop Hector Gonzalez announced over the weekend that the fugitive drug trafficker who tops Mexico's most wanted list was living nearby.

And everyone knows it, he added. Except, it would seem, the authorities, who fail to make an arrest.

A shocking revelation indeed. But in Durango, most local newspapers and television stations declined to report the comments, and for some reason national papers that contained the remarks did not appear on many newsstands.

Was the prelate being censored? "We have no information on that," a Durango government spokesman insisted.

Gonzalez undoubtedly embarrassed regional authorities in Durango, some of whom have long been rumored to be lending support and protection to the fugitive Joaquin Guzman, alias El Chapo, or Shorty. The billionaire head of the powerful Sinaloa cartel has been on the lam since escaping from a high-security Mexican prison in 2001.

Sinaloa and Durango are adjacent states, part of what is known here as the Golden Triangle, a rugged patch where Guzman is believed to be holed up.

As legislators demanded an investigation and associates expressed concern for Gonzalez's safety, church officials said they were taking steps to protect the senior cleric.

Father Manuel Corral, a spokesman for the Mexican Bishops Conference, said Monday that priests in eight Mexican states have been threatened with harm or death, presumably by drug traffickers. Although the threats are anonymous, he said, most come via missives and third-party go-betweens when priests have attempted to turn members of their parishes away from the traffickers and use of drugs.

"It's always when the priests denounce violence, injustice and crime, or when we try to get our people to leave the narco-menudeo," or drug street sales, Corral said in an interview.

A small number of priests have had to be transferred from their churches because of threats, but most traffickers remain discreet.

However, the potential danger hurts the church's work, he said. "The fear is there."

The Catholic Church has a complex position in Mexico. It officially supports the Mexican government's war on drug traffickers but laments the spiraling violence. In some parts of the country, priests have been willing to use money from traffickers to pay for church repairs or other community projects. One senior priest was even quoted praising drug lords' propensity to tithe.

Ismael Hernandez Deras, the governor of Durango, said in a communique that if Gonzalez really has information on El Chapo's whereabouts, he should report it to the attorney general's office.

He added: "By the same token, the attorney general's office should guarantee the physical integrity of the archbishop."

With the pressure mounting, Gonzalez dropped out of sight, at least temporarily, missing a "peace and justice" march that he had convoked. Then on Monday he issued a written statement in which he apologized if he had "scandalized" anyone with his assertions.

"They were based," he said, "on what people say, speaking to their pastor."

wilkinson@latimes.com

Cecilia Sánchez of The Times' Mexico City Bureau contributed to this report.

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Gen. Alfonso Duarte Mugica, who commands about 1,000 soldiers in northern Baja California, addresses reporters and displays weapons seized from drug cartels.

MEXICO UNDER SIEGE
Mexico general battles Tijuana drug traffickers
Gen. Alfonso Duarte Mugica is held up as a model in the army effort to stem drug violence and take on the cartels. He says there's nothing personal in his hunt for one of Mexico's most wanted.


Competing Mexican drug cartels are destroying each other ... and that's where 'Warrior' begins ...."
http://www.warriorthemovie.com
http://www.warriorthemovie.blogspot.com

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-208917617001990565&q=warrior+mexican+OR+drug+OR+cartels+duration%3Ashort+genre%3AMOVIE_TRAILER

"the action adventure fantasy feature film "Warrior" ... about the son of a divine force ... is a story of a young man's quest to find his true identity set against the twin backdrops of Native American folklore and the treacherous Mexican drug trade and a portrayal of the classic confrontation between "good and evil" ... filmed in the exotic jungles of Costa Azul in the State of Nayarit and the urban grit of Puerto Vallarta in the State of Jalisco, Mexico .. with action, adventure, romance, comedy, a multi-ethnic cast, a major movie studio music score and spectacular cinematography ..."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-drugs-general18-2009apr18,0,917553.story
From the Los Angeles Times
MEXICO UNDER SIEGE
Mexico general battles Tijuana drug traffickers
Gen. Alfonso Duarte Mugica is held up as a model in the army effort to stem drug violence and take on the cartels. He says there's nothing personal in his hunt for one of Mexico's most wanted.

By Richard Marosi

April 18, 2009

Reporting from Tijuana — Gen. Alfonso Duarte Mugica unzipped the Louis Vuitton bag and pulled out a skull ring coated with diamonds, a coin medallion and a gold-plated Beretta handgun engraved with the grim reaper smile of La Santa Muerte.

The gilded narco-gear was once the property of Angel Jacome Gamboa, a suspected drug cartel lieutenant believed to be behind the killings of at least 12 Rosarito Beach police officers. Duarte's soldiers brought him the war booty after they raided a birthday party and arrested Jacome Gamboa, along with 21 others.

They didn't bring him the real prize. Duarte wants Jacome Gamboa's boss, Teodoro Garcia Simental, nicknamed El Teo.

"This was [Garcia's] most active kidnapping cell. . . . And we caught almost all of them," Duarte said, cracking a proud smile. "We've been keeping the pressure on. . . . He's constantly moving around, changing houses. . . . He's worried."

The raid in March was the latest in a series of operations by the Mexican military that appears to have weakened organized-crime groups and restored a sense of relative calm to this border city, at least for now.

After months of beheadings, ransom kidnappings and daylight shootouts, the number of killings in the Tijuana area fell to about 130 in the first three months of this year. That number is still high, but it's significantly lower than the total for the last three months of 2008, when there were 447 slayings.

The number of ransom kidnappings, which provided gangs with large revenue streams, also has declined sharply, say Mexican authorities and victims rights groups.

Duarte, a soft-spoken career officer who commands about 1,000 soldiers in northern Baja California, has struck hardest against El Teo, one of Mexico's most-wanted men. Believed to be behind a three-year wave of kidnappings and killings, Garcia has narrowly escaped capture at least twice recently.

The general, crisply attired in a tan camouflage uniform in his office at the Morelos army base, says the hunt for Garcia is nothing personal. He considers Garcia a dangerous psychopath, but just another crime boss whose career he is duty-bound to end.

Duarte did, however, seem to sharpen his sights late last year after Garcia's gunmen killed one of his special forces soldiers in a shootout. For the first time, Duarte publicly identified Garcia as a top Tijuana crime boss and started referring to his associates as gente del Teo -- Teo's people.

Since then, the general's soldiers have killed or captured several of Garcia's gunmen and lieutenants, among them Jacome Gamboa, a 29-year-old former soldier believed responsible for a reign of terror in Rosarito Beach, where the violence has all but destroyed the crucial tourism industry.

The military also appears to be targeting symbols of narco culture. Tijuana Mayor Jorge Ramos said the military was behind the destruction late last month of five shrines in Tijuana and Rosarito Beach dedicated to folk saints such as La Santa Muerte (Saint Death), whose followers include drug traffickers.

No one is claiming victory over organized crime in the key drug-trafficking corridors of northern Baja California; the recent tranquillity may merely reflect a temporary truce between Garcia and his rival, Fernando Sanchez Arellano, nicknamed El Ingeniero, the reputed leader of the Arellano Felix drug cartel.

The recent gains have been touted as a much-needed example of progress in Mexico's war with drug cartels. On a visit to Tijuana in early March, President Felipe Calderon hailed the Baja California anti-drug offensive as a model for the country.

Duarte, a 54-year-old Mexico City native, took command in June. A tall, courtly man who has served at military bases across the country, Duarte quickly earned the trust of U.S. law enforcement officials for his aggressive tactics and willingness to act on tips provided by U.S. agencies.

On the city's gritty streets, the general's actions are met with relief and cautious optimism. Motorists at traffic-clogged military checkpoints bemoan the delays, but some honk in appreciation at the sight of his heavily armed soldiers.

Local reporters hang on his every word at rare public appearances, usually pomp-filled events at parade grounds on army bases, where his soldiers haul captured cartel members before the news media.

Even some human rights groups that warned against the militarization of local law enforcement say the effort thus far shows impressive gains without the kind of serious abuse allegations that have plagued other military-led anti-drug operations in the country.

"Tijuana society did not have much experience with the military, but so far the army enjoys a good image," said Victor Clark Alfaro, director of Tijuana's Binational Center for Human Rights.

However, human rights groups recently highlighted a surge in reports of illegal searches, arrests without cause, rape, sexual abuse and torture by army personnel in other areas. The bulk of the cases came from Sinaloa, Sonora, Tamaulipas and Michoacan, according to Mexican news reports.

The military's arrival in Tijuana two years ago was less than auspicious. Soldiers disarmed the city's 2,300-strong police force, long thought to be compromised by the cartels, and began rumbling down busy streets in public displays of force.

But the toll of killings and kidnappings only accelerated, as rival factions of the Arellano Felix drug cartel clashed, leaving behind scrawled threats to each other beside decapitated bodies or barrels of lye with liquefied human remains.

Accustomed to marijuana eradication efforts and anti-guerrilla missions in southern Mexico, the army was ill suited for urban warfare. The military's lumbering fleet of Hummers couldn't keep pace with the gangster's turbo-charged SUVs and Ford F-150 trucks. Raids on suspected hide-outs often failed because corrupt police tipped off targets.

In November, a captured cartel lieutenant began giving up names of police officers on the payroll of organized crime. Duarte's soldiers swept down on high-ranking commanders across the city. Some were handcuffed and taken from the downtown police headquarters to the hilltop army base.

At least 20 officers, including some high-ranking commanders, were charged with having links to organized crime.

The following week, the military purged municipal police ranks in east Tijuana, further weakening Garcia's protective network. And late last month, 23 more police officers were arrested by the military on suspicion of being linked to organized crime.

The police departments in Tijuana and Rosarito Beach, as well as the state police, are now run by current or former army officers.

Gone are many of the police informants, or "antennas," that supplied organized crime with intelligence and cleared the streets before cartel kidnappings and raids, U.S. and Mexican authorities say.

"They took away [organized crime's] eyes and ears," said one source, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to reporters.

Recent months have seen a series of blows against organized crime, including the capture in January of Santiago Meza Lopez, the 45-year-old who authorities say claims to have disposed of 300 of Garcia's victims by dissolving them in lye.

The biggest catch was Jacome Gamboa, nicknamed El Kaibil because he purportedly trained with Guatemala's elite special forces of that name, known for their brutal, scorched-earth counterinsurgency campaigns. Jacome Gamboa, adorned in his narco-jewelry, was arrested March 8 in a daring midnight raid at a banquet hall in east Tijuana.

Duarte, who was interviewed in his office at the Morelos army base, said the military learned days in advance that the crime boss would be attending a girl's quinceañera birthday party. When soldiers rushed through the emergency doors, the norteño band stopped playing. To the troops' surprise, nobody made a move, Duarte said.

Jacome Gamboa had summoned almost his entire gang to the celebration, but most had come unarmed, said Duarte, who believes they were over-confident about the security in their stronghold. The gang, including two law enforcement officers, gave up without firing a shot.

Jacome Gamboa, whose Louis Vuitton bag was found on a table of gifts (he apparently tried to hide his belongings), later provided the military a desperate picture of the city's criminal underworld, Duarte said.

Jacome Gamboa's boss, Garcia, is running short of cash needed to maintain his crew of drug traffickers, enforcers, kidnappers and dealers, Duarte said. Jacome Gamboa said Garcia stopped paying him $40,000 monthly for overseeing the coastal area, Duarte said.

The under boss led a low-key lifestyle, according to military sources. He had a modest home in Rosarito Beach and rented a second home in a gated development in Ensenada for $800 a month.

The house in Ensenada was furnished with little more than a flat-screen television and a hospital bed, where Jacome Gamboa apparently recovered after being wounded in a shootout with a rival gang in December, military sources said.

Jacome Gamboa's arrest may not prove decisive. His boss could make new alliances and the gang war could flare again. Other Mexican cartels could try moving in, setting off an even bloodier battle.

But some local leaders take comfort from the general's assurance that a major cell of Garcia's operation has been dismantled. Rosarito Beach Mayor Hugo Torres said it would be easier to improve the city's battered image with El Kaibil out of the picture.

"It helps a lot to have this guy arrested," Torres said. "He was bloodthirsty . . . one of the worst."

Jacome Gamboa is in prison, but his gaudy tastes live on. After the interview, the general placed the crime boss' gun and jewelry back in the Louis Vuitton bag and tucked it away on a top shelf in his bedroom closet for safekeeping. The items are destined for the Narcotics Museum in Mexico City, the latest additions to the army's collection of drug-war booty.

richard.marosi@latimes.com

Previous coverage of Mexico's drug war is available online.

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In Mexico, Obama's words do for now
Mexicans are gratified by the visiting President Barack Obama's repeated expressions of goodwill and partnership. But they are cautious, because there is a history of thwarted expectations.

Competing Mexican drug cartels are destroying each other ... and that's where 'Warrior' begins ...."
http://www.warriorthemovie.com
http://www.warriorthemovie.blogspot.com

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-208917617001990565&q=warrior+mexican+OR+drug+OR+cartels+duration%3Ashort+genre%3AMOVIE_TRAILER

"the action adventure fantasy feature film "Warrior" ... about the son of a divine force ... is a story of a young man's quest to find his true identity set against the twin backdrops of Native American folklore and the treacherous Mexican drug trade and a portrayal of the classic confrontation between "good and evil" ... filmed in the exotic jungles of Costa Azul in the State of Nayarit and the urban grit of Puerto Vallarta in the State of Jalisco, Mexico .. with action, adventure, romance, comedy, a multi-ethnic cast, a major movie studio music score and spectacular cinematography ..."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-obama-mexico18-2009apr18,0,654367.story
From the Los Angeles Times

In Mexico, Obama's words do for now
Mexicans are gratified by the visiting President Barack Obama's repeated expressions of goodwill and partnership. But they are cautious, because there is a history of thwarted expectations.

By Tracy Wilkinson

April 18, 2009

Reporting from Mexico City — Even before he sat down to a gala dinner of shrimp and roasted cactus, President Obama had charmed much of Mexico, with his repeated use of the word "partner," assurances of shared responsibility in the drug war and promises to reform immigration policy.

Obama's counterpart, President Felipe Calderon of Mexico, spoke enthusiastically of a "new era" in U.S.-Mexican relations. The two leaders found common ground in their visions of intertwined economies and a need to cooperate on a host of issues.

If expressing goodwill was Obama's goal here, he succeeded. At the same time, there were few concrete steps taken during the 20-hour visit to Mexico, the first stop on his first official trip to Latin America. He departed Friday for the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago, and Mexico had little to show for the U.S. president's stopover.

"Yesterday was a very promising day for relations between Mexico and the United States -- the cordial environment, the empathy between the two heads of state, the quality of the speeches, all lead one to expect a genuine improvement in the bilateral relationship," noted commentator Denise Maerker. "But, be careful. This is not the first time that a meeting like this generates great expectations."

Two of Mexico's priorities -- reviving the U.S. government's ban on assault weapons and opening U.S. roads to Mexican trucks as provided for in the North American Free Trade Agreement -- were left unfulfilled.

And most discussion and proposals concerning the drug war emphasized military solutions (a U.S. offer of more Black Hawk helicopters, for example), with less attention given to such insidious root causes as corruption in Mexico and consumption in the United States.

Obama's mission here was in large part aimed at repairing damage caused not just by the years of perceived neglect under the Bush administration, but also by fierce criticism of Mexico emanating from Washington this year.

Brazen killings and kidnappings; clashes between army troops and traffickers; high-level and escalating corruption -- all led to some U.S. experts characterizing Mexico as a potential failed state. Calderon was furious over the description, and the Obama administration has worked for the last month or so to reassure Mexico that it considers it a valued ally rather than a failed state.

Nevertheless, U.S. authorities are alarmed by the level of drug-crime violence that undermines the Calderon government and is spilling over the border into U.S. cities.

The kind of keen interest in and regard for Mexico that Obama transmitted is something that has ebbed and flowed through generations of U.S.-Mexican relations, political analyst Sergio Aguayo said.

"The difference this time is that never in the last century has Mexican stability been so threatened by an enemy so strong, and with so much tension concentrated along the border," he said.

Although Mexicans generally saw the Obama visit as purely symbolic, they were gratified that issues such as immigration reform also got an airing. In Mexico, as in Europe, Obama benefits from simply not being George W. Bush.

"We get a sense that we are dealing with a different type of government . . . one more in tune with the problems that are important to Mexicans, such as inequality and bottom-to-top development," said Patricia Escamilla, a researcher at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Tijuana.

At Thursday night's state dinner, on the patio of Mexico City's much-acclaimed Anthropological Museum, with a giant Aztec calendar as backdrop, guests included Mexican Cabinet members, union leaders, opposition politicians from the left and Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the Colombian novelist who lives in Mexico.

Several guests toted copies of Obama's first book (translated into Spanish and now selling here) and asked for and received his autograph, said people who were present.

The president reportedly fawned over Garcia Marquez, telling him he'd read everything he'd ever written.

To the most realistic eye, Obama's show of support for Mexico may or may not translate into new initiatives, more money or changed laws.

"Six months ago, Mexico was not on the Americans' map, and now we are certainly there," said Gabriel Guerra Castellanos, an analyst and former diplomat. "The big question is follow-up. Obama gave good signals. That it translate into concrete acts and agreements, that's the complicated part."

wilkinson@latimes.com

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Ronaldo Schemidt / AFP/Getty Images
Schoolchildren await President Barack Obama and Mexican President Felipe Calderon in Mexico City.

Obama pledges help in Mexico's war on drug lords, with an exception

Competing Mexican drug cartels are destroying each other ... and that's where 'Warrior' begins ...."
http://www.warriorthemovie.com
http://www.warriorthemovie.blogspot.com

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-208917617001990565&q=warrior+mexican+OR+drug+OR+cartels+duration%3Ashort+genre%3AMOVIE_TRAILER

"the action adventure fantasy feature film "Warrior" ... about the son of a divine force ... is a story of a young man's quest to find his true identity set against the twin backdrops of Native American folklore and the treacherous Mexican drug trade and a portrayal of the classic confrontation between "good and evil" ... filmed in the exotic jungles of Costa Azul in the State of Nayarit and the urban grit of Puerto Vallarta in the State of Jalisco, Mexico .. with action, adventure, romance, comedy, a multi-ethnic cast, a major movie studio music score and spectacular cinematography ..."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-obama-mexico17-2009apr17,0,7867926.story
From the Los Angeles Times

Obama pledges help in Mexico's war on drug lords, with an exception
Obama promises to step up efforts to curb guns flowing into Mexico, but says a revival of the U.S. assault weapon ban is not in the offing.
By Peter Nicholas and Tracy Wilkinson

April 17, 2009

Reporting from Mexico City — President Obama pledged Thursday that the U.S. would become a better partner in curbing the flow of arms that have aggravated a bloody drug war in Mexico, but acknowledged that political realities make it tough for him to ban some of the most potent weapons in the arsenals of drug cartels.

Emerging from a meeting with Mexican President Felipe Calderon, Obama said he favored a ban on assault weapons but would not push to reimpose a U.S. prohibition that lapsed in 2004.

"None of us is under any illusion that reinstating that ban would be easy," Obama said at a news conference after talks that dealt in part with the violence that has swept sections of Mexico.

Instead, he announced plans to increase the number of U.S. law enforcement personnel at the border to search for smuggled shipments of guns, even in southbound trains. He also said he would push the Senate to ratify a decade-old treaty on arms trafficking as part of a concerted U.S.-Mexican effort to defeat drug gangs.

But despite Obama's high approval ratings and solid Democratic majorities in the House and Senate, his comments indicated that the political clout of gun rights advocates, including many Republicans as well as conservative Democrats, made it doubtful he could resurrect an assault gun ban.

Congress enacted such a ban in 1994, but it expired after 10 years. In 2004, when Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) proposed an extension, it was voted down, 90 to 8.

Mexican officials have made it clear they want the ban reenacted. But Obama, as he stood beside Calderon, said other measures would have to suffice.

When it was his turn to answer the assault weapons question, Calderon struck a patient tone and said he grasped the nuances involved. His government has seized 16,000 assault weapons since he took office in December 2006. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says 90% of weapons seized in Mexico and reported to the agency can be traced to the United States.

"We understand that this is politically very sensitive because we know the great esteem Americans have for their constitutional rights, especially those contained in the 2nd Amendment," Calderon said.

But he cautioned that the widespread violence plaguing Mexico may spill into the U.S.

"These weapons today are aimed at Mexican authorities and Mexican citizens, but organized crime is not only present here in Mexico. It's also in the United States," he said. "I hope to God these weapons that today are sold in the U.S. and used in Mexico are not one day also used against U.S. society and U.S. authorities the way they are here in our country."

Illustrating the dangers, a gun battle on the eve of Obama's arrival left one soldier and 14 alleged drug traffickers dead in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero, officials said. About 30 gunmen attacked troops who were patrolling a remote mountain ridge. A second soldier was critically wounded.

Increasingly brazen traffickers have started attacking army patrols head-on. Authorities said the Mexican military, after the battle, confiscated a small arsenal, including two .50-caliber Barrett rifles, 17 other rifles, grenades and ammunition and eight vehicles.

Obama's stop in Mexico was scheduled to last less than 24 hours and was made en route to a summit in Trinidad and Tobago of 34 Western Hemisphere nations.

There, Obama is likely to face criticism for the long-standing U.S. trade embargo against Cuba. Calderon said the embargo was "not very useful" in promoting change. "It was implemented before President Obama and I were born," he said. "And things in Cuba have not changed much."

Obama has lifted restrictions on Cuban Americans who want to travel to Cuba. But he opposes lifting the trade embargo, calling it useful leverage in getting Cuba's rulers to adopt democratic reforms.

The summit will be attended by many staunch U.S. critics, given that Latin American nations have leaned leftward in recent years. The White House said Obama was not likely to have a one-on-one meeting with one of America's harshest critics, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.

A purpose of Obama's visit Thursday was to show support for Calderon after warnings from U.S. military and intelligence officials that drug cartels pose a mortal threat to the Mexican government. Mexico objected to such alarm, and the Obama administration has been working to make amends.

As the first U.S. president to visit Mexico's capital in 12 years, Obama is delivering a message that he appreciates the courage shown by Calderon in combating drug lords, White House officials said.

At a welcoming ceremony at Los Pinos, the Mexican equivalent of the White House, Obama said, "At a time when the Mexican government has so courageously taken on the drug cartels that have plagued both sides of the border, it is absolutely critical that the United States joins as a full partner in dealing with this issue."

Calderon's government has deployed 45,000 soldiers to parts of the country beset by drug violence. For its part, the Obama administration has pledged to intensify border patrols and speed up shipments of military aircraft to help Mexico suppress drug gangs.

Not all Mexicans share Obama's opinion of Calderon. The Mexican leader has been criticized for underestimating how deeply drug gangs have corrupted local governments and police forces. Critics also contend that Calderon is relying too heavily on military force while neglecting politically sensitive areas that should also be addressed, such as money laundering, judicial reform and high-level corruption.

Calderon's use of military force also has led to accusations of human rights abuses. Mexico's National Human Rights Commission has said citizens' complaints of killings, rape and other abuses have grown sixfold since Calderon assigned the army to the drug war shortly after he took office.

Even if Mexico was left disappointed on assault weapons, the two leaders stressed that they had found common ground on other topics.

Before they met, the White House announced the countries had agreed to work jointly to curb global warming and develop clean energy alternatives.

peter.nicholas@latimes.com

wilkinson@latimes.com

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       Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times
Ciudad Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz, seen here in his office late last year, has received public death threats. The city’s police chief had resigned after a similar warning.

Competing Mexican drug cartels are destroying each other ... and that's where 'Warrior' begins ...."
http://www.warriorthemovie.com
http://www.warriorthemovie.blogspot.com

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-208917617001990565&q=warrior+mexican+OR+drug+OR+cartels+duration%3Ashort+genre%3AMOVIE_TRAILER

"the action adventure fantasy feature film "Warrior" ... about the son of a divine force ... is a story of a young man's quest to find his true identity set against the twin backdrops of Native American folklore and the treacherous Mexican drug trade and a portrayal of the classic confrontation between "good and evil" ... filmed in the exotic jungles of Costa Azul in the State of Nayarit and the urban grit of Puerto Vallarta in the State of Jalisco, Mexico .. with action, adventure, romance, comedy, a multi-ethnic cast, a major movie studio music score and spectacular cinematography ..."


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-mexico-mayors15-2009apr15,0,5962819.story
From the Los Angeles Times

MEXICO UNDER SIEGE
Mayors on front line of the drug war
Mayors say they are the ones personally confronting the toll of drug violence on the streets. Yet they lack any meaningful role in the federal government's battle against organized crime.

By Ken Ellingwood

April 15, 2009

Reporting from Ixtapan De La Sal, Mexico — If he was nervous, Salvador Vergara Cruz didn't act it.

The mayor of this well-groomed town in central Mexico, Vergara traveled without bodyguards even after callers to his cellphone tried to extort $70,000 from him, and demanded that he play ball with drug traffickers, friends said.

"He didn't give them what they wanted," said Raymundo Fuentes, a city councilman. "What happened was bound to happen."

On Oct. 4, Vergara was ambushed on a rural highway near here as he returned from a visit to neighboring Guerrero state. Gunmen in six cars besieged the white Chevrolet Trailblazer and opened fire with AK-47s and shotguns. When the SUV came to a stop, the attackers poked the barrels inside and fired some more.

Vergara died. Fuentes and a third city official in the car were wounded, but survived. "Only God knows why," said Fuentes, whose right wrist is lumpy with shotgun pellets still buried in his flesh.

Vergara, 34, a member of the once-ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, is among at least 11 Mexican mayors and ex-mayors who have been killed or have disappeared during the last 15 months. Many more have received extortion demands. Others, such as Jose Reyes Ferriz, the mayor of beleaguered Ciudad Juarez, received public death threats.

Mexico's 2,400 mayors occupy a dicey spot on the front line of the country's war on drug traffickers. They are prime targets for bribe offers because they oversee local police. And well-meaning mayors are hard pressed: Most municipal governments have skimpy tax bases from which to equip and pay police well enough to break long-standing graft.

Mayors complain that they are the ones who personally confront the toll of drug violence on the streets. Yet they lack any meaningful role in the federal government's battle against organized crime -- municipal police, by law, are restricted to petty crime and traffic offenses.

"They're in the hottest seat," said George Grayson, a Mexico scholar at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. "The mayors are really in the most precarious position."

The most endangered mayors govern towns along drug-smuggling routes. In February, gunmen killed the mayor of tiny Vista Hermosa, in the western state of Michoacan, a hotly contested trafficking corridor. Two weeks earlier, the mayor of Otaez, in the state of Durango, turned up wrapped in a blanket.

The nation's rising death toll, which exceeds 7,600 since January 2008, also includes council members and other municipal staffers.

The intensifying violence aimed at City Hall has instilled fear. The mayor of Petatlan, in a section of coastal Guerrero state bedeviled by drug violence, sought to avert trouble by announcing that his cops would have nothing to do with arresting traffickers.

The conservative National Action Party of Mexican President Felipe Calderon had difficulty fielding mayoral candidates in the northern state of Nuevo Leon this winter. The party's state director said potential candidates feared the growing crime wave, though the PAN's national leadership denied that was the reason.

Analysts say the rise in violence at the municipal level reflects political changes in Mexico, where the former ruling party, the PRI, has ceded the top-to-bottom control it once wielded, including over the drug trade.

Under PRI mayors, governors and presidents, traffickers largely went about their business with little trouble as long as they kept killings down and maintained payoffs to the right politicians.

But the rise of a multiparty system in Mexico during the last 20 years has upended that tacit pact.

Representatives of drug gangs, armed with campaign cash, often make overtures to political candidates. In return, they want a docile police department that will leave them to conduct their trade.

"What organized crime mainly asks from mayors is very simple: 'You see nothing,' " said Sergio Arredondo, who heads a federation in the PRI that represents municipalities. Mayors, he said, are caught "between the sword and the wall. . . . They're fighting against an enemy that's much better equipped, much better financed."

Under Mexican law, authority for policing and prosecuting drug-trafficking crimes rests with the federal government. State police handle other major crimes, such as kidnapping and murder, whereas municipal officers are left primarily with a preventive role.

Calderon has resorted to the Mexican army and federal police, largely because of the poor track record of state and municipal authorities.

But some mayors say local governments should have more law enforcement authority, not less.

Jose Luis Gutierrez, the leftist mayor of Ecatepec, in the central state of Mexico, where Ixtapan de la Sal is also located, said his 1,600 police officers are far better positioned than federal authorities to catch drug suspects. Drug-related killings rose sharply last year in Ecatepec, a city of 1.7 million. "You know how many federal police are operating in this city?" he said. "Ten."

Some of the $1.4 billion in U.S. security aid for Mexico, known as the Merida Initiative, ought to be used to support cash-strapped municipalities, Gutierrez said. And municipal courts should be empowered to prosecute drug crimes, he added.

Like Vergara, Gutierrez doesn't have bodyguards. He said he had not been threatened since receiving a pair of puzzling text messages shortly after taking office in 2006.

But threats against mayors aren't always discreet. In Ciudad Juarez, someone posted signs threatening Reyes' life in February. His police chief, Roberto Orduña Cruz, had quit after similar posters warned that a police officer would be killed every 48 hours unless the chief stepped down.

Reyes has stayed on. Calderon responded by sending thousands more soldiers and federal police to the northern border city.

In Ixtapan de la Sal, a town of 38,000 known for its hot thermal springs and pastoral surroundings, Vergara's slaying remains an unnerving memory.

Days after the shooting, authorities arrested 14 suspects, saying they were part of an organized-crime ring that hoped to sell drugs locally. Some claimed to be members of La Familia, a trafficking group based in neighboring Michoacan. The case is still working its way through the courts.

Fuentes, the wounded councilman, said he gets spooked every time a car approaches rapidly from behind. "These are people who have no conscience," he said through silver-capped teeth.

Oscar Tovar, appointed to fill out Vergara's term, insists that his town is safe for residents and the thousands of visitors who flock to its spas each weekend.

"There is no problem," he said. "We're peaceful."

But on a recent morning, as he ventured to a rural community to distribute food parcels, Tovar seemed to have taken a lesson from the slaying of his predecessor. Keeping watch as the new mayor doled out the boxes were three men in casual wear: his bodyguards.

ken.ellingwood@latimes.com

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MEXICO UNDER SIEGE
Mexico arrests suspected No. 2 in Juarez drug cartel
Vicente Carrillo Leyva, son of the late kingpin Amado Carrillo Fuentes, is arrested in Mexico City.


Competing Mexican drug cartels are destroying each other ... and that's where 'Warrior' begins ...."
http://www.warriorthemovie.com
http://www.warriorthemovie.blogspot.com

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-208917617001990565&q=warrior+mexican+OR+drug+OR+cartels+duration%3Ashort+genre%3AMOVIE_TRAILER

"the action adventure fantasy feature film "Warrior" ... about the son of a divine force ... is a story of a young man's quest to find his true identity set against the twin backdrops of Native American folklore and the treacherous Mexican drug trade and a portrayal of the classic confrontation between "good and evil" ... filmed in the exotic jungles of Costa Azul in the State of Nayarit and the urban grit of Puerto Vallarta in the State of Jalisco, Mexico .. with action, adventure, romance, comedy, a multi-ethnic cast, a major movie studio music score and spectacular cinematography ..."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/latinamerica/la-fg-mexico-capture3-2009apr03,0,7149086.story
From the Los Angeles Times

MEXICO UNDER SIEGE
Mexico arrests suspected No. 2 in Juarez drug cartel
Vicente Carrillo Leyva, son of the late kingpin Amado Carrillo Fuentes, is arrested in Mexico City.

By Ken Ellingwood

April 3, 2009

Reporting from Mexico City — Mexican authorities on Thursday announced the capture of Vicente Carrillo Leyva, a suspected top leader of a family-run drug gang based in Ciudad Juarez and one of the country's most wanted figures.

Federal law enforcement officials said Carrillo Leyva, the 32-year-old son of deceased drug kingpin Amado Carrillo Fuentes, was arrested Wednesday while exercising in a wealthy neighborhood of Mexico City.

The younger Carrillo was listed among the country's 24 most wanted drug suspects last week when the federal government offered $2-million rewards for each. Authorities described him as an heir to the organization once led by his father, who was known as the "Lord of the Skies" for his use of aircraft to move drugs.

The announcement came on the same day U.S. Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano met outside Mexico City with top Mexican security officials to discuss how to stanch the southbound smuggling of weapons to drug cartels from the United States.

The arrest of Carrillo Leyva represents a significant victory for Mexican President Felipe Calderon's 28-month-old war against drug traffickers. But authorities say the younger Carrillo's uncle, Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, known as "the Viceroy," remains in place as the leader of one of the four largest trafficking organizations in Mexico.

Carrillo Leyva, considered the Juarez group's No. 2 figure, helped manage the gang and launder proceeds from its drug sales, authorities said.

Officials said Carrillo Leyva was living in Mexico City under an assumed name: Alejandro Peralta Alvarez. They said they were able to find him in part because his wife, Celia Karina Quevedo Gastelum, kept her name.

Mexico is seeing a crop of younger, university-educated narcojuniors emerging as leaders of drug-trafficking organizations that are bound primarily by family ties. Carrillo Leyva was paraded before news cameras in a white Abercrombie & Fitch sweatsuit and stylish glasses -- a far cry from the narco archetype decked out in cowboy boots and oversized jewel-studded belt buckles.

Two weeks ago, Mexican authorities arrested the 33-year-old son of Sinaloa-based suspected trafficker Ismael Zambada in another wealthy section of Mexico City. He was presented to reporters looking chic in jeans, dress shirt, jacket and fashionably stubbly face.

Marisela Morales Ibañez, who heads the organized crime unit of the Mexican attorney general's office, said Carrillo Leyva's capture reflects the "absolute commitment of the federal government to combat all organized crime groups that attack the peace, tranquillity and security of the population."

The Juarez gang has been locked in a vicious turf war with a band of traffickers based in the northwestern state of Sinaloa and led by Joaquin Guzman, the country's most wanted fugitive.

The bloodletting left about 1,600 people dead in Ciudad Juarez last year. Violence continued in the border city during the first two months of 2009 but has dipped since Calderon sent 5,000 more troops and hundreds of additional federal police there in recent weeks.

At least 10,000 people have died nationwide since Calderon launched his crackdown on organized crime groups soon after taking office in December 2006.

Thursday's meeting of top U.S. and Mexican officials near the city of Cuernavaca produced fresh pledges on both sides of common action against gun trafficking. But there were few specifics beyond creation of a binational working group to recommend strategies.

The visit of Napolitano and Holder comes amid a flurry of diplomacy between the neighboring countries. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spent two days in Mexico last week on a visit that focused on border security. President Obama is scheduled to visit April 16-17.

Last week, Napolitano unveiled a border security plan aimed at attacking the cartels and keeping serious violence from spilling into the United States. The plan envisions sending hundreds more federal agents and intelligence analysts to the border region.

Clinton said the White House would seek funding to provide Mexican authorities with $80 million worth of Black Hawk helicopters. Some of those funds would come out of $700 million already approved under the three-year security aid plan for Mexico known as the Merida Initiative.

U.S. and Mexican military officials have discussed greater cooperation against drug-trafficking groups, but Calderon this week ruled out joint operations on his country's soil.

U.S. lawmakers have proposed boosting aid to Mexico, which already was to receive a total of $1.4 billion under the Merida program, now in its second year.

Mexican officials have urged U.S. authorities to clamp down on the smuggling of drug money and the thousands of assault rifles and other weapons that fortify the cartels' arsenals.

U.S. law enforcement agencies estimate that Mexican and Colombian traffickers make $18 billion to $39 billion in the U.S. each year -- much of it smuggled back into Mexico.

In addition, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives says 90% of weapons seized in Mexico and reported to the agency can be traced to the United States.

"There's no question that the vast majority of weapons, and especially high-powered weapons, that are found here in Mexico . . . come from the United States," Holder told reporters. "That's the reality we have to face."

ken.ellingwood@latimes.com

Previous coverage of Mexico's drug war is available online.

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