MEXICAN ATTACKS RAISE DRUG-WAR STAKES

President Vows No Letup Against Cartels

MEXICO CITY -- Deadly assaults on two police stations by criminals
wearing soldiers' uniforms have raised the pressure on Mexico's new
president, Felipe Calderon, to demonstrate that his vaunted
military-led crackdown on organized crime can stand up to the
nation's powerful drug cartels.

The attacks in the resort city of Acapulco on Tuesday, killing five
police investigators and two secretaries, also stirred fears that
drug-related violence will chase away tourists.

Since taking office Dec. 1, Calderon has sent around 25,000 troops to
hot spots in Mexico, including Acapulco, promising to "recover
authority in territories challenged by crime." The cartels in these
areas killed more than 2,000 people last year in their struggle to
control cocaine trafficking routes, domestic production of marijuana,
heroin and synthetic drugs, as well as the local consumer market.

Calderon called an emergency meeting with his security Cabinet
immediately after the Acapulco killings, which both defied and mocked
his efforts to show the gangs that they are not in control. A brief
statement insisted "the government will not retreat or give up in the
face of the attacks by organized crime." It described the attacks as
a reaction to the crackdown, which is beginning to look like the
defining issue of the new president's administration.

"Calderon had to do something," said Bruce Bagley, an expert on drug
trafficking in Latin America and a professor at Miami University.
"Public perception is that it had spiraled beyond control."

The first stage of the operation kicked off Dec. 12 in the central
state of Michoacan, the site of some of the most shocking recent
violence, including five severed heads rolled onto a dance floor.

Next came the rowdy city of Tijuana, just over the border from San
Diego, and after that the southern state of Guerrero, where Acapulco
is. Then the government's focus shifted to the so-called Golden
Triangle where the northern states of Durango, Chihuahua and Sinaloa
meet, and where Joaquin Guzman, the leader of one of the two drug
cartels, is thought to be hiding.

Last month, the authorities flew journalists over Acapulco's
legendary bay, ignoring the beaches and the cruise ships but circling
down for closer looks at the roadblocks.

The local tourism industry was worried about Acapulco's reputation as
a drug trafficking center even before the events of the past week,
among them an incident in which two Canadian tourists were slightly
injured by bullets fired in a hotel lobby.

Speaking Wednesday of Tuesday's attacks on the police, Mayor Felix
Salgado told business leaders, "I hope this does not affect the
tourist image." It sounded like wishful thinking for an official who
has received dozens of death threats from the gangs competing for
control of the city. He is protected by a dozen bodyguards.

Meanwhile, federal forces were busy following the trail of the
commandos. Raids on a safe house and dumped cars allegedly used by
the assassins yielded a small arsenal of assault rifles, pistols and
grenades, along with military and federal police uniforms.

Calderon's offensive against the cartels is less significant for its
size than for having reduced the participation of entirely civilian
police to the "symbolic," according to Bagley. The vast majority of
the operatives involved are either soldiers or come from the largely
army-trained federal police. Strategy is being drawn up in the
Ministry of Defense.

Analysts agree that Calderon was pushed into the arms of the generals
because of the military's relatively clean reputation and better
training. Corruption and lack of professionalism have pervaded local
and state police, making them as likely to aid a jailbreak or guard a
kingpin's wedding party as to bring a trafficker to justice.

As part of the government clampdown, soldiers have been investigating
local police for connections with the cartels. In Tijuana, the army
confiscated all the city police officers' guns.

Bagley said that while he recognizes Calderon had little choice in
shaping his offensive, the army is "corruptible too." Some analysts
go further to warn of an unprecedented disaster if underpaid,
unhappy, or simply greedy soldiers decide to go over to the traffickers.