MEXICO'S FOX OPENS NATIONAL WAR ON DRUGS AND ORGANIZED CRIME

CULIACAN, Sinaloa -- Against a backdrop of one of Mexico's most violent,
drug-plagued cities, President Vicente Fox on Wednesday launched a
nationwide battle against drug trafficking and organized crime.

But lawyers and police in Sinaloa, a Pacific coast state long considered
the cradle of Mexico's extensive drug trade, said traffickers already are
gathering forces to fight back.

"Today we initiate this great crusade," Mr. Fox said in Culiacan, the
capital of Sinaloa. "I pledge a war without mercy."

Mr. Fox promised a complete overhaul of the nation's corrupt prison system
and strict enforcement of a Mexican Supreme Court ruling last week that
removed the last barriers for extraditing Mexicans for trial in the United
States.

His announcement came just five days after the escape of one of Sinaloa's
top drug bosses, Joaquin Guzman, from a maximum-security prison in the
western state of Jalisco on Friday -- presumably with the help of prison
officials whom he allegedly paid off.

Mr. Fox said his government would do everything in its power to uproot the
entrenched corruption of prison authorities that has led to escapes and
favorable treatment of drug lords. He didn't elaborate.

The president was accompanied during his announcement by Defense Secretary
Ricardo Vega, Attorney General Rafael Macedo and Public Security Secretary
Alejandro Gertz -- a new Cabinet secretary appointed specifically to fight
organized crime and drug trafficking.

Mr. Gertz said his office would begin official operations next week, but he
didn't provide details.

One of the first pledges Mr. Fox made after taking office Dec. 1 was to
launch an all-out war against drugs and organized crime.

Last month, he sent 1,000 officers to fight drug-related violence in
Culiacan after Sinaloa Gov. Juan Millan said he could no longer fight the
scourge on his own.

In the past three years, Culiacan has experienced an average of 500
drug-related deaths annually, while 14 people were slain in Sinaloa in
drug-related violence in the first three days of January alone.

"We have the shame of being the cradle of drug trafficking" in Mexico, Mr.
Millan said Wednesday.

Federal officials and local drug-fighting experts said already they have
seen a backlash against Fox's crusade by drug lords, who are preparing a
well-organized counteroffensive.

"They are going to regroup on several fronts," said Leonel Aguirre, one of
a group of Sinaloa lawyers that has spoken out against drug trafficking.
Mr. Aguirre's brother, also a member of the group, was killed by drug
traffickers.

"They are already making structural alliances, gathering assassins and
contacts together," Mr. Aguirre said.

The drug bosses, chased out of Culiacan by the federal police forces,
simply are relocating, fortifying a sophisticated, well-armed outfit of
employees who have been trained with military-like discipline, Mr. Aguirre
and other drug-fighting activists said.

"They count on an army that works for a messiah whose word is unequivocal.
He who fails is killed," a judicial source, who spoke on condition of
anonymity, told The Associated Press.

"It may be a war without bullets. They are going to launch a
counteroffensive with money to corrupt," the source added, referring to the
organization's efforts to infiltrate law enforcement.

Mr. Fox himself acknowledged that his crusade "may be a bitter fight
because of the perverse influence of dirty money."

But the president said that wouldn't stop his fight.

"We are striking a blow by unraveling these networks of complicity," he said.

Attorney General Macedo and Defense Secretary Vega also used Wednesday's
event to present the results of drug-fighting efforts during the first 50
days of Mr. Fox's administration.

Since Mr. Fox took office Dec. 1, authorities have arrested 489 people
linked to drug trafficking, in addition to removing 15 agents assigned to
the federal attorney general's office in the northern state of Chihuahua
who were alleged to be receiving payoffs from drug traffickers, they said.

They also said they had seized 231% more cocaine, 198% more marijuana and
235% more hallucinogenic drugs than were seized during the first 50 days of
President Ernesto Zedillo's administration in 1994.