DRUG WAR IS ON IN MEXICO CITY

Crackdowns Pushing Cartels Into Capital, Against Government

MEXICO CITY - Long a meeting place for Mexican drug cartels and their
Colombian suppliers, this sprawling capital is now on the front lines
of the government's drug war after the discovery of paramilitary
narco cells planning a high-level assassination with possible
collaboration of city police and former army soldiers.

The cells, uncovered in upscale neighborhoods favored by politicians
and entertainers, had huge stockpiles of high-powered weapons,
including grenade- and rocket-launchers, designed to penetrate the
highest level of armor. Also Online Juarez locked in deadly power
struggle over drug cartels "Mexico City was a peaceful place for
narcos, as they coexisted with the government. But now it's beginning
to look a lot like Bogota," said Raul Benitez, a military and
national security expert at the National Autonomous University.
"Mexico City residents are not used to this kind of narco-violence,
and that's sending shock waves across the population."

In the latest incident, the editor of El Real newspaper was shot to
death Thursday as he drove in the Mexico City suburb of Chimalhuacan.
And on Wednesday, Mexican authorities said they seized more than two
tons of ephedrine - a chemical used to make amphetamines - at the
capital's international airport, which has become an important
transit point for drugs and weapons.

The ephedrine had been shipped from China in 155 boxes and was
destined, through the Mexican Postal Service, for clandestine labs in
the states of Colima, Jalisco, Aguascalientes, Michoacan and Mexico,
officials said. The latest military crackdown against cartels began
Jan. 1 in cities like Nuevo Laredo, a Gulf cartel stronghold, and
Culiacan, a Sinaloa cartel stronghold. The pressure may be pushing
cartel operatives to more anonymous settings, such as the Mexico City
metropolitan area, with its 18 million people. After one raid late
last month in the nation's capital, the head of intelligence for the
capital's Judicial Police resigned amid reports that he was being
investigated for allegedly providing bulletproof vests to a Sinaloa
cartel hit squad that had set up shop in a tony southern Mexico City
neighborhood.

In another recent bust, active police officers and former soldiers
allegedly confessed to planning the assassination of a high-level
official in the attorney general's office who has overseen the record
number of extraditions of drug lords to the U.S.

The official, Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, said his would-be
assassins were likely working for the Sinaloa cartel, but they could
have been working the Gulf cartel based on the Mexico-Texas border.

"I don't think I'm the most popular guy with any of them," he said in
a radio interview.

Bigger battles Analysts and officials say the recent activities show
the rapid "Colombianization" of Mexico, a reference to the Colombian
cartels' attacks on high-level law enforcement, judges, politicians
and journalists during the 1980s and early 1990s in the city's top
cities, including the capital, Bogota. And it's no longer just
cartels battling each other for territory and control of smuggling
routes, but cartels battling the government in the face of the crackdown.

"There's no difference between a Pablo Escobar in Colombia and a
Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano," said a U.S. anti-drug official, comparing
the fallen Colombian drug capo to Mr. Lazcano, the alleged head of
the Zetas, the paramilitary enforcement arm of the Gulf cartel. The
Zetas have adopted violent confrontations with the government, much
like their Colombian counterparts did in retaliation for the
extradition of South American drug figures to the U.S.

President Felipe Calderon's government is unwavering in its
crackdown, Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora vowed in a meeting
with citizen groups that demanded results in their Mexico City
neighborhoods. "There will be no retreat," said Mr. Medina Mora. "We
are not going to take a step back."

But in Mexico City, tough words will be increasingly scrutinized. "On
the border, the national media tend to ignore these issues," Mr.
Medina Mora said. "That won't be the case here, and that will pose
great risks for Calderon if he doesn't deliver."

Mexico City has long suffered from high levels of street crime and
police corruption, but it had been relatively immune from the daily
killings and cartel turf wars that have become features of border
cities like Nuevo Laredo, Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana.

Last week, Mayor Marcelo Ebrard met with Bogota's former mayor,
Antanas Mokus, and solicited advice on dealing with the security
challenges ahead. The nation's capital has historically been a haven
for drug traffickers, some of whom have lived side by side with some
of the nation's elite. It's a place for financial operations and
other transactions. In August and September of last year, three of
Mexico's most wanted were captured in Mexico City, including Juan
Carlos de la Cruz Reyna, the alleged Gulf cartel link to Colombian
suppliers, who were also arrested having lunch in the upscale Polanco
neighborhood.

In mid-January, the Mexico City newspaper Reforma cited a city
government study that said a police cartel was involved in moving
drugs through the capital's international airport.

Recent drug seizures at the airport have sparked apparent retaliation
against private customs brokers via al-Qaeda-style beheadings. After
the Dec. 12 seizure of a half-ton of cocaine at the airport, three
such brokers were executed and two of them had their heads severed,
airport officials said. Allegedly, the Gulf cartel and its Zetas were
involved in those killings. Amid the growing violence, more than 500
city police have been stationed at the newly expanded international
airport, the target of narco-traffickers fighting for control,
officials say. An airport spokesman insisted the airport is safe for
all passengers.

Conflicting reports Mexico City police officials have differed on the
level of penetration of the narcos, with Police Chief Joel Ortega
acknowledging the phenomenon and Attorney General Rodolfo Felix
Cardenas saying there is no evidence the cartels have set up shop in
the capital.

"We don't know if they are operating continuously in Mexico City,"
the city attorney general told reporters.

Despite the assurances, Ricardo McGregor, the head of intelligence
for the attorney general's Judicial Police, resigned late last month
after federal officials said he was under investigation on suspicion
of providing the bulletproof vests seized in a recent raid on alleged
Sinaloa operatives. Mr. McGregor denied any wrongdoing and said he
stepped down to facilitate the investigation. He said that the
bulletproof vests were stolen from an armored car company that he
used to work for, but that it happened during an armed robbery on the
streets of Mexico City.

Up to 30 agents in the unit then failed to show up for work,
according to media reports.

Meanwhile, neighbors of the narcos in Mexico City were caught
off-guard by the discovery of narco cells next door.

Along the cobblestone streets of San Angel, Jardines del Pedregal and
Coyoacan they spoke in hushed tones and asked their names not be used
for fear of retaliation.

A 41-year-old woman walking her dog in Coyoacan remarked, "I'm sure
there are hundreds of other houses packed with narcos. We're not
alone." A mile away in San Angel, a 71-year-old whispered, "Dios mio!
I'm afraid to leave my house, and we're not on the border."

News assistant Javier Garcia contributed to this report. 2008 DRUG
KILLINGS Chihuahua, 53* Sinaloa, 48 Guerrero, 22 Michoacan, 20 Mexico
state, 16 Nuevo Leon, 15* Tamaulipas, 15* Baja California, 13
Durango, 13 Coahuila, 12* Federal District (Mexico City), 11 Chiapas,
9 San Luis Potosi, 8 Quintana Roo, 7 Jalisco, 6 Sonora, 5 Hidalgo, 4
Tabasco, 3 Veracruz, 2 Yucatan, 2 *States that border Texas SOURCES:
Dallas Morning News research; state police