GRENADES A TOP CHOICE OF MEXICAN DRUG CARTELS

Blasts Almost Weekly, Experts Say; ATF Rejects Made-In-U.S.A. Notion

MEXICO CITY - The man partly responsible for keeping Mexico's top drug
capos under lock and key was driving home last month when a hand
grenade was thrown into his pickup. The security chief at La Palma
prison, Luis Fernando Mendoza, escaped from the vehicle just before it
exploded in a Mexico City suburb.

The targets of similar attacks have not been so lucky. Days earlier
and hundreds of miles away, a journalist was paralyzed when a grenade
blast and weapons fire filled the newsroom of El Manana newspaper in
Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo, Texas.

Teenagers have been killed when the explosives have been hurled into
"narco-stores" selling drugs not far from Acapulco's hotel-lined bay,
which draws thousands of American spring breakers each year.

Three police officers died after being ambushed with grenades in the
central state of Michoacan in January.

Hand grenades represent a powerful new weapon for Mexican cartels
fighting the government and battling each other for control of the
country's multibillion-dollar drug trade, and the danger spans the
U.S.-Mexico border. In Laredo, authorities seized explosive devices in
two raids this year, including military grenades, pipe bombs and
bomb-making material.

In Acapulco, where at least a dozen of the explosives have been thrown
at police installations over the last year, grenade confiscations are
outpacing those of AK-47 assault rifles, long the narcos' weapon of
choice.

And although innocent Americans in Mexico generally have been spared
drug violence, the U.S. Embassy repeatedly has reminded visitors that
such a threat is real.

A close call Carol Davenport, a graduate of Dallas Baptist University,
came close to a grenade blast at a Zihuatanejo beach hotel last month.

"It was a little unnerving because it happened just a few days after I
was there," said Ms. Davenport, who is working on tourist projects on
Mexico's Pacific Coast.

Ms. Davenport had left the modest hotel because it had no hot water.
Otherwise, she might have stayed. One Mexican guest received minor
injuries. The motive for the attack was unknown.

Analysts say the almost weekly grenade blasts are among weapons and
tactics adopted by drug-trafficking groups in the last couple of years
as cartel turf wars have grown more bloody and the Mexican military
has been brought increasingly into the drug fight.

"These are not just for intimidation, not just to scare people, these
are part of [the traffickers'] renovation of their armament," said
Javier Ibarrola, a columnist on drug and military issues for Milenio
magazine. "That they did not succeed in killing the La Palma security
chief is incredible, because his truck was destroyed in the blast."

Where are the grenades coming from?

Authorities and analysts cite several likely sources: the
international market for illicit weapons, where arms can be traded
directly for drugs; stolen military grenades from the Mexican army or
even U.S. sources; and homemade grenades using the metal shells that
are simple and legal to purchase in the United States.

Mexican authorities generally blame U.S. sources for most of the
weapons trade, given Mexico's strict laws on weapons and explosives.

"We believe that a lot of [the grenades] are probably being purchased
in the United States, as the majority of weapons are," Attorney
General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca said in an interview with The Dallas
Morning News. "That's why we have asked for the help of the ATF [U.S.
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives] and all of the
other agencies so that we can establish greater control. Because with
these weapons in the hands of criminals in our country, they become
very dangerous."

Earlier this year, an Arizona man was sentenced to prison in the U.S.
for trying to buy 30 grenades from undercover American law enforcement
agents for $6,000. The man said the grenades were destined for drug
traffickers in Mexico and also inquired about buying high-powered
rifles to shoot down helicopters.

Military defectors Mr. Cabeza de Vaca also acknowledged that defectors
from Mexico's 200,000-strong military could be a source for grenades.

"[The grenades'] origin is not that easy to determine, [but] certainly
this is military weaponry from the United States or from Mexico," he
said. "They are not homemade."

U.S. authorities, while acknowledging the illegal weapons trade from
north to south, say grenades for the U.S. military are not leaking
into Mexico.

"Authentic American government grenades - there's no evidence to show
that those are showing up in Mexico," said Rick Serrano, resident
agent in the McAllen, Texas, field office of the ATF.

However, so-called re-packed grenades have been found on the U.S.
side, he acknowledged.

"Down in Laredo, there were some Laredo residents" involved in making
grenades, said Mr. Serrano. "Confiscated were some grenade-making
materials and some assembled grenades."

At Texas gun shows or in Army surplus stores or catalogs, Americans
can buy "hollowed out" grenades, basically just the shell with no
explosives, Mr. Serrano said.

People then illegally pack those with explosives and a fuse, but these
improvised weapons are inferior to the legally produced grenades,
which feature carefully constructed timers.

"It's very difficult to replicate a real grenade," said Mr.
Serrano.

Across the border from Laredo lies Nuevo Laredo, the main battleground
in the drug war. The Gulf cartel based there is trying to maintain its
traditional drug routes into the U.S. The Sinaloa cartel has launched
a bloody challenge. Weapons caches found by increasing numbers of
federal police and army soldiers inevitably include two or three or
four hand grenades.

Mr. Ibarrola, the columnist, said that while U.S. sources are the most
obvious weapon suppliers for the narcos, the international arms trade
has brought Israeli Uzis, Chinese AK-47s and a variety of weapons left
over from Central America's civil wars, to Mexico.

Mexico's defense minister, Clemente Vega Garcia, said 200,000 weapons
had been confiscated in recent years and are being held until criminal
trials are concluded so they can be destroyed.