AD DECLARES GANG'S 'LOVE' FOR STATE

A violent Mexican drug gang took out a half-page newspaper ad in which
it claimed to be an anti-crime vigilante group seeking to stop
kidnapping, robbery and the sale of methamphetamine in the western
state of Michoacan.

The Family, a shadowy group believed to be allied with Mexico's Gulf
drug cartel, has claimed responsibility for bloody killings, such as a
Sept. 6 attack in which gunmen dumped five human heads into a bar in
the Michoacan city of Uruapan.

"Our only reason for being is that we love our state, and we are not
willing to allow the dignity of our people to be trampled on," the ad
said.