REPUTED MEXICAN DRUG CARTEL MEMBER SURVIVES ATTACK

GUADALAJARA, Mexico, Jan 6 (Reuters) - A reputed member of Mexico's most
feared drug cartel has survived an assassination attempt in the western city
of Guadalajara, officials said on Wednesday.

Jalisco state prosecutor's spokesman Lino Gonzalez said Luis Alberto
Preciado Gomez, an alleged document counterfeiter thought to be working for
the ruthless Arellano Felix clan, was hit by gunfire five times on Tuesday.
He sought to escape from four hit men by taking refuge in an exclusive
restaurant.

Gonzalez said Preciado Gomez was taken to a private hospital in Guadalajara
on Tuesday night and was in stable condition after being hit three times in
the chest, once in the arm and once in the leg.

A source at the federal Attorney General's Office in Jalisco said Preciado
Gomez had links to the Arellano Felix brothers, accused of running one of
Mexico's biggest cocaine smuggling rings out of the northern border city of
Tijuana.

"He's tied up in the investigations against the Arellano Felix but has
always been lucky and remained out of jail," the source said, asking not to
be named.

Preciado Gomez was arrested in 1997 and sentenced to more than 15 years in
prison for falsifying voter identity documents for the Arellano Felix
brothers, carrying illegal weapons and for narcotics offences. The sentence
was overturned on appeal.

The Tijuana cartel is considered by U.S. anti-drug officials to be one of
Mexico's most brutal and has been linked to tons of cocaine shipments. One
of the three brothers who allegedly runs it, Ramon Arellano Felix, is on
the U.S. FBI's list of its 10 most-wanted suspects.

Over the past year, Guadalajara has become a battlefield for drug
traffickers seeking to settle scores. Dozens were killed in 1997 in
drug-related hits, bringing the level of violence in Guadalajara to the same
level as that of drug-infested northern border cities like Tijuana and
Ciudad Juarez.