MASSACRE SURVIVOR GETS INJUNCTION

MEXICO CITY - An alleged drug trafficker who survived a massacre of
his extended family has received a court injunction to keep him from
being taken out of the hospital where he is under heavy military
guard, newspapers reported Friday.

The order also protects Fermin Castro from possible arrest by federal,
state or city police.

Police believe Castro was the target of the Sept. 17 attack, in which
18 children, women and men were gunned down at a ranch near Ensenada.

Castro was shot in the head and remains in a coma at a Ensenada
hospital. His sister, who asserts Castro is a rancher not a drug
trafficker, requested the court injunction.

The daily La Jornada newspaper reported Friday that a fourth person -
a 17-year-old cousin of Castro's - survived the massacre by hiding in
a mobile home at the ranch. Police previously had said there were
three survivors: Castro, a pregnant teen-age girl who hid under a bed,
and a boy who was wounded during the massacre.

Copyright 1998 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry