MEXICO'S WAR ON DRUGS CLAIMS ANOTHER 30 LIVES

Mexico's narco war - which has claimed more than 4,000 lives since a
military offensive was launched against the drugs cartels two years
ago - spiralled further out of control this weekend, as another 30
people were found dead and one of the country's most senior police
chiefs was accused of collaborating with the drug barons.

On Friday, gangland executions were carried out in the Pacific state
of Sinaloa, traditional homeland for Mexico's cartels, and 17 people
died in the border town of Ciudad Juarez on Thursday, including a
senior police investigator.

Yesterday, Mexico's former acting federal police chief, Gerardo Garay,
was accused of collaborating with a notorious cartel and stealing
money during a raid on a drug trafficking ring. A judge ordered
Garay's arrest on suspicion of organised crime, robbery and abuse of
power.

Last week was one of the bloodiest since President Felipe Calderon
mobilised 40,000 troops against the cartels; the carnage has
predominantly occurred in cities along the border with the United
States. Ninety per cent of all illegal drugs consumed in the US come
from Mexico, with rival cartels fighting for 'plazas', or turf.

The Pacific border town of Tijuana counted its bloodiest 48 hours to
date this week, with 36 bodies found over two days. Twelve had been
executed together, and were left decapitated and mutilated in a car
park.

The sudden escalation led to the dismissal of police chief Alberto
Capella Ibarra, who was interviewed by The Observer last month and
warned: 'This war will continue so long as drugs are illegal and
command high prices in the United States. Legalise the drugs, then the
Americans can get high and we can live in peace.' The new police chief
is Lieutenant-Colonel Julian Leyzaola, recently brought in to command
the city's special forces. Mexico's state and municipal police have
been heavily infiltrated by the cartels and the government has
promised to bring them under its control.

Calderon's government is the first in Mexico seriously to confront the
cartels, and the resultant war is in part a response.

Leyzaola told The Observer that the level of violence was the result
of 'social terrorism' by the narcos. 'All I can do is to increase a
police profile in the community to avert the kind of social psychosis
that the narcos want to generate,' he said. 'I pledge physical
presence to reassure people, and intelligence and manpower to fight
the criminals themselves.'