'NARCO-BANNERS' NEW WEAPON IN MEXICAN DRUG WAR

MEXICO CITY - A Roman Catholic cathedral in the Mexico-Texas border
state of Nuevo Leon was the backdrop recently for the drug cartels'
latest salvo in a drug war that is looking more like a conventional
war, complete with increasingly sophisticated propaganda. Hanging from
the church fence in Monterrey was a banner more than a dozen feet high
addressed to President Felipe Calderon, accusing the government of
favoring some cartel groups over others - a charge the government
denies - and appealing for a more balanced approach. "We urge you to
put neutral commanders in these jobs and not allow the narco police to
stay," it read in Spanish in neat black block letters. At least two
dozen similar banners in 14 cities and six states appeared Dec. 8 in
public places.

The Monterrey church is in front of City Hall. Declaring war on
government The sudden proliferation of "narco-banners" across Mexican
cities, including tourist zones like Cancun, shows that the cartels
are prepared to ratchet up a fight that has taken more than 5,000
lives this year, analysts said. "The banners are the first step in a
series in which organized crime groups are announcing that they are
going to declare war on the government," said Arturo Yanez, a former
adviser to the federal government on security issues. His theory,
Yanez said, is that some cartel groups will shift their firepower from
turf battles with rivals and join forces to fight federal authorities.
"Two years ago, the federal government declared war on the narcos, but
the narcos have not declared war on the government and have not really
taken on the government," Yanez said, pointing out that the record
numbers of deaths are overwhelmingly from cartel turf wars and not
police or military action. Whether or not a broader war is coming,
analysts said the banners represent the development by the cartels of
an increasingly sophisticated tool in the art of war: propaganda. War
of words In the last few months, the handmade banners have gone from
featuring crude epithets aimed at turf rivals to often detailed
accusations of alleged collusion of government officials with Mexico's
dominant drug cartel group, the Sinaloa cartel. Commentators said the
war of words - along with an Internet barrage of grisly videos -
represented the changing nature of a conflict in which cartel
operatives openly carry out coordinated public relations campaigns to
counter the government's paid TV and radio spots. The banners have
appeared in drug hot spots like Reynosa, Tamaulipas - across from
McAllen, Texas - but also in the touristy capital of Oaxaca state.
"One must remember that in the drug trade these days, former military
soldiers trained in the manipulation of information have replaced
capos of the rancher type," the newspaper El Universal wrote in an
editorial. "And like with all armies, the drug traffickers know that
in an armed conflict, propaganda is key to tilting the balance in one
direction." Government officials have said the banners are deliberate
disinformation aimed at Mexican public opinion. Banner-writers on
track "The criminal element seeks to have a scheme of criminal
propaganda, trying to discredit the Mexican state and public
officials," said Public Security Minister Genaro Garcia Luna. He was
responding to questions by reporters in late October about
narco-banners accusing him of favoring some drug cartels over others.
But at least in one case, the government appears to have concurred
partially with the banner-writers. On Oct. 24, a narco-banner
allegedly signed by a paramilitary group associated with the Gulf
cartel, the Zetas, accused the interim head of the federal police,
Gerardo Garay Cadena, of collusion with the Sinaloa cartel and its
allies, according to media reports from the Gulf state of Veracruz. A
week later, Garay resigned and was put under temporary arrest. Earlier
this month, he was formally charged with allegedly protecting drug
traffickers who had previously been aligned with the Sinaloa cartel
and stealing money during an anti-drug operation.

He is being held in a federal prison. Anti-drug officials jailed Garay
is one of more than a dozen top anti-drug officials jailed in the last
two months as part of the attorney general's "Operation Clean House."
He is the highest-ranking official to face drug charges since 1997.
The banners that appeared Dec. 8 were unsigned, but their authors are
believed to include members of the Gulf cartel, based along the
Mexico-Texas border.

The banners were focused almost exclusively on Garay's former boss,
Garcia Luna. The Monterrey version mentioned his name eight times in
red letters, practically demanding his removal. But Calderon recently
gave his security minister a public vote of confidence in the wake of
the corruption investigation. Speaking in late November while visiting
Peru, the president said, "If there was any doubt of his integrity, or
even some element of proof that would disqualify that integrity,
surely he would not be the minister of public security."