MEXICANS PROTEST CAMPAIGN AGAINST DRUG CARTELS

In the largest in a series of anti-army protests this week, around 300
Mexican protesters congregated in the northern town of Monterrey Tuesday
to protest army operations against drug gangs. Another 300 protesters shut
highways in the Gulf city of Veracruz. Officials claimed that the protest
was organized by drug traffickers.

Protesters block a main avenue as they hold up a banner that reads: "The
Soldiers won't let us Live in Peace, We are Scared" in the northern
industrial city of Monterrey, Mexico, Tuesday, Feb. 17

Hundreds of Mexicans blocked roads and bridges into the United States on
Tuesday in a protest of army operations against drug gangs that officials
said was organized by drug traffickers.

About 300 protesters, some with handkerchiefs tied over their faces,
carried signs saying "Army Get Out!" in front of the town hall in the
northern city of Monterrey, 130 miles (209 km) from the Texas border. It
was the largest in a series of anti-army protests this week.

In a growing challenge to the military across Mexico, small groups of taxi
drivers also blocked bridges that connect the border cities of Reynosa and
Nuevo Laredo with Texas, stopping vehicles and pedestrians, police said.

Hundreds of miles away, another 300 people shut highways in the Gulf city
of Veracruz to pressure the military to go back to their bases.

The demonstrations put fresh pressure on President Felipe Calderon to
defeat the cartels after two years of an army-backed campaign and
spiraling drug violence that killed 6,000 people last year.

Mexico's drug war has scared off investors and worried the United States,
which is giving $1.4 billion worth of equipment and other aid to help
Mexico and Central America fight cartels.

Natividad Gonzalez, governor of Nuevo Leon state, blamed Mexico's most
violent drug gang, the Gulf cartel, and its armed wing, The Zetas, for the
protests.

"There are reasons to believe it has to do with the Gulf cartel and the
group known as The Zetas," he told a news conference.

Ten people died in a gun battle between troops and drug hitmen in Reynosa
on Tuesday, police said, but added that the violence was not related to
the protests.

State police chief Aldo Fasci said last week that crime organizations were
paying people to protest against the army and that gangs were handing out
backpacks full of schoolbooks, pens and paper to poor families who joined
the demonstrations.

Rampant Violence

Calderon said on Monday the rampant violence shows the drug cartels are
desperate, but drug trade experts say Mexico's deepening economic slump
and rising joblessness could attract more recruits to the trade.

The northern states of Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas, home to Monterrey, Nuevo
Laredo and Reynosa, are the main trafficking routes into Texas for the
powerful Gulf Cartel.

One woman at the protest who declined to be named told Reuters she came
with a neighbor who had been paid to turn up.

Calderon has sent 45,000 troops and federal police across Mexico to fight
drug gangs since late 2006, a move widely supported by Mexicans angry with
years of inaction and the deep corruption in the country's police forces.

Despite warnings from rights groups about soldiers using excessive force
in the drug fight, Calderon also has Washington's support for using the
army, which has made historic drug seizures and is catching more gang
leaders.

"Rising levels of unemployment in Mexico make it much easier for Mexican
drug traffickers to recruit youths to engage in demonstrations like this,
for relatively low pay," U.S.-based security consultancy Stratfor said in
a report.