Mexico's Drug War

GOVERNOR OF MEXICO'S CHIHUAHUA STATE DOWNPLAYS ATTACK

Gov. Jose Reyes Baeza Terrazas Says Gunmen Who Fired on His Convoy
Weren't Aiming at Him.

The governor of Mexico's most violent state said he was not the target
of gunmen who opened fire on his convoy late Sunday night.

Jose Reyes Baeza Terrazas, governor of the northern state of
Chihuahua, was uninjured when gunmen in a car fired at guards who were
trailing him at some distance.

A bodyguard died in the shootout, which occurred after Baeza's
three-car convoy stopped at a signal in the state capital, also called
Chihuahua. Two other bodyguards and an assailant were wounded.

Baeza, who was in the lead car, said shots were fired "many meters"
behind him and aimed only at the trailing vehicle. He said "four or
five" gunmen in a compact car never got close to him or gave chase
when he drove off.

"There was never direct aggression against the governor," Baeza told
reporters. He declined to suggest a possible motive.

Chihuahua's state attorney general, Patricia Gonzalez, said Monday
that the wounded gunman, a 36-year-old ex-soldier, was in custody.

The shooting added to the air of lawlessness in Chihuahua, where
heavily armed drug gangs challenge authorities even while they fight
one another for control of smuggling routes to the United States.

More than 1,600 people died statewide last year in drug-related
violence, the highest toll in 2008 among Mexico's states. This year
the number already exceeds 300, according to unofficial Mexican media
tallies.

In Ciudad Juarez, the state's deadliest spot, officials said they were
taking seriously banners posted Sunday that threatened Mayor Jose
Reyes Ferriz. They stepped up security but said the threats would not
alter Reyes' plans to clean up the corruption-laden police department.

The city's police chief, Roberto Orduna Cruz, quit Friday -- two days
after signs threatened that a police officer would be killed every 48
hours if the chief stayed on the job. In the hours before he stepped
down, a municipal officer and jail guard were shot dead.

Orduna said he wanted to prevent more attacks against the city's 1,600
officers.

Chihuahua, across the border from Texas and New Mexico, has been hit
hardest by violence spiraling nationwide as President Felipe Calderon
presses a 2-year-old offensive against drug smugglers.

The country saw more than 6,000 slayings in 2008. The toll so far this
year is above 800, according to media tallies.

Ciudad Juarez is the site of a war between a local drug cartel and
traffickers from the northwestern state of Sinaloa seeking to move in.
The violence has been brutal, including numerous beheadings.

Calderon has sent 3,000 troops to the city as part of a 45,000-soldier
deployment to the drug war nationwide.