DEA REPORT WARNS MEXICO OF CARTEL ATTACKS

EL PASO -- U.S. intelligence sources warned the Mexican government
that drug cartels may launch unusual attacks in the coming year.

El Pasoan Phil Jordan, a former Drug Enforcement Administration
official, said his sources confirmed that the warning has put the
Mexican government on alert.

EFE, Spain's news wire service, and El Universal, a national
newspaper in Mexico, reported that the DEA provided Mexico with a
confidential report about possible counter-offensive attacks by one
or more drug cartels against government offices, banks, bridges or
other institutions.

DEA officials did not confirm or deny the media accounts.

Jordan said he suspects that the warning is linked to the recent
death of Arturo Beltran Leyva, a drug kingpin, who was killed in
December by Mexican marines during a shootout in Cuernavaca, Mexico.

One of the marines died in the firefight. Less than a week later, a
hit squad killed four of the marine's relatives in the state of Tabasco.

Authorities speculated it was a revenge attack.

"The biggest hint of worse things to come was the cowardly attack
against the innocent family of the marine who was killed in the
shootout with Beltran," said Jordan, who is also former director of
the El Paso Intelligence Center.

"It would not surprise me that the cartels will continue to disrupt
President Felipe Calderon's initiative against the drug traffickers
in Mexico," he said.

On Thursday, extra police and soldiers were seen guarding the Juarez
city government offices near the international Paso del Norte and
Stanton Street bridges.