MEXICO'S DRUG WAR SPREADS

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's drug war is spreading uncomfortably close to
the capital at a time when drug-related violence is spiraling out of
control throughout the country.

Over the weekend, panic gripped the central city of Cuernavaca after
alleged drug traffickers imposed a nighttime curfew on the city,
which sits just an hour south of the capital. Cuernavaca, a city of
one million, is a popular weekend retreat for Mexico City residents
and is also well-known to Americans as a retirement spot and a place
to learn Spanish. On Friday, an e-mail from a purported drug gang
warned residents to stay indoors past 8 p.m. "We recommend you not go
out to restaurants, bars, etc. because we might confuse you with our
enemies," said the e-mail, a copy of which was seen by The Wall Street Journal.

Word spread quickly throughout the city, where residents are already
on edge from a recent surge in violence due to a turf war between
rival drug gangs. By Friday evening, the city's normally bustling
central plaza was largely empty, as were most restaurants and bars,
according to residents and media reports. Schools closed early on
Friday afternoon, sending frightened children home. Movie theatres
abruptly stopped movies midway and told patrons to get home quickly.

Karen Ringsak, a Minnesota native who lives in nearby Tepoztlan, said
her 14-year-old son, Ianxul, was sent home from an advanced math
class he takes at a public state university in Cuernavaca. "People
are freaked out," she said.

Cuernavaca finds itself caught in a turf war that erupted after the
recent killing of drug lord Arturo Beltran Leyva, who was killed in a
Cuernavaca apartment tower in a shootout with Mexican Navy special
forces. After the death of Mr. Beltran, known as the "Boss of
Bosses," two rival factions have emerged hoping to control the gang's
lucrative drug-smuggling routes in Cuernavaca and Acapulco, according
Mexican antidrug officials. On one side of the divide is Mr.
Beltran's brother Hector and his enforcer Sergio "El Grande"
Villarreal, who are opposed by a notorious enforcer known as Edgar
Valdez, called "El Barbie" for his fair hair and the fact he was born
in the U.S.

Now, a city that prided itself on its springlike weather and
laid-back attitude is grappling with a rise in gruesome violence. On
Friday alone, two bodies were dumped along main boulevards in the
city-two more victims of the drug war, police said.

In Acapulco, meanwhile, a gun battle erupted at midday last week
along the city's main coastal avenue between alleged gang members and
Mexican soldiers. A 12-year-old boy and his mother were killed in the
crossfire. Across Mexico, more than 1,000 people were killed in
drug-related violence in March, a record, according to Mexican newspapers.