IN THE EYE OF THE STORM

Refugees From a Town Mired in Gang Warfare Can Only Flee - but Still
Fear - for Their Lives

CIUDAD MIGUEL ALEMAN, Mexico -- More than 300 men, women and children
from the colonial ranching town of Ciudad Mier, a 10-minute drive from
Texas, have taken refuge in the Lion's Club in this small city on the
Rio Grande -- fleeing for their lives from the gangland killers called
the Zetas.

The refugees deserted Mier en masse during the past week after Zetas
attacked in force to wrest it back from rival thugs of the so-called
Gulf Cartel narcotics smuggling organization. Businesses and houses
were burned, refugees say, and innocents murdered. Government forces
have not yet reacted, they say.

"Either the government doesn't want to act or they are waiting until
the bands kill off one another," said a refugee, who spoke on the
condition his name not be used out of fear of the gunmen.

The Zetas began attacking Mier just hours after the killing by Mexican
marines last Friday of Gulf Cartel boss Antonio Ezequiel
Cardenas-Guillen, known everywhere as Tony Tormenta, or Tony Storm.
Officials on both sides of the border have warned that Tony Tormenta's
demise is all but certain to unleash havoc as rivals fight to replace
him.

Events in Ciudad Mier suggest that the already vicious conflict of the
past nine months between the Zetas and Gulf Cartel, who were allies
for more than a dozen years, seems ready to tip into scorched-earth
war.

Warnings

The people of Mier, and those in neighboring towns and villages, now
writhe in the jaws of the wolves.

"Everyone knew this was coming," said a Texas executive with extensive
business ties on this stretch of the border. "There is a lack of
discipline that has crept into the battle."

No one wanted to be identified for this story out of fear for their
safety and lives.

Banners thrown up by the Zetas across northeastern Mexico last
Saturday warned that Tony Tormenta's fate awaits other "traitors."
Flyers passed out this week in some towns invite Gulf Cartel gunmen to
switch sides.

"When the Gulf Cartel is in charge, we move toward them, when the
Zetas are in charge we move back," a refugee explained. "There is
really no choice."

The nightmare began for Mier's 6,500 residents a decade ago when the
Zetas, then loyal to former Gulf Cartel boss Osiel Cardenas - Tony's
Storm's brother - arrived to take control.

Spiraling Out of Control

By all accounts, the Zetas ran the town like their fief. Townspeople
and ranchers say they were extorted. Government officials were told
what to do. If federal troops came to town, as they did in late August
with an attack on a Zeta base camp near Mier that killed 28 alleged
gangsters, it was only briefly.

What was an at least endurable torment became pure terror at exactly 8
p.m. Feb. 22 when the Gulf Cartel gunmen swept into Mier to reclaim it
from the Zetas, following the groups' falling out.

At dawn the next morning, gangsters travelling in at least 40 SUVs and
pickups attacked Mier's police headquarters, taking all the officers
hostage, and stealing the weapons they could find, residents said. In
a morning of rampage, entire families were kidnapped, nearly a dozen
houses burned.

"Since that day there have been other clashes, kidnappings and
criminal acts," townspeople wrote in a so-far-unrequited plea for help
e-mailed to state and federal officials. Ranching, the lifeblood of
Mier's legal economy, has all but stalled, residents say, because
owners no longer can get out to their pastures for fear of the gunmen.

"The majority of the ranches have been taken, destroyed, and are in
the hands of the armed people," the e-mail sent to officials said.

Few Residents Remain

More than 100 local residents remain missing, presumably kidnapped by
the bands.

Mier's schools were shuttered. Local officials moved their offices to
Miguel Aleman. Baptisms, weddings and funerals were held elsewhere.
People shut themselves in their houses as night fell and didn't leave
again till the sun was well above the trees.

In early May, suspected Zetas hung a man in the small park in front of
city hall. Using a chain saw they cut off the man's arms and legs
while he was still alive. They left a sign with the swinging body
threatening the local Gulf Cartel boss.

The victim, a local petty thief, townspeople say, swung from the tree
for four hours before police gathered the courage to cut him down.

Three weeks ago, the Zetas attacked again, torching the police station
and three new patrol cars parked in front of it.

Mier is a border town and many families go back generations here on
both sides of the Rio Grande. Even before last week's attacks,
officials estimated half the town's residents had fled to the United
States or elsewhere in Mexico.

The people now sleeping on the floor of Miguel Aleman's Lion's Club
are nearly the last holdouts. This week, as few as 500 people are
living in Mier, refugees say.

Those in the Lion's Club say they have no idea when they can go home
again. Soldiers and marines are posted in Miguel Aleman.

But danger lurks just beyond city limits. And there are no troops or
police guarding those in the shelter. A Zeta attack can come at any
time, they say.

With nightfall the fear returns and crouches in the refugee's bellies
until the sun rises once again.

"The Zetas are a lot like cockroaches," said the Texas executive.
"When the lights go on they scatter. When the lights go out, they are
in there eating."