MEXICAN CONGRESSMAN STRIPPED OF IMMUNITY

MEXICO CITY-Mexico's Congress voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to strip
parliamentary immunity from a congressman accused of links to a drug
cartel, the first time a sitting Mexican lawmaker has faced charges of
ties to organized crime.

Legislators voted 384-2 to lift the immunity of Julio Cesar Godoy, a
congressman from the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution. Mr.
Godoy, 45 years old, has been accused by Mexican prosecutors of ties
to La Familia, a violent cartel based in the western state of Michoacan.

The move was a rare victory for President Felipe Calderon's effort to
combat drug-related corruption among Mexican officials.

A much-publicized crackdown on politicians with alleged ties to La
Familia fell apart last year after prosecutors dropped charges against
nearly all 35 officials, including mayors and police chiefs.

Analysts and lawmakers hailed the vote as sending a strong message to
drug cartels responsible for more than 31,000 deaths in the past four
years.

"It is our judgment that there is enough evidence to support the
accusations by the Attorney General's Office," Cesar Augusto Santiago,
the head of the congressional committee that investigated the case for
two months, told his fellow lawmakers.

As he spoke, Mr. Santiago held up a thick stack of papers he said were
witness statements, documents and transcripts of tapes linking Mr.
Godoy to organized crime.

Mr. Godoy, the half-brother of Michoacan Gov. Leonel Godoy, has denied
the charges, saying they are politically motivated. He didn't attend
the session and was believed to be in hiding. His own political party
voted largely against him.

"We are supporting the motion because...this should be handled
strictly according to the law," said Alejandro Encinas, leader of the
congressional delegation of the PRD. Mr. Encinas urged the lawmaker to
turn himself in.

It isn't clear whether Mr. Godoy will be arrested immediately now that
his immunity has been lifted, since he has also obtained a judicial
order staying an arrest warrant issued last year. Prosecutors have
asked the judge to lift the stay.

Until now, the case has been an enormous embarrassment to Mexico's
political establishment, underlining the extent to which drug cartels
have penetrated politics and raising questions about whether
politicians, if caught, can even be punished.

The warrant for Mr. Godoy's arrest was issued last year as part of the
crackdown on links between the La Familia drug cartel and politicians
in Michoacan. At the time, Mr. Godoy was a congressional candidate.

He went into hiding and won his seat. In September, he sneaked into
Congress and took the oath of office, automatically winning immunity
from prosecution. In Mexico, lawmakers can't be charged with crimes-a
move aimed at protecting them from politically motivated
prosecutions.

When Mr. Godoy turned up in Congress, colleagues were divided. Many of
his fellow PRD members argued that Mr. Calderon's crackdown on
Michoacan politicians was mostly aimed at the PRD, which governs the
state.

But any support Mr. Godoy might have enjoyed withered quickly when
tapes surfaced of an alleged telephone conversation between the
lawmaker and Servando Gomez, a leader of the La Familia cartel.

In the conversation, the two appear to be on very friendly terms, and
the drug trafficker promises to support the lawmaker in his election
campaign.

Mr. Godoy's loss of immunity comes a week after federal police and
soldiers fought members of La Familia in a two-day battle that cost
the lives of five policemen and led to the death of Nazario Moreno,
known as "The Craziest One," a leader of the organized-crime group.

Since then, there have been a half-dozen demonstrations in areas
controlled by La Familia by supporters of the cartel demanding that
federal police be removed. Gunmen believed to belong to the cartel
attacked several bank branches and gas stations in rural Michoacan
Tuesday, the second consecutive day of such attacks. There were no
reports of injuries.