Pubdate: Sat, 22 Jan 2005
Source: BBC News (UK Web)
Copyright: 2005 BBC
Contact:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/558
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/mexico

MEXICO JAILS PLACED ON HIGH ALERT

Mexico's three top-security prisons have been placed on maximum alert
after the murder of six prison officers.

The move means all visits to inmates are suspended and staff are being
given extra protection.

President Vicente Fox has vowed to wage "the mother of all battles"
against drug lords blamed for the killings in the northern Matamoros
penitentiary.

The prison workers were kidnapped and blindfolded before being shot
and dumped outside the jail on Thursday.

The army has sealed off the prison and the neighbouring city, on the
border with Texas.

Mexico's troops last week took over another prison - La Palma near the
capital - following a series of killings there.

The latest murders are being seen as the result of an escalating
battle between federal authorities and rival drugs gangs, the BBC's
Claire Marshall in Mexico City reports.

Execution-style killings

The prison workers had left the compound early on Thursday in three
separate cars after finishing their shifts, federal prosecutor Marco
Antonio Ramirez said at Friday's news conference in Matamoros.

He said they were later stopped by gunmen who had set up a roadblock
near the prison.

The employees were handcuffed and blindfolded before being shot dead,
the prosecutor said.

The bodies were dumped in a bullet-riddled vehicle parked just across
the road from the prison. Several of the victims showed signs of
torture, Mr Ramirez added.

President Fox linked the attack to a crackdown on drug gangs,
apparently operating from behind bars.

"We'll respond with all the might of the state," he said after
Thursday's meeting with top security officials.

'Humiliation'

It is only a week since more than 750 federal soldiers and police were
called into take control of another high security prison at La Palma.

This came after a series of murders and rumours that two powerful
drugs lords, Osiel Cardenas and Benjamin Arellano Felix, were joining
forces inside the prison.

Some inmates had been transferred from La Palma north to Matamoros to
try to break up the group, our correspondent says.

Some Mexican security analysts said the Matamoros murders were in
revenge for what they described as the "humiliation" dealt to drug
lords at La Palma.

Footage of top criminals there - lined up in the prison patio with
their heads bowed and hands folded behind their backs - was recently
aired on Mexico's TV.
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin