Pubdate: Sun, 11 Feb 2007
Source: Contra Costa Times (CA)
Copyright: 2007 Knight Ridder
Contact:  http://www.contracostatimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/96
Author: Ioan Grillo

MEXICAN LEADER VOWS TO CONTINUE DRUG WAR

Slayings of attorney general's officials won't deter government from 
action against cartels, president pledges

MEXICO CITY - Mexican President Felipe Calderon warned Saturday that 
there would be "no truce and no quarter" in his war on drug gangs 
following the brazen killing of seven law enforcement officials in 
Acapulco in what appeared to be an attempt to intimidate the federal 
government.

Flanked by the commanders of the army, navy and air force, Calderon 
told troops at a military base that the government would not be 
strong-armed by organized crime.

"We are not going to surrender, neither from provocation nor attacks 
on the safety of Mexicans," Calderon said. "We will give no truce or 
quarter to the enemies of Mexico."

On Tuesday morning, about 16 armed assailants staged and videotaped 
simultaneous attacks against two offices of the state attorney 
general in Acapulco, slaying five agents and two secretaries.

The gunmen were dressed in military uniforms and pretended to be 
conducting a weapons check, asking the agents to hand over all their 
rifles before opening fire.

Police later found a note in a Suburban believed to be used in the 
attack with the defiant message: "We could give a damn about the 
federal government, and this is proof" -- an apparent reference to 
the shootings. The van was parked outside a house packed with 
automatic rifles and military uniforms.

Calderon, a career politician in the conservative National Action 
Party, narrowly won last year's election with promises to smash the 
drug gangs that killed more than 2,000 people in 2006, many in 
execution-style killings and gruesome beheadings.

Since taking power in December, the president has sent more than 
24,000 soldiers and federal police officers to areas ravaged by drug 
violence, including 7,000 to Acapulco's Pacific state of Guerrero.

He has extradited four drug kingpin suspects to the United States, 
where they could be given life sentences in high security prisons.

"I instruct you to persevere until victory is achieved," he told the 
troops Saturday. "New pages of glory will be written."

Calderon's position has won him praise from the United States, with 
U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency chief Karen Tandy describing his battle 
as "an enormous leap forward."

Lawmakers from the leftist Democratic Revolution Party have 
criticized Calderon's approach, saying the military solution will not 
stop the traffickers when their business is so lucrative.

Mexican drug gangs are believed to make more than $10 billion 
annually smuggling Mexican-made heroin, marijuana and amphetamines 
and Colombian cocaine into the United States.

Democratic Revolution lawmakers helped draft a bill to legalize 
possession of small amounts of cocaine, heroin and marijuana, which 
Mexico's Congress approved last year. However, former President 
Vicente Fox refused to sign the bill after an outcry from U.S. officials.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman