Pubdate: Fri, 20 Aug 2010 Source: Wall Street Journal (US) Copyright: 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Contact: http://www.wsj.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487 Author: Jose de Cordoba CALDERON VOWS TO DEFEAT DRUG LORDS MEXICO CITY-President Felipe Calderon said Thursday he would redouble efforts to defeat Mexico's drug lords, after the kidnapping and killing of a mayor sent shock waves through the country, prompting business and political leaders in Monterrey, Mexico's wealthiest city, to demand more troops and police. In Santiago, a tourist town less than 20 miles from Mexico's industrial powerhouse of Monterrey, hundreds of residents mourned Edelmiro Cavazos, whose body, bound, gagged, and showing signs of torture, was found Wednesday by the side of the road. The 38-year-old mayor had been kidnapped Sunday and taken away by 15 men wearing uniforms of a now-defunct Mexican police agency driving in a convoy of SUVs. "Not only are we wounded by this, but we are indignant," said Mr. Calderon at a meeting with congressional leaders. "The death of Edelmiro is one more reason to fight drug trafficking by every means possible." Showing anger at the government's inability to curb violence, some mourners shouted for Rodrigo Medina, governor of Nuevo Leon, the state where Monterrey is located, to resign when he appeared in the town square. A Mexican official said Mr. Cavazos appears to have been murdered because he refused to cooperate with gangs of drug traffickers operating in the area. He said the Mexican government plans to send more troops and federal police to the area. Ten people, most, if not all of them local police officers have been detained and are under investigation for the killing. "It's a very delicate situation," the official said. "It seems this mayor refused to accept blackmail or bribes from the groups that are operating there." Santiago, a weekend getaway for Monterrey's elite, was named in 2006 to a national list of "Magic Towns" because of its colonial charms. But in recent times, Santiago has been caught in a crossfire of violence between drug cartels fighting for control of lucrative routes to the U.S. as well as growing local drug markets. A dozen Santiago police officers have been killed so far this year. Mr. Cavazos's assassination is the latest sign that the drug cartels, as they ratchet up their internecine struggle for territorial control, are training their sights on Mexico's political establishment. In June, gunmen ambushed and killed the leading gubernatorial candidate in next-door Tamaulipas state. A month earlier, a mayoral candidate in a Tamaulipas town was also killed. Since Mr. Calderon sent out some 50,000 federal troops in 2006 to take the place of often-corrupt police in the fight against drug cartels, about 28,000 people, most of them members of rival cartels, have died in the violence. In recent weeks, Mr. Calderon has been reaching out to other political parties to garner support for his security policies. Speaking to congressional leaders Thursday, Mr. Calderon said he would seek more financial resources for the anticrime campaign. He said reform of the country's legal code was urgently needed to win the struggle against organized-crime groups that not only deal drugs but also have branched out into extortion, migrant trafficking, kidnapping and other crimes. Mr. Calderon also criticized the inability of state, local and federal forces to work together in combating organized crime. "Delinquents now have more protection than victims or witnesses, policemen and prosecutors," he said.Mr. Calderon also made clear he would keep Mexico's soldiers patrolling the streets and highways until the drug lords have been defeated. But political support for Mr. Calderon's efforts might prove elusive. The congressional leaders of Mexico's main opposition party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, boycotted the meeting with Mr. Calderon because they said they had received the invitation to attend too late. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D