Mexico's Drug Cartel War -- News Updates For April 3, 2009

Federal police officers escort alleged Mexican drug trafficker Vicente Carrillo Leyva, center, during his presentation to the media in Mexico City, Thursday, April 2, 2009. Carrillo Leyva, one of Mexico's most wanted drug suspects who allegedly was the second-in-command of the powerful Juarez cartel, was caught while exercising in a park in a posh Mexico City neighborhood early Wednesday, the Attorney General's office said Thursday. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo)

As Mexico Battles Cartels, The Army Becomes the Law -- Washington Post

Retired Soldiers Tapped to Run Police Forces

PETATLAN, Mexico -- President Felipe Calderón is rapidly escalating the Mexican army's role in the war against drug traffickers, deploying nearly 50 percent of its combat-ready troops along the U.S.-Mexico border and throughout the country, while retired army officers take command of local police forces and the military supplies civilian authorities with automatic weapons and grenades.

U.S. and Mexican officials describe the drug cartels as a widening narco-insurgency. The four major drug states average a total of 12 murders a day, characterized by ambushes, gun battles, executions and decapitated bodies left by the side of the road. In the villages and cities where the traffickers hold sway, daily life now takes place against a martial backdrop of round-the-clock patrols, pre-dawn raids and roadblocks manned by masked young soldiers.

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More News On Mexico's Drug Cartel War

US, Mexico work together to fight drug cartels -- AP
US Officials Meet With Mexicans to Quell Violence -- New York Times
Mexico, US to battle weapons traffic -- AFP
Little Progress as US, Mexico Discuss Drug Cartels and Arms -- Washington Post
Top US, Mexican officials meet on guns smuggling -- Christian Science Monitor
Bodies Hang From Mexico Overpass As Warning to Rival Drug Traffickers -- FOX News
Mexico says death toll from drug war is falling -- Reuters
Mexico Arrests No. 2 in Juarez Drug Cartel -- Los Angeles Times
Mexican drugs kingpin Vicente Carillo Leyva arrested - jogging in park -- Times Online
Mexico Arrests Drug Cartel Scion -- Wall Street Journal
Mexican Drug Cartel Suspect Caught in Park -- Associated Press
Mexico arrests suspected No. 2 in Juarez drug cartel -- Bloomberg
US Targets Gun Flows into Mexico -- Christian Science Monitor
Border Security to Get $400M Upgrade -- Associated Press
$400M earmarked for Mexico-U.S. border -- UPI
On the Borderline of Good and Bad -- Los Angeles Times
Drug war strikes blow to Mexican economy in crisis -- Reuters