Mexican army cracks down on drug gangs, seals town
12 Dec 2006 23:48:39 GMT Source: Reuters
(Adds town sealed off, byline) APATZINGAN, Mexico, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Mexican soldiers searched cars at checkpoints and the navy patrolled coastal areas on Tuesday in a crackdown on feuding drug gangs that have terrorized a western state. Newly installed President Felipe Calderon is sending 5,000 troops to Michoacan state to battle the drug cartels, in his first high-profile move against crime since taking office on Dec. 1. Troops in armored cars and federal police set up checkpoints around the towns of Apatzingan and Aguililla, scene of some of the worst violence between rival drug cartels. Some 500 people have been killed this year in Michoacan, a transfer point for cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamines that are smuggled north to the United States. Beheadings have become common and drug hit men, often better armed than local police, effectively control swathes of the countryside. "What is happening is that we are putting all our force against that. It's about controlling and occupying territory," Attorney-General Eduardo Medina Mora said. Troops in helmets and flak jackets searched all cars coming in and out of the lowland town of Apatzingan, checking tires for any drugs hidden there. Locals said they welcomed the troops. Calderon, a native of Michoacan, said the operation, announced on Monday, was also aimed at disrupting trafficking routes and finding drug plantations. The troops sought to "recover normality and peace for the Mexicans who live in that state," Calderon said. Navy launches patrolled the sea off the Pacific port of Lazaro Cardenas on Tuesday, witnesses said. Almost 3,000 people, mostly drug gang members and police, have been killed in the past two years in cartel wars across Mexico. In the most shocking incident yet, some 20 men from a gang called "The Family" blasted their way into a seedy nightclub in the avocado-growing town of Uruapan in September and tossed five severed heads onto the dance floor to warn rivals. Most of the killings have been on the Pacific coast and near the U.S. border. The drug feud involves two main gangs, from northeastern and northwestern Mexico, and their local allies. The previous government of former President Vicente Fox announced "the mother of all battles" against narcotics smugglers but failed to stop the killings.
