Is bloody car bomb turning point in Mexico drug war?

Mexican President Felipe Calderon's government, struggling to contain gruesome drug violence, blamed the July 15 attack in Ciudad Juarez on one of the gangs battling police and each other for control of smuggling routes along the U.S. border.

The explosion suggests the cartels, which have typically used assault rifles and grenades to knock off rivals and go after police, are ready to use more elaborate tactics that may drag more ordinary Mexicans into the bloodshed.

“It's like an arms race,” said Alberto Islas, a security analyst with Risk Evaluation in Mexico City. “Beheading people is no longer enough ... Organized crime is going to keep escalating.”

Drug crime has already surged since the conservative Calderon declared war on drug cartels in late 2006. Mexicans are no longer surprised to hear regular reports of decapitated bodies dumped in ditches, corpses strung up from bridges or grenade attacks against police or army units.

Attacks along the border, including the March murder of a U.S. consulate worker and several mass slayings in drug rehab centers, have worried the U.S. government and heightened fears Mexico may lose control of drug strongholds.

But the recent car bomb, which killed four people when it tore through a major intersection in Ciudad Juarez, the famously violent border city, shocked many here.

The remotely detonated explosion drew comparisons with devastating attacks at the height of Colombia's drug war in the 1980s and early 90s, when cartels set off car bombs at banks and state buildings, assassinated top officials and even blew up an airliner in mid-flight, killing around 100 people.

1|2|3|Next Page>>

SharePrintEmail

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

Submit

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email