- The tourist haven of Cancun, on Mexico's Caribbean coast,
is being shaken by a turf war between two drug cartels.
-
- According to law enforcement officials, drug traffickers
are competing to control routes for shipping Colombian cocaine north towards
the US market. It is alleged that police may have been trying to assist
them.
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- The violence came to a head last week when, during one
day, four bodies were discovered in a burnt-out car, and five other people
were shot in the head, among them three agents from a branch of the Mexican
equivalent of the FBI.
-
- This week federal prosecutors from the capital seized
control of the branch, with the help of the army, sacked its top official
and arrested eight other agents and a local police chief.
-
- Neither drug trafficking nor drug-related corruption
is new to Cancun, but such crime has not bubbled to the surface so dramatically
since the 90s.
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- The authorities say two organisations are trying to return
the region to lawlessness, sending hit squads in to eliminate the competition.
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- Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who three years
ago escaped from prison in a laundry basket, reportedly controls one of
the gangs. His rival appears to be the Gulf cartel, which reportedly is
controlled by its long-time chief, Osiel Cardenas, who was jailed last
year.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004
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- http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1365659,00.html
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