Mit Tänzen, Theater und Musik feiert Mexiko 200 Jahre Unabhängigkeit. Doch der Krieg gegen die Drogenkartelle überschattet die Festlichkeiten - landesweit wurden die Sicherheitsvorkehrungen drastisch verschärft, einige Städte mussten ganz auf Veranstaltungen verzichten.

Mexiko-Stadt - Der Jubiläumstag begann mit einem Beben: Erdstöße der Stärke 5,9 erschütterten den mexikanischen Badeort Puerto Vallarta - die stärkste Erschütterung in der Region seit zehn Jahren. Mexiko feiert am Mittwoch den Beginn seines Unabhängigkeitskampfes gegen Spanien vor 200 Jahren, doch nicht nur das Beben, auch die Gewalt der Drogenmafia überschatten die Festlichkeiten.

spiegel.de

Spanish police have detained two Colombian suspected hitmen in the service of drug cartels wanted for their involvement in murders, kidnappings and torture, the interior ministry said Tuesday.

Henry Norberto Valdes Marin alias Pollo, 36, and Mauricio Alberto Gonzalez Sepulveda, 44, were arrested in the eastern region of Valencia, it said in a statement.

La Negra operates in eight countries and is held responsible for the murder of more than 200 people in Colombia alone.

rnw.nl
typicallyspanish.com

Den mexikanischen Sicherheitskräften ist ein weiterer Schlag gegen die Rauschgiftmafia gelungen: Die Polizei hat in Puebla in Zentral-Mexiko den Drogenboss Sergio Villarreal alias "El Grande", einen der meistgesuchten Kriminellen des Landes, festgenommen. Villarreal, der laut Polizei in Diensten des Kartells Beltran Leyva steht, habe keinen Widerstand geleistet. Er sei zusammen mit zwei Begleitern festgenommen worden.

spiegel.de

Mexican marines captured a top lieutenant of a leading drug cartel on Sunday, officials said, as authorities intensified their campaign against drug kingpins.

Sergio Villarreal, dubbed "El Grande," was a leading member of the Beltran Leyva cartel and did not resist capture when dozens of marines using armored vehicles cornered him at a safe house in the central Mexican city of Puebla, a marine official told Reuters.

reuters.com

An anonymous, twentysomething blogger is giving Mexicans what they can't get elsewhere - an inside view of their country's raging drug war.

Operating from behind a thick curtain of computer security, Blog del Narco in less than six months has become Mexico's go-to Internet site at a time when mainstream media are feeling pressure and threats to stay away from the story.

Many postings, including warnings and a beheading, appear to come directly from drug traffickers. Others depict crime scenes accessible only to military or police.

seattletimes.nwsource.com
blogdelnarco.com
translate.google.com

GIVE MEXICAN President Felipe Calder?n credit for honesty as well as courage. Last week he presided over a three-day public conference to assess the results of nearly four years of war against Mexico's drug cartels. Most of the facts were grim:

-- According to the chief of the national intelligence service, 28,000 people have died violently since Mr. Calder?n deployed the Mexican army against the drug gangs in December 2006. That number represents an increase of 3,000 over the death toll the government reported earlier this summer.

washingtonpost.com