Mexican grenade attack shows no one is safe

[September 17, 2008]  MORELIA, Mexico (AP) -- The message was clear when two explosions ripped through crowds of Mexican Independence Day revelers: Anyone, anywhere, is fair game when it comes to Mexico's intensifying violence.

What wasn't clear was exactly who threw the two fragmentation grenades at a holiday celebration in the picturesque town of Morelia, killing seven people and injuring more than 100 others.

Michoacan Gov. Leonel Godoy immediately pointed a finger at the state's warring drug cartels. "Without a doubt, we believe this was done by organized crime," he said, but offered little to back up his claim.

Following an emergency meeting with Godoy, President Felipe Calderon pledged an immediate military response, the federal government's answer to drug violence.

"These illegal acts were clearly attacking our national security, committed by true traitors who have no respect for others or for the country," Calderon said. "Those who believe they can use fear to hold our society hostage and immobilize us are mistaken."

While drug gangs were the No. 1 suspect, the attack against what appeared to be innocent civilians was unusually random, even for Mexico's brutal cartels -- making it clear that fewer and fewer places in the violence-wracked country are safe.

No one has been detained in the explosions, and officials declined to say if anyone had claimed responsibility. The federal Attorney General's office immediately took the case from state investigators and refused to give any details.

The grenades rocked Morelia's crowded central square around 11:00 p.m. on Monday, just seconds after Godoy delivered the traditional "Viva, Mexico!" cry to thousands of revelers gathered for Independence Day fireworks, mariachi music and dancing.

Godoy, who was unhurt, said witnesses saw a heavyset man dressed in black throw one of the grenades and then beg forgiveness for what he had done, before slipping away in the crowd. Godoy gave no other details.

As night fell Tuesday, about 100 people gathered nearby for a candlelight vigil, chanting: "We want peace!"

It wouldn't be the first time cartels have surprised Mexico's increasingly jaded public. Beheadings, once unheard of, are commonplace, and a growing number of children are now being targeted or caught in the crossfire as drug gangs battle for territory and smuggling routes.

The increased brutality has even started a public debate between cartels, which hang banners blaming rival gangs for attacks and asking the public to turn against them.

One of the most violent regions in Mexico is Michoacan. The state's capital Morelia is Calderon's hometown -- and the first area to be blanketed with soldiers after he took office in late 2006.

Two of Mexico's main drug gangs are believed to be warring for control of lucrative drug routes that include Michoacan's Lazaro Cardenas port, its remote Pacific coastline and its relatively unpopulated pine-covered mountains, where thousands of monarch butterflies flock every year to nest.

Drug violence isn't the only crime on the rise in Mexico. Carjackings, kidnappings and muggings have all increased in recent years, and both the poor and the rich are targeted. Shadowy rebel groups have also attacked oil and gas pipelines, banks and government offices, but have been careful never to kill anyone.

Most killings have been drug-related, prompting Calderon to send more than 25,000 soldiers to cartel strongholds across the country. Gangs have only responded with more violence: buying police protection, killing those who can't be bought or forcing entire units to resign in fear.

Calderon, though, has refused to back down. After Monday night's attacks, he urged Mexicans to not be afraid.

"The Mexican people, especially on this important date, should remain united in the face of those who want to divide us," he said. But his pleas went largely unnoticed, and many Mexicans lashed out at his government for failing to stop the rising wave of violence.

Alfredo Sanchez, 53, was one of the revelers killed in the explosions Monday, as he waited near the plaza for his wife and kids to park the family car. After searching hospitals to find him, his family learned he was dead when they saw television footage of the attack and noticed his lifeless body lying in the street in blood.

His sister Isabel Sanchez said she doesn't care who launched the grenades. She just wants police to make streets safe again.

"We are tired of living like this," she said at his wake. "I don't understand why my brother died."

Another sister, her eyes red from weeping, wondered what future havoc the attackers might wreak.

"What did they gain from doing this?" Maria Elena Sanchez cried hoarsely. "They just made things worse."

[Associated Press; By TRACI CARL]

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