Uncovering Mexico
Jeremy Schwartz is the Mexico correspondent for Cox Newspapers. He is based in Mexico City.What's on this page?
The entry titled "Narcos: we didn't blow up celebration."
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Home > Uncovering Mexico > Archives > 2008 > September > 19 > Entry
Narcos: we didn’t blow up celebration
In the hours after the frightening Independence Day grenade attack in Morelia, suspicion fell, perhaps naturally, on a fledgling drug cartel called La Familia. After all, La Familia is headquartered in Michoacan, the central Mexican state where the attacks occurred. And La Familia has been engaged in a brutal war on two fronts - with its traditional rivals in the Sinaloa Cartel and former-allies-turned-bitter-enemies the Zetas, the armed wing of the Gulf Cartel.
On Friday morning, La Familia went on a PR offensive, draping at least five banners around Morelia, declaring their innocence and blaming the Zetas. La Familia has used such publicity throughout its history - they’ve taken out ads in local newspapers and even had a spokesman who would meet with intrepid reporters. The group presented itself as the savior and protector of Michoacan, defending it from traffickers from other states and pledging to rid the state of Ice methamphetamine (Of course the group was also linked to mass beheadings, kidnappings and extorsions.)
We still don’t know who committed the attacks. Two suspects arrested in Zacatecas on Thursday were cleared of involvement after what one can only surmise was a thorough interrogation. Most agree that drug cartels are the likely culprit, although some have speculated it was the result of rancorous political fights within Michoacan. But authorship of such an attack would be political suicide, even for the most radical group.
It would also seem counter-intuitive for La Familia to attack their own state’s celebration. As much as they link themselves to Michoacan pride and seem to cultivate popular sentiment, it would also be a public relations suicide for them.
Regardless of who did it, the impact on Morelia has been huge. Here’s how Jennifer Rose, an ex-pat living in Morelia, described the scene this morning on her blog Staring at Strangers:
“Life is the same in Morelia - and it isn’t. And never will be. Like anyplace else, lives go on, people go to work and shop at Walmart (where there was a false alarm this week about a bomb), and on the surface, it looks the same. There is a palpable tension in the air, a quiet nervousness that just wasn’t there on Monday afternoon, and many people are on a heightened sense of alert. People will avoid public events for a while. We’ll put on a brave face, but the reality is that many are filled with fear.”
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