In a wave of coordinated demonstrations against the use of the army in northern Mexico's crackdown on the warring drug cartels, hundreds of protesters on Feb. 17 blocked the international bridges over the Rio Grande at Ciudad Juárez, Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo, as well as blocking streets and government buildings in in the northern industrial city of Monterrey and roads in the Gulf state of Veracruz. The cities were paralyzed for hours, and riot police used water cannons to disperse the protesters in Monterrey, where streets were blocked for a sixth day running by marchers chanting "Soldiers, get out!" Protesters accused the army of arbitrary arrests and human rights abuses. But Nuevo León Gov. Natividad González Parás (PRI) charged that protesters were recruited and paid by the Gulf Cartel. (AP, El Universal, Feb. 17)

A team of gunmen in the southern Mexican state of Tabasco opened fire on the home of a state police officer and his extended family Feb. 14, killing 12 people, including a 2-year-old and five other children. The killing of police officer Carlos Reyes López and his family came days after police in Tabasco captured four accused narco-gunmen and left one suspect dead. However, state authorities are saying a family feud may be behind the attack. The victims included Reyes López's mother, wife, two children, and nephews. Also killed was a fruit vendor who had stopped at the home in the Monte Largo community of Macuspana municipality, west of Villahermosa. No arrests were reported. (LAT, AFP, La Jornada, El Universal, Feb. 16)

Soldiers in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua chased and killed 14 armed men who had kidnapped nine people and killed six of them Feb. 10. One soldier was killed by the kidnappers, bringing the death toll to 21. The gunmen took the hostages from the ranching town of Villa Ahumada and drove them to an isolated farm where six were killed, said Enrique Torres, a spokesman for Conjunto Chihuahua, federal government's multi-agency anti-drug operation in the state. A military convoy caught up with the kidnappers about 80 miles south of El Paso, killed seven of them and freed the remaining three hostages. Soldiers then pursued the other seven gunmen through heavy snow and killed them in a shootout. Three more apparent members of the gang were killed by soldiers in a mopping-up operation in Villa Ahumada Feb. 13. Assault rifles, fragmentation grenades and military uniforms and helmets were seized in the operation. (La Jornada, Mexico City, KVIA, El Paso, Feb. 13; NYT, Feb. 11)

Octavio Almanza Moreles AKA "El Gori 4" and six other presumed members of the Gulf Cartel's notorious paramilitary arms, the Zetas, were arrested in the Mexican resort city of Cancún on charges related to the killing of retired Gen. Mauro Enrique Tello Quiñones and 10 other military men, the federal Prosecutor General's Office announced Feb. 13.

In an effort to soften the impacts of the auto industry crisis, Mexican officials are offering financial assistance to foreign-owned companies with plants in Mexico. In the northern border state of Coahuila, the administration of Gov. Humberto Moreira announced it will give $1.5 million to General Motors in a bid to stave off more lay-offs. The aid package, which is meant to cover worker salaries, was unveiled after General Motors dismissed 600 workers at its Ramón Arizpe industrial complex in Coahuila last week.

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) charges that Mexico's investigation into the shooting death of US video-journalist Brad Will presents a scientifically flawed theory that ignores PHR's conclusive findings, including the discovery that one of the bullets was a ricochet. Will died of gunshot wounds while covering protests in Oaxaca in October 2006. According to public statements made last December by Mexico's Attorney General (PGR), the PGR rejected PHR's forensic expert findings that one of the bullets that struck Will in the chest had ricocheted off a red-colored object prior to hitting him.

Retired army Gen. Mauro Enrique Tello Quiñones, a civilian and another soldier, found dead near the Caribbean resort of Cancún, were tortured before being shot, Mexican authorities say. "We have to determine where the execution took place, where the torture occurred, surely in some safe house that the criminal groups must have," said Bello Melchor Rodríguez y Carrillo, the state attorney general of Quintano Roo.

Mexico's Federal Preventative Police announced Feb 5 the arrest of Gerónimo Gámez García, said to be the key middle-man between the Beltran Leyva criminal organization (a faction of warring Sinaloa Cartel) and Colombian cocaine suppliers. Gámez was reportedly apprehended with a million dollars in cash in the Ciudad Satélite suburb of the national capital. Eight men arrested with him reportedly included one Colombian. Federal authorities hailed it as a major blow against the cartels. (BBC News, La Jornada, Feb. 5)