Mexico Under Siege

20 KILLED IN RIOT AT CIUDAD JUAREZ PRISON

It Takes Security Forces Nearly Three Hours to Contain the Unrest
Among Members of Three Gangs. All of the Dead Are Gang Members,
Authorities Say.

A fierce battle between rival drug gangs at a prison in the Mexican
border city of Ciudad Juarez on Wednesday left at least 20 inmates
dead and three critically wounded, authorities said.

It took guards, police and military reinforcements nearly three hours
to contain the unrest. Black smoke drifted from the cinder-block
prison and helicopters patrolled overhead as anxious families waited
outside for news.

Most of the victims had been beaten or stabbed to death.

The violence comes as the ravaged city is being placed under military
control. Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, has been
the epicenter of Mexico's raging drug war. More people have been
killed there than anywhere else -- 1,600 last year and 250 just last
month.

In recent weeks, the city's police chief was driven from office by
powerful drug traffickers who began slaying cops to underline their
threat. The state governor was ambushed; he survived but a bodyguard
was killed.

President Felipe Calderon ordered the deployment of additional troops
and police officers to Ciudad Juarez, nearly tripling the number, in
an attempt to restore law and order.

On Tuesday, city officials announced that the military would also take
command of the local, corruption-ridden police force as well as
transportation and city prisons.

Wednesday's prison uprising took place at a state facility that was
not slated to go under military authority.

Warden Cesar Martinez Acosta stressed that the fighting did not target
guards or security forces, and was not part of a breakout attempt. He
denied reports that two federal agents were among the dead.

The brawl, which erupted around 6 a.m. at the end of overnight
conjugal visits, pitted the Aztecas gang against the Mexicles. Also
fighting was the Mexicles' ally, Artistas Asesinos (Murdering Artists).

The Aztecas work with the so-called Juarez cartel, the trafficking
syndicate that has controlled Ciudad Juarez for years. It is now
locked in deadly competition for the area with the Sinaloa cartel.

All of the dead were from the Mexicles and Artistas Asesinos gangs,
authorities said, suggesting that the Aztecas started the fight. One
report said members of the Aztecas stole a guard's keys and were able
to free their cohorts and begin a rampage into parts of the prison
controlled by their rivals.

Police with tear gas backed by the army eventually put down the
riot.

At one point, inmates could be seen on the roof of the prison,
torching mattresses. Witnesses said they saw bodies being hurled from
second-story windows.

Carlos Gonzalez, spokesman for the state public security ministry,
said the exact causes of the brawl were not yet known, but that bad
blood between the Aztecas and Mexicles runs deep. They fight over
control of drugs, guns and other contraband in the prison.

"There have been conflicts between these two gangster groups for a
very long time, and there have been fights in the past," he said in an
interview. He said guns and sharp instruments were used in Wednesday's
melee.

Meanwhile, the military buildup in Ciudad Juarez has continued. An
additional 3,200 troops arrived last weekend and more are on the way,
officials said Wednesday.

The troops will patrol the city and set up nighttime checkpoints aimed
at preventing the free movement of traffickers.

The office of Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz issued instructions to citizens
to approach roadblocks with care, turning on the lights inside their
cars and rolling down their windows so that soldiers can identify
passengers easily.

Eventually the army will also take up positions in rural areas around
Ciudad Juarez to block traffickers from fleeing to neighboring states.