DEATH OF MEXICAN DRUG LORD BOOSTS CALDERON'S PUSH

MEXICO CITY-The killing of one of Mexico's top drug lords Thursday
gave a much-needed boost to Mexico's embattled President Felipe
Calderon, who has staked his presidency on wrestling back control of
the country from powerful criminal syndicates and proving his military
is up to the task.

But experts warned Friday that the killing of Ignacio "Nacho" Coronel,
56 years old, considered to be the third most important leader in the
Sinaloa cartel, Mexico's most powerful organized-crime organization,
could lead to more bloodshed as other drug traffickers fight to fill
his shoes.

Mr. Coronel was shot dead as he resisted capture by Mexican soldiers,
who swooped down in helicopters on his million-dollar walled mansion
close to the city of Guadalajara. Mexico's defense ministry said Mr.
Coronel killed one soldier and wounded another before he was killed.

"It's certainly good for Calderon, and it burnishes the army's
credentials," said Bruce Bagley, an expert on drug trafficking at the
University of Miami.

Yet Mr. Coronel's death hasn't stopped the cartels from exerting
influence elsewhere in the country.

Gunmen believed to be from the Sinaloa cartel have been holding three
of the four journalists who were kidnapped Monday in the area of
Torreon, in northern Mexico. The journalists had been covering prison
disturbances related to killings by inmates allegedly working for drug
cartels. One of the journalists was released Thursday.

The U.S. consulate in the border city of Ciudad Juarez-the largest
U.S. consulate in the world-shut down Friday to complete a security
review following what a U.S. state department spokeswoman said was a
"threat in the area." For the past three years, Ciudad Juarez has been
a battleground for warring drug cartels.

Some experts have suggested that Mr. Calderon's government and the
military were protecting the Sinaloa cartel, which is headed by
Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who has repeatedly escaped capture. The
Mexican government and the military have repeatedly denied that they
are protecting any drug cartel. Mr. Coronel's death may put an end to
the earlier speculation.

Mr. Bagley also warned that Mr. Coronel's death could trigger a bloody
succession fight. "There will be a balancing of accounts as people in
the organization wonder who ratted us out, who took a bribe, and then
failed to honor it," he said.

Moreover, the drug trade will likely continue unabated without Mr.
Coronel, says George W. Grayson, a professor at the College of William
& Mary and a drug expert. The Sinaloa cartel had divided operations
among different kingpins and Mr. Coronel's death "is by no means a
death blow" to the organization, he said.

Mexico has been caught in an ever increasing spiral of violence that
has killed some 26,000 people 2006, when Mr. Calderon sent about
45,000 ill-prepared soldiers to take the place of the country's
corrupt police forces shortly after assuming power in a bid to push
back ascendant drug lords.

The kidnapped reporters, including two from Mexico's most powerful
television network, Televisa and one from cable broadcaster Grupo
Mulitimedio were taken Monday while covering protests by prisoners at
a penitentiary in the city of Gomez Palacio. The protestors were
seeking the reinstatement of the warden, Margarita Rojas, who had been
arrested on Sunday for allegedly allowing prisoners to leave the jail
to commit mass killings. Such killings have taken some 35 lives in the
nearby city of Torreon his year.

On Wednesday, Milenio Diario, a newspaper owned by Grupo Multimedio,
said the kidnappers were unhappy with the coverage of the events at
the prison and demanded it run three unedited videos of police
officers on its Torreon cable outlet. The officers, held by an unknown
gang, accused authorities of being in league with Los Zetas, a rival
cartel of Sinaloa. The network did as it was asked. Airing the video
tape was part of the negotiations for their release and one of the
journalists-who works for Televisa-was released Thursday. But a
journalist close to the matter said that the kidnappers were demanding
additional footage be aired on the networks' national shows.

Televisa and Grupo Multimedios, which runs Milenio, couldn't be
reached for comment. But on Thursday night, the two news outlets
appeared to reject further demands, setting the stage for a possibly
tragic showdown. Grupo Multimedios' Ciro Gomez Leyva, director of
Grupo Multimedio's Melenio television, appeared on a broadcast and
said the outlet was not "equipped to negotiate for hostages."

That same evening, Denise Maerker, who hosts a Televisa news show,
said the broadcast had been canceled. Before going off the air, she
said the Torreon incident "represents more widely the kidnapping of
all of journalism."