A CELEBRATION DAMPENED: DRUG VIOLENCE MUTES JUAREZ'S GRITO
COMMEMORATION

JUAREZ -- Tonight, when Mexico commemorates the bicentennial of its
independence, some of its residents will be forced to celebrate
quietly at home.

For the first time in the history of Juarez, city officials canceled
the traditional Grito de Independencia, or shout for independence,
because of drug-related violence.

Instead, the mayor of the violence-torn city asked residents to watch
the formal ceremony on television.

"They want us to watch it from home, but it is not the same," said
Roberto Aldana, 40.

The Juarez resident has taken his children to the city's celebration
every year. It usually is attended by at least 10,000 people.

Throughout Mexico, families will flock to city halls for the grito.
They will enjoy the music, the folklorico dances and traditional
Mexican food. At 11 p.m. local time, the country's president and
mayors of cities will shout the names of Mexican heroes and "Viva
Mexico!" from the balconies of those city halls.

But on Mexico's 200th birthday, the shouts will be muted in Juarez and
at least six other cities.

In Juarez, more than 6,700 people have been killed since Mexican
President Felipe Calderon declared a war on drugs at the end of 2006.
It's become one of the deadliest cities in North America.

Here, the Sinaloa and Juarez drug cartels fight a turf war using armed
gangs that also frequently target law enforcement.

Historians said Mexico's drug war is by far the bloodiest battle in
the nation's history.

"This is unprecedented for Mexico," said Oscar Martinez, a history
professor at the University of Arizona who has studied the El
Paso-Juarez border. "There have been periods of violence and
lawlessness in Mexican history, but the scale was much smaller than
what is happening today."

By comparison, Martinez has said, a conservative estimate is that
about 300 people died in battles in Juarez during the entire Mexican
Revolution of 1910.

"It is a catastrophic war that we cannot win," he said.

Mexico has seen instability several times in its 200-year
history.

In 1810, the country originated when a group of reformers plotted the
independence movement. They wanted to put an end to Spain's rule and
the caste system.

In the late 1850s, other reformers, including Benito Juarez, fought to
prohibit slavery, to gain freedom of expression and to separate the
church from the state.

In 1910, Mexico underwent a major social upheaval during its
revolution. Dictator Porfirio Diaz was overthrown, and revolutionary
leaders fought for an agrarian reform and more rights for the working
class.

Victor Orozco, a history professor at the Autonomous University of
Ciudad Juarez, said he has not found another time in history similar
to the current drug war.

It is a war in which it is not clear who the enemies are, he said. "We
don't know how to protect ourselves," he said.

Orozco sees the canceling of the Independence Day festivities as a
victory for the criminal groups.

"Our government was defeated," he said. "Our society was
defeated."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Tuesday called
Mexico "a strong, modern country with a thriving economy, and one of
the world's most admired cultures."

But Clinton's message did not resonate with residents of the border
city.

"There is no doubt we are a free country, we have freedoms," Orozco
said.

"The problem is the situation of crime prevents us from going out. We
are all scared. It is restraining our freedom."

Some college students said their friends were considering celebrating
the holiday in neighboring El Paso, which will have the grito at 6
p.m. today in Downtown's San Jacinto Plaza.

"I told them, 'But why?' " said Veronica Castillo, a law student at
the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez. She will celebrate with
her family in Juarez. "You might as well just go to Spain."

The canceled celebration means the usual festive atmosphere for the
holiday was toned down around the city this week.

Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said the city's limited budget did not
allocate money for more decorations.

He said the city government has no money because its property tax
revenues have declined -- many properties are abandoned in Juarez.

"To an extent," Reyes Ferriz said, "we are yielding to the criminal
element."