MEXICAN RESIDENTS FEAR CARTEL VIOLENCE AT INDEPENDENCE CELEBRATIONS

Many Expected to Stay Home on Sept. 16

REYNOSA - The latest casualty of Mexico's drug violence isn't a cartel
hit man, an elected official, a cop, a soldier or even an innocent
bystander.

No, that body being carted away on a stretcher is the freedom and
festivity one would typically expect as a nation celebrates the
bicentennial of its independence from its erstwhile colonial master.

After several months of escalating drug violence, some Mexican cities
have moved their bicentennial celebrations to earlier, ostensibly
safer, times or have beefed up security - even in the absence of any
specific threat. Other cities have cancelled independence celebrations
altogether.

Reynosa Mayor Oscar Luebbert Gutierrez announced Friday that his
city's traditional festivities surrounding the "Grito de
Independencia" - the battle cry of the Mexican War of Independence
from Spain - will take place in a closed venue Wednesday. Typically,
large crowds gather in the main plaza to watch a ceremony performed on
a City Hall balcony.

Such gatherings take place in cities all over Mexico, with the
celebrations normally kicking off about midnight.

Reynosa's ceremony will begin considerably earlier this year, at 8:30
p.m., with the entertainment portion of the festivities starting even
earlier, at 5 p.m.

But participation, even on the occasion of the nation's bicentennial,
is widely expected to be muted.

People are afraid to attend and many will probably stay away, said one
Reynosa reporter, who asked not to be identified.

About 8:30 p.m. Saturday, just four days before the grito festivities,
Reynosa officials reported a "situation of risk" after an explosive
device detonated downtown at the intersection of Juarez and Aldama
streets, about four blocks from the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge.

There were no immediate reports of casualties, but such incidents have
become increasingly common. Shortly before 1 p.m. Aug. 28, city
officials reported via Twitter that there had been an explosion at La
Quebradita, a downtown bar at the intersection of Colon and Juarez
streets - about half a mile from the Hidalgo-Reynosa border crossing.

Authorities in Reynosa did not offer any explanation as to why they
moved celebrations to the recently inaugurated Parque Cultural
Reynosa, which boasts a theater that is state-of-the-art theater but
has limited capacity. Local TV stations are scheduled to broadcast the
event for the public.

Matamoros announced the cancellation of its parade but plans to
proceed as usual with other traditional events.

Grito de Independencia celebrations kick off about midnight every
Sept. 15 in towns across Mexico's 32 states. Mayors preside over their
towns' respective ceremonies, while governors ring in the revelries in
their respective states. Mexican President Felipe Calderon is set to
preside over Mexico City's celebrations.

People gather by the hundreds in the main plazas, waiting for their
leaders to appear on a balcony, ring a bell and wave the Mexican flag
like the father of the nation's independence - Miguel Hidalgo y
Costilla, a Roman Catholic priest from the town of Dolores, near
Guanajuato - did 200 years ago.

Presiding officials will yell, "Viva Mexico" (Long live Mexico), which
the crowd will then repeat. The leaders and crowds will also yell,
"Viva los heroes que nos dieron patria y libertad," which means, "Long
live the heroes that gave us a country and freedom."

After this cry of independence, most towns blast fireworks while
people stay in the plazas to enjoy an entertainment program with
singers and dancers. The following morning always brings parades
filled with members of the armed forces and local school groups.

But this year's celebration comes as an increase in violence in
southern Tamaulipas has rocked the normally peaceful towns of
Altamira, Madero and Tampico. Those cities considered cancelling their
events but decided against it, though they plan to tighten security
with support from Mexico's navy.

The country's most violent city, Ciudad Juarez in Chihuahua, cancelled
its popular grito ceremony, which typically draws 20,000 to 30,000
people. Instead, city authorities plan to broadcast a small ceremony
via local TV and radio stations.

In the neighboring state of Nuevo Leon, the city of Guadalupe pushed
its celebrations earlier than usual. And state authorities announced
they would install metal detectors to prevent armed individuals from
infiltrating the crowd in Monterrey, the state capital.

People said they were afraid to suffer an attack like the one that
disrupted grito celebrations in Michoacan's state capital, Morelia,
two years ago, when drug cartel members launched grenades into crowds,
killing eight people and injuring a hundred others.

The attack was attributed to the Zetas, when they were still allied
with the Gulf Cartel. Nowadays, the two groups are engaged in a bloody
struggle for dominance in northeast Mexico.

"It is so sad that we cannot have our celebration like we used to,"
said Mexico resident Juan Garza. "And this year is 200 years."

Garza has made an annual tradition out of taking his children to the
local main plaza for the festivities. This year the family will forgo
that tradition.

"We will watch it through TV," he said. "It's too dangerous."

This past weekend, the Mexican Consulate in McAllen had its annual
grito ceremony at the McAllen Convention Center. On Wednesday, Hidalgo
County and the city of Hidalgo plan to unveil plaques on monuments
dedicated to Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla.

The observances come just days after the U.S. Department of State
issued an updated travel advisory for Mexico urging U.S. citizens to
avoid unnecessary travel on Mexican Highway 2 between Reynosa and
Nuevo Laredo due to ongoing drug violence.

Echoing much of what the U.S. government has said since February, when
security began to deteriorate across northeast Mexico, the latest
warning asks people to avoid unnecessary travel to Michoacan,
Tamaulipas, parts of Chihuahua, Sinaloa, Durango and Coahuila.

Confrontations between the Gulf Cartel and the Zetas have increased as
the organizations struggle for control of drug smuggling routes across
the region. Drug cartel members have also battled Mexican military
troops deployed across the country since 2006, when Calderon took a
hard-line stance against his nation's entrenched criminal
organizations.

More than 28,000 people have been killed in cartel-related violence in
Mexico since Calderon launched that offensive.