An unarmed city policeman walks past soldiers guarding the public safety offices in Tijuana, Mexico, Jan. 6, 2007. Local police suspended their patrols because soldiers sent to crack down on drug gangs and corruption seized most of their guns on suspicion they aided traffickers. (Guillermo Arias/Associated Press)

It wasn't an image to inspire much confidence: Mexican soldiers entered a police station in Tijuana in January and took away the officers' weapons. The reason? To run ballistics tests to see whether police guns were used in any of the 300-plus drug-related murders in the city in 2006.

Welcome to the latest chapter in Mexico's war on drug traffickers. One of the first major decisions that Felipe Calderon made after becoming the country's president on Dec. 1, 2006, was to hurl the full weight of the federal government against the drug cartels.

The Tijuana police aren't crazy about losing their weapons. They went on strike for two days, saying they needed guns to do their jobs.

When they did return to work, the unarmed, cruiser-bound cops were welcomed by taunts and death threats from people — presumed to be linked to the Tijuana drug cartel — who had hacked into their police radios. For the past week, soldiers with machine guns have joined them on the beat.

Tijuana won't be the last city to see the army doing police work in Mexico. This week the army arrived in the resort city of Acapulco, another front in the drug war.

Violence by drug gangs has reached new heights

The fight against illegal drugs has vexed Mexican presidents for decades, but violence by drug gangs has risen to new levels in the past six years.

External Link

Washington Office on Latin America report

According to a study by a Mexican congressional committee, 9,000 people died in Mexico's drug wars during Vicente Fox's presidency from 2000 to 2006. Some of the worst violence came after the arrest of several cartel bosses early in Fox's term.

"The arrests … rather than halting the flow of drugs, merely altered the balance of power among the cartels and opened a Pandora's box of violence," Laurie Freeman wrote in a chilling report on the Mexican drug wars for the Washington Office on Latin America, an non-governmental organization.

Severed heads on the disco floor

Some of the killings were especially grisly.

In one case in the summer of 2006, hitmen tossed several severed heads onto the dance floor of a disco in the town of Uruapan in the state of Michoacan.

Just last week, a mass grave in the same town produced nine bodies, bound and shot in the back of the head.

As the cartels fought it out, police and politicians were sometimes caught in the crossfire.

"Drug traffickers have become the law of the land in many Mexican cities because of their ability to corrupt and threaten public officials," Freeman writes.

Could Mexico become another Colombia?

Polls suggest public safety is the Number One issue in the minds of Mexicans. That should come as no surprise given the parade of gory images in the country's media.

But it's more than a media-generated fear campaign. Analysts point to a worst-case scenario that would see Mexico becoming a new Colombia, with constant low-intensity wars between rival drug gangs and the state.

This was the backdrop against which Calderon took power.

In December, thousands of troops marched into Calderon's home state of Michoacan. In early January, thousands more arrived in Tijuana. Now it's Acapulco's turn. Calderon is preparing both his military, and average Mexicans for a long fight.

"I reiterate that this is not easy work, nor will it be rapid. It will take much time, involve enormous resources of Mexicans and include, lamentably, the loss of human life. It is work that will not bear fruit quickly, but is indispensable to secure the future of Mexico," Calderon told a gathering of soldiers last week.

Can Calderon curb the cartels?

Will it work?

The government says it will. Defence Minister Guillermo Galvan says the cartels that were battling for control of the drug business in Michoacan have been dealt a serious blow.

Hundreds of weapons have been seized, dozens of people are in custody, the smooth transfer of marijuana, crystal meth and other drugs from Mexico to the United States has been disrupted.

Others are less optimistic. Local police officials interviewed in the Mexican media say most of the foot soldiers in the drug war have gone to ground. In small towns in Michoacan, residents appreciate the peace the army has brought and fear what might happen when the soldiers leave.

Critics call for end to impunity for officials

Other analysts say it's too much to ask of the military to do be doing police work in perpetuity. Calderon has to somehow break the relationship between the cartels and corrupt officials at all levels.

"To stop the impunity of the narco-traffickers, there has to be an end put to the obscene impunity of officials at all three levels. We're waiting for this," said Raymundo Riva Palacio, a Mexico City newspaper columnist.

On Jan. 10, a Mexico City newspaper reported that a dozen police departments in five states were being investigated for links with drug gangs. Perhaps it's the start of the house cleaning that Riva Palacio was asking for.

Lost in the debate here is a cruel reality that Mexico cannot escape: As long as there is a demand for pot, crystal meth, cocaine and heroin in Canada and the United States, Mexico will be a drug-war battleground.

Calderon was right. The drug war, however Mexico chooses to fight it, will be a long one.

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