MEXICO: Drug Gangs Using Rehabs For Recruitment.

MIAMI HERALD/AP's Julie Watson reports that at least two drug gangs have used treatment facilities to grow their business. One group allegedly opened its own center and gave patients the ultimatum to work for the gang or die.

MEXICO: Growing Confrontations Between Police And Military.

AP/MIAMI HERALD/Long analysis/
"This year alone, police and soldiers have confronted one another more than 65 times, The Associated Press has learned - a growing and dangerous trend in the war on drugs.
"The moment they( police) shoot at us, get in our way, use their guns to protect criminals, they become criminals themselves," said Gen. Guillermo Moreno, who commands troops in Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas states along the Texas border.

New AP Chief Named To Havana Bureau.

From AP.

Paul Haven replaces longtime La Habana AP bureau chief Anita Snow.
She is going to Harvard on sabbatical.
What I'll remember about Anita Snow's reports from Cuba is that she never quite reported the correct value of Cuba's average monthly salary; she was always on the high side.

But, after all, this is Cuba where information is overly optomistic and hard to get. A standard refrain there is..." No es facil."

Yet, I applaud Snow's enterprise in trying to live like a Cuban...on only a ration book...for 30 days...in July 2007.

Snow reported: "I spent less than $17 for a month's sustenance, dropped nine pounds and learned — like Cubans — to budget carefully, plan meals ahead, buy only what was necessary and never throw food away."