MEXICO: Female Student, 20, Named Police Chief Of Border Town In Violent Chihuahua.

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     In the violent border state of Chihuahua, a 20-year-old criminology student has been named a police chief and is being called Mexico's bravest woman.
      Marisol Valles is the new top cop in Praxedis Guerrero. She heads a force of just 13 agents,
nine of them women, with one working patrol car, three automatic rifles and a pistol.
     Asked if she feared for her safety, she replied: "Here everyone is frightened." But she added: "We are going to exchange this fear for security."

MEXICO: Newspaper Publisher Blames Bloodshed On Systematic Breakdown.

SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS NEWS/   Groupo Reforma newspaper magnate Alejandro Junco de la Vega, and recent Austin resident, blames the systematic breakdown in Mexico's society and institutions for the violence there. He believes the root of Mexico's security problem has evolved far beyond the drug trade. Even if U.S. stopped consuming drugs, he thinks Mexico would have the problem of “nonviolent violence,”--the end of hope and the chance “of a joyful life.” Besides, protection rackets are now the main problem, he claims. Most distressing, a recent poll of 4,600 students in Chihuahua shows 40% of them want to be hit men. “They would rather live a week like a king than have 70 years of misery,” Junco said. The students see poverty as their destiny unless they become murderers.

MEXICO: Bloodshed Escalates/U.S. Warns Consulate Personnel After Executions.

NYTIMES/UPDATE/ AM 15/03/    The U.S. State Department authorized the departure of dependents of personnel from cities along the border after three people connected with the Ciudad Juarez consulate were murdered in a drive-by shooting. They were shot to death by men who intercepted their cars as they returned from a child's birthday party, officials said Sunday. "The information we have indicates they were specific targets, but the motives behind the attack are not yet known," said an official. “Violence in the country has increased,” read a State web posting. “It is imperative that U.S. citizens understand the risks in Mexico, how best to avoid dangerous situations, and who to contact if victimized.” In Acapulco on Saturday, 13 people were killed in drug-related violence including five police officers. 20 more died in Guerrero. Eight people were slain at a birthday party for a farmer in Sinaloa.

Growing Opposition To Calderon's Nominee For Attorney General.

LAHT.
Activists in Ciudad Juarez, the border city known for the murder of hundreds of women, charge that the man nominated to be Mexico’s next attorney general did nothing about the “femicides” when was the top law enforcer in the northern state of Chihuahua.
Many of the 500 slayings of women and girls that happened in Juarez since 1993 occurred when Chavez was serving as deputy attorney general and then attorney general of Chihuahua.

Drug Cartel Targets Mormons In Northern Mexico.

From the Washington Post.