Mexican Bicentennial Overshadowed by Drug War With Cartels

(Sept. 13) -- Mexico's bicentennial celebrations this week will be overshadowed by the ongoing drug war and its rampant violence. In some of the most violent regions of the country, Independence Day festivities have been canceled or dramatically altered for public safety. And though there has been some recent good news in the government's war on drugs, the cartels' reign of terror continues. Headlines from the last week alone provide an indicator of where the country stands today.

1. "El Grande" captured
On Sunday, Mexican marines captured Sergio "El Grande" Villarreal, an alleged kingpin in the Beltran Leyva drug cartel, in Puebla, about 50 miles from Mexico City. Villarreal, also known as "King Kong" for his large stature, is suspected of being the cartel's second in command. Mexican intelligence says he controls drug distribution in Durango state and has been investigated for at least six murders since 2007, according to The Wall Street Journal. But the investigations have been stymied by a senior prosecutor who allegedly works for Villarreal. El Grande began his career in the Coahuila state police force before being transferred to Nuevo Laredo -- just across the border from Laredo, Texas -- by the attorney general's office.

2. Police dig up nine bodies in Morelos state
This weekend, Mexican police announced they had found two mass graves containing nine bodies believed to be victims of Edgar "La Barbie" Valdez, who was arrested Aug. 30. The bodies were found in Puente de Itxla and Tlaltizapan, about 80 miles south of Mexico City. The Public Safety Ministry said it had found another four bodies in Puente de Itxla earlier in the week, according to Agence France-Presse.

3. 85 prisoners escape from jail
On Sept. 10, 85 inmates escaped from a prison in the northern Mexico town of Reynosa, in Tamaulipas state, just across the border from McAllen, Texas. The men, who are mostly members of drug cartels, used ladders to climb over the prison walls. Police arrested more than 40 of the prison's guards and staff after the breakout, according to Reuters. The head of the state's prison facilities, Antonio Garza Garcia, told CNN that the prison was designed to hold 400 inmates but is currently housing 1,700.

4. 25 shot dead in Ciudad Juarez
On Sept. 9, gunmen went on a killing spree in Ciudad Juarez, a city in the northern state of Chihuahua just across from El Paso, Texas, killing 25 people. It was the deadliest day in three years for the city, which is on the front line of the drug cartel turf wars. In one incident, gunmen broke into a house and killed two men, then killed four others just for witnessing the murders, according to The Associated Press.

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5. Clinton says Mexico's drug cartels are looking like insurgencies
On Sept. 8, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the drug wars were beginning to look more and more like insurgencies and that Mexico was beginning to look more and more like Colombia did 20 years ago. Her words were rebuked by Mexican President Felipe Calderon, who called her comment "careless" and said it damaged Mexico's reputation. "I think the main thing in common with Colombia is that we are both countries that suffer the results of drug use in the United States. Both countries are victims of the enormous American consumption of drugs and now, in addition, of an exacerbated sale of arms from American industry," he said on Sunday.

6. Mayor of El Naranjo shot dead at his desk
On Sept. 8, as if to underscore Clinton's words, hooded gunmen killed the mayor of a small town in the state of San Luis Potosi, which borders the violent Tamaulipas state, as he sat at his desk in City Hall. Alexander Lopez Garcia was the third Mexican mayor to be murdered in the past four weeks.