Trying To Connect Two Mexican Drug Violence Dots

I've long-felt the need to develop a deeper understanding of the Mexican Drug War. It's close enough to us that we can all be affected by it, and there is nothing to say it might not envelope us sooner or later (as it already is enveloping the folks in South Texas).

Like many U.S. citizens, though, my understanding of Mexico is laughably-small, so it's hard to find a good entry point that is both small enough to be understood and big enough to be useful. I doubt even the Mexicans have a good understanding of the Mexican Drug War. It's hard to learn things when you are terrified, particularly when there are VERY BIG incentives to NOT learning things.

There are strong geographic biases in Mexican Drug War violence. The border areas are particularly violent, but paradoxically, large parts of Mexico are quite safe: safer even than the U.S., if statistics can be relied upon. Local knowledge is a must, if it can be gained. So, I thought I'd focus on areas that I visited while travelling on the cruise ship I was on last November/December. As estranged as I was from the local scene by my tourist status, at least I have some clue where these places are.

Attacks on the police are a constant theme in Mexican Drug War violence. It's no different in Sinaloa. There is a recent story about a hit on the police in the northeast Mazatlan suburb of Colonia Villas del Sol (working from a Google translation):

Thursday April 28, 2011: Yesterday an armed group came to the Colony Villas del Sol, and attacked Hector Aguilar Javier Portillo, 42, who worked as an agent of the state police in Mazatlan, Sinaloa.

Neighbors noticed the execution and called authorities. The man's body was found next to his white van. The site found dozens of spent shell casings from AK-47 rifle.

An expert Personal Service agent picked up the corpse belonged to the Base 38 of the Ministerial Police.

But that isn't the only recent hit on the police - there was another one just two months ago, in the same general neighborhood (working from a Google translation):

MAZATLÁN: A city police officer was shot dead when he was near his home in the subdivision Villa del Sol.

The policeman who had at least 5 years disability was identified by relatives as Juan Gabriel Morales Medina, "The Peewee", who was 48 years old, and lived on the avenue Genaro Estrada of that housing project.

Reports provided by police elements who arrived in the area indicate that the deadly attack originated at 11:20 pm outside a store named "Cactus" located down the street Aurora Borealis.

Two young men arrived on board a black motorcycle, and came to where the policeman was allegedly playing a wind instrument.

One of the murderers took from his clothes a gun and shot at close range the uniformed officer, who fell on the sidewalk next to his instrument of trade.

After committing the deadly attack, the thugs accelerated and pulled down the same street Aurora Borealis due west ....

Minutes later the area was plagued by military and police officers and Red Cross paramedics who tried to give first aid to the victim, who unfortunately had already ceased to exist.

So, a state police officer, and a disabled city policeman.

Villas del Sol is a suburb of Mazatlan: on the fringe of the metropolitan area, but near a major highway. From what I can tell, it's a pleasant-enough place, but someone clearly has it in for the police - any police - in this particular neighborhood. I wonder why?