MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) – Hopes that Mexico’s conservative ruling party would usher in an era of clean government and establish order have given away to despair as drugs war violence increasingly hits ordinary civilians.

At least 52 people died last week when an arson attack by suspected drug cartel members gutted an upscale casino in the prosperous northern city of Monterrey, a bastion of President Felipe Calderon’s National Action Party, or PAN.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico has arrested five suspected drug gang members in connection with the torching of a casino last week that killed at least 52 people, one of the worst attacks on civilians in the country in years.

Thursday’s arson attack on the upmarket casino in the northern city of Monterrey has deepened skepticism about President Felipe Calderon’s fight against drug cartels, putting new pressure on his embattled government to root out crime.

MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) – Despite suffering one of the worst attacks on civilians in Mexico for years, the state of Nuevo Leon is undaunted because it believes a radical police overhaul will soon start winning the drug war.

President Felipe Calderon declared three days of mourning after at least 52 people died on Thursday in an arson attack on a casino in Nuevo Leon’s capital Monterrey, a wealthy city that increasingly has fallen prey to the ravages of drug cartels.

MEXICO CITY, Aug 2 (Reuters) – Unchecked drug war violence,
political gridlock and fears of a U.S. economic slowdown are
clouding the outlook for Mexico, Latin America’s second biggest
economy, ahead of a presidential vote next year.

DRUGS WAR

Anger is growing about the death toll of more than 40,000
people since President Felipe Calderon launched a war on drug
gangs in late 2006, and violence has spun out of control in
states along the U.S.-Mexico border. [ID:nN15124805]

NEZAHUALCOYOTL, Mexico (Reuters) – Mexico’s leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution was so sure of winning the last presidential election in 2006 that supporters took to the streets for months when it lost.

Now the party may have to join forces with the very rival it accused of stealing that election — the ruling conservative National Action Party, or PAN — to even compete next year.

MEXICO CITY, July 5 (Reuters) – Escalating drug war
violence, a dysfunctional oil monopoly and political gridlock
ahead of next year’s presidential election are clouding the
outlook for Mexico, Latin America’s second biggest economy.

NO RESPITE FROM WAR

Some 40,000 people have been killed in Mexico since
President Felipe Calderon launched his war on drug gangs in
December 2006, and the country risks losing control of large
areas to cartels near the U.S. border. [ID:nN15124805]

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – President Felipe Calderon’s crushing defeat in weekend state elections has badly hurt his party’s hopes of retaining power in 2012, setting the scene for a rough campaign designed to thwart the main opposition party.

Calderon’s conservative National Action Party, or PAN, trailed way behind in third place in Sunday’s election for governor in the State of Mexico, the country’s most populous state.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Once praised lavishly by the United States for waging a war on drugs, Mexico’s last two presidents now say legalizing them may be the best way to end the rising violence the U.S.-backed campaign has unleashed.

Ernesto Zedillo and Vicente Fox led efforts to crush drug trafficking gangs in Mexico between 1994 and 2006 but the rapid escalation of violence over the past four years under President Felipe Calderon has convinced them a change of tack is needed.

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – President Felipe Calderon apologized to victims of Mexico’s war on drugs in an emotional meeting with bereaved families on Thursday that sought to try and quell rising anger over violence sweeping the nation.

In a live television broadcast lasting several hours, Calderon sat in silence listening to accusations from grieving parents that his government was killing Mexico’s youth and allowing criminals to run rampant across the country.

MANZANILLO, Mexico, June 21 (Reuters) – Hurricane Beatriz
weakened into a tropical storm on Tuesday, sparing tourist
towns and ports along Mexico’s Pacific coast from serious
damage.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center downgraded what had been
a Category 1 hurricane and called off all warnings by mid-day
as Beatriz hovered near land and headed out to sea.