| International News

"Society, families, schools, media outlets and the church must raise their voices and condemn these acts of death," Archbishop Francisco Robles Ortega of Monterrey told reporters in late June.

"It is necessary for us to be vocal ... to see that justice is done," he said.

Violence has flared across northern Mexico over the past few years as narcotics gangs have waged a bloody turf war over lucrative trafficking routes between Mexico and the United States, but it only recently spilled into Monterrey, a prosperous industrial city located 135 miles south of the border at Laredo, Texas. A series of brazen attacks, including the assassination of a legislator outside the statehouse in mid-June, has left many residents lost for answers and taking increased personal security measures.

"For those of us who have lived a long time in Monterrey, it's a surprise that ... the level of violence has been increasing," said Father Juan Hinojosa Vela of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in suburban San Pedro Garza Garcia, one of the wealthiest municipalities in Latin America.

"There have previously been problems in the border region, but not here in Monterrey," he said.

In August 2006, the state investigation agency's director was murdered in a park across from Our Lady of Fatima after being lured away from an exhibition he was attending.

According to Father Hinojosa, the incident and the general level of violence have scared many parishioners, who are changing their lifestyles as a precaution.

"People aren't going out to public places as often," he said.

He added that some residents "are sending their children to study abroad -- and not just for the cultural experience, but because it's not safe here."

Stories of shootings and businesses stepping up security measures regularly dominate the headlines in Monterrey. One U.S. pizza chain installed metal detectors when it opened last month.

Even a seedy short-stay motel now offers "bulletproof rooms" complete with steel doors for $5 per hour. Business is booming, according to manager Lucy Regalado, who said, "People come here for the extra security."

Fifty miles away in Saltillo, the capital of neighboring Coahuila state, violence also has erupted, although to a lesser degree. After a June shootout at a casino, Bishop Raul Vera Lopez of Saltillo called for the establishment's license to be revoked and branded it "a money-laundering front."

The bishop referred to the narcotics gangs involved as "a cancer" that "need to corrupt our political and financial structures."

He also criticized the federal government's strategy of sending more soldiers into the region to fight narcotics gangs, citing numerous charges of human rights abuses against the military.

Unlike the military, "the police know how to deal with the public," he said.

However, Archbishop Robles disagreed.

"I believe we're at a critical moment," he said. "If we don't allow the military to participate, the federal government won't fully be able to tackle this problem."

The archbishop pointed to the "introduction of weapons from the United States" as a serious problem in the region and expressed hope that U.S. politicians take action to stem it.

According to Nuevo Leon state legislator Fernando Kuri of the National Action Party, state and municipal police officers are often outgunned by well-equipped narcotics gangs. He said police officers only earn about $600 per month, making honest police unable to enforce the law and dishonest ones vulnerable to accepting bribes.

He described the situation in his state as "worrisome, very worrisome."