State of War

Mexico's hillbilly drug smugglers have morphed into a raging insurgency. Violence claimed more lives there last year alone than all the Americans killed in the war in Iraq. And there's no end in sight.

BY SAM QUINONES | FEBRUARY 16, 2009

What I remember most about my return to Mexico last year are the narcomantas. At least that's what everyone called them: "drug banners." Perhaps a dozen feet long and several feet high, they were hung in parks and plazas around Monterrey. Their messages were hand-painted in black block letters. They all said virtually the same thing, even misspelling the same...

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Sam Quinones, a reporter with the Los Angeles Times, is author of two books on Mexico. His Web site is www.samquinones.com.

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 SUBJECTS: DRUGS & CRIME, MEXICO