Official’s body found hanging from Tijuana bridge

TIJUANA, Mexico — The mutilated body of a state official who authorities said was suspected of giving fake driver’s licenses to drug gang members was found hanging from a bridge Friday in the Mexican border city of Tijuana.

Relatives identified the man as Rogelio Sanchez, a Baja California state official in charge of driver’s licenses, said Prisma Perez, a spokeswoman for the state Attorney General’s Office. Sanchez, 44, was kidnapped Wednesday as he left his home in Tijuana.

“The investigation indicates he had been giving licenses to organized crime,” Perez said.

His body was found hanging from the Morelio bridge at 5:30 a.m. in an industrial zone of Tijuana, just as factory workers were beginning to arrive for work.

Mexico’s brutal drug gangs often dump mutilated victims in public places.

Gang violence has killed more than 13,800 people since President Felipe Calderon launched a nationwide crackdown on drug cartels in December 2006. Many have been police and other government officials who are often attacked near their homes or inside their cars.

Calderon has acknowledged that rampant corruption is a major obstacle in his fight against drug trafficking. Hundreds of police — and many top-level government officials — have been fired or arrested for suspected ties to cartels under the Calderon government.

Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, is one of Mexico’s most violent cities and the center of a bloody battle between the Arellano Felix cartel and a gang reputedly led by Teodoro Garcia Simental.

Also Friday, police in the Pacific coast state of Guerrero reported finding the bodies of 10 men, all apparently shot to death. Signs left next to the bodies read: “This is what is going to happen to all thieves and extortionists. You know what you’re getting into. Respectfully, the Boss of Bosses.”

In a statement, the Guerrero state Public Safety Department did not offer any immediate explanation of the message or information on the victims.

Most of the bodies were bound and dumped on roadsides. Several had their heads bound in packing tape. Police were alerted to the bodies by a series of telephone tips.

Officials in the western state of Jalisco said four suspects were killed and 17 arrested Friday in an hours-long gun battle between members of a criminal gang and soldiers and police in a rural part of the state.

The state attorney general’s office said the clash began when the suspects were detected by police and took cover on a hillside.

Authorities called in police helicopters to fight the suspects, who fired at the aircraft and hit one. A Mexican army helicopter gunship was then called in. One soldier and a police officer were wounded in the battle.

Prosecutors said they seized grenades and other weapons.

Later in the day, authorities in northern Chihuahua state reported that gunmen killed a soldier in an attack on army vehicles near the hamlet of Colonia LeBaron on Thursday. Five men and seven women were detained.

The army has been patrolling the area since anti-crime activist Benjamin LeBaron and a neighbor were slain there July 7.