Free Republic

CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico — The explosion of narco violence south of the Texas border continued unabated through this country's independence day. In Nuevo León and Tamaulipas to the east, running highway gunbattles flared Thursday as Mexican army troops chased gunmen — who had been intimidating and extorting motorists at a roadblock they'd set up — to a nearby ranch where they sought refuge. At least three different gunbattles over several miles must have stunned travelers caught on the highways amid the firefight. The battles that started at the roadblock left 22 gunmen dead, Mexico's Defense Ministry said in a statement...

MEXICO CITY - On its 200th birthday, Mexico wants its citizens -- and the world -- to forget its vicious drug war and have a day without massacres, beheadings or shootouts. Mexico wants its people to remember the country's epic history, music, whimsical folk art and continuing crusade for wider prosperity and democracy. All that was on display Wednesday with a $40 million fiesta that's been two years in the making.