$5-Million Reward in Cardinal’s Killing : Mexico: Embarrassed president acts. He faces criticism for failing to control drug mafias.

The Mexican government on Wednesday offered an unprecedented $5-million reward for information leading to the arrest of some of Mexico’s top drug traffickers, including those allegedly responsible for the murders of a Roman Catholic cardinal and six other people.

The killings at Guadalajara’s international airport Monday were a tremendous embarrassment to President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, who only recently renewed Mexico’s diplomatic relations with the Vatican. The incident has unleashed a wave of criticism against the administration for failing to control Mexican mafias.

Deputy Atty. Gen. Antonio Garcia Torres announced the reward at a press conference here and released sketches and descriptions of four of Mexico’s mafia chiefs. One official said the offer was “a call to society” for help.

“We know they move in and out of that area,” said the official, who asked not to be identified. “People must see them. We want to try to get information to capture them.”

Cardinal Juan Jesus Posadas Ocampo, his driver and five other people died in the airport parking lot Monday afternoon during what officials say was an attempt by one group of traffickers to assassinate leaders of a rival organization.

Jalisco state Atty. Gen. Leobardo Larios said Posadas was killed by mistake when gunmen confused his luxury automobile for a trafficker’s.

The Tijuana-based Arellano Felix family hired a 15-man hit squad to ambush leaders of the Sinaloa drug cartel, Joaquin (El Chapo) Guzman and Hector (El Guero) Palma, the officials said.

Four of the suspected gunmen are in custody. One of them admitted he was offered $10,000 to assassinate Guzman, officials said.

When the cardinal arrived at the airport in a chauffeur-driven, white Mercury Grand Marquis--a car often favored by traffickers--the hired guns apparently mistook him for one of the Sinaloa mafia chiefs and turned their fire on him.

Posadas, 66, was shot 14 times in the torso--many of the bullets fired from three feet away--and his driver was hit by 11 shots. The car was pocked with dozens of bullet holes.

A taxi driver who witnessed the attack told Siglo 21 newspaper that he saw a gunman stick his rifle in the window of the cardinal’s car to shoot the driver.

Two of the seven dead were Sinaloa state residents who apparently worked for traffickers; it was unclear which clan had hired them.

The attack was to have been revenge for an assault that Guzman led against the Arellano Felixes at a popular Puerto Vallarta discotheque last November, officials said. Six people died and three were wounded in that shootout.

Officials say Guzman and a brother of Palma’s were at the airport during the shooting.

In offering the $5 million reward, the government released pictures of Guzman and Palma and of Javier and Ramon Arellano Felix as well as a telephone number where citizens could report information about the traffickers. It was unclear whether the award applied to information leading to the arrest of a third member of the Arellano Felix family, Benjamin.

The reward may signal the kind of crackdown on drug traffickers that followed the 1985 assassination of U.S. drug agent Enrique S. Camarena in Guadalajara.

Sergio Aguayo, an expert on human rights and drug trafficking, said that to his knowledge the government has not offered a reward since the Mexican Revolution.

President Salinas has committed his government to fighting drug trafficking and has worked closely with U.S. officials to capture more than 200 tons of South American cocaine shipped through Mexico.

But many political observers argue that Mexican mafias could not operate without official protection.