Mexico City ‘narco-neighborhood’ is targeted

Several hundred protesters marched to City Hall on Thursday as authorities moved to evict residents and sidewalk merchants from twin apartment buildings known as the Fortress, identified by police as the heart of the capital’s retail drug trade.

The campaign in the so-called narco-neighborhood, which began with the serving of eviction notices Wednesday, was the government’s first such attack on street dealers in Mexico’s newly declared war on drug violence.

President Felipe Calderon has ordered thousands of troops to six states since December to quell a battle between drug smugglers that last year left 2,000 people dead. Calderon’s campaign has broad support. With increases in drug consumption and addiction in Mexico, illegal narcotics are no longer viewed as a U.S. problem.

But the government’s incursion this week into the rough-and-tumble downtown neighborhood known as Tepito has drawn protests.

“No one’s leaving,” said Maria Rosete Sanchez, a neighborhood and tenant leader. “We don’t want any compensation. Even if they offer us money, we’ll reject it. Tepito is not for sale.”

As demonstrators protested their innocence at City Hall, scores of would-be customers arrived before noon at the Fortress, only to be turned away by young men slouching against the stucco buildings.

“We’re not selling today,” one of them said.

Police in the last year have confiscated 770 pounds of marijuana, nearly 8 pounds of cocaine and 10,000 illegal pills from drug dealers and residents of the 144 apartment units that make up the Fortress, officials said.

City officials said they had taken legal possession of the buildings and were using a mayoral decree to order evictions in 73 of the apartments, the only units with legal occupants.

The rest of the apartments are occupied by squatters or are used to keep illegal merchandise, officials said.

“This property is a domain for criminals,” said Jose Angel Avila, a deputy mayor.

It was not immediately clear who held title to the buildings or what legal recourse the owner or owners might have to challenge the move.

The apartments form part of a notorious marketplace for counterfeit DVDs, stolen electronics and auto parts, as well as knock-off designer clothing and watches. Authorities confiscated 80 tons of pirated CDs there last year.

Street merchants spent Thursday morning dismantling display stands and packing merchandise from a stretch of sidewalk outside the buildings.

“They told me to pack, so I’m packing,” said one DVD seller who specializes in musicals, Mexican movies, U.S. television episodes and X-rated films.

About 600 police officers delivered the eviction notices before dawn Wednesday. Avila said the city planned to convert the buildings and use them for public child care, education and healthcare.

Tenants said they had received no notice of the evictions. There was no public hearing, they said, so people did not have a chance to make their cases.

“Police just came at 3 a.m. and started knocking on doors,” Sanchez said.

Most tenants have ignored the eviction orders. Protesters at City Hall held signs that read, “Tepito, United Until Death.” The 64,000-square-foot property was razed after the 1985 earthquake and rebuilt in 1988.

Officials said they would help evicted tenants find new apartments and possibly pay temporary rental subsidies.

After the protest, a meeting with tenants was scheduled for Tuesday.

Protesters said they felt betrayed by Mexico City Mayor Marcel Ebrard, who was elected last summer and finished his campaign with an appearance in Tepito.

Ebrard, a member of the Democratic Revolution Party, was a protege of losing leftist presidential candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a former Mexico City mayor.

Lopez Obrador said officials fixed the July 2 election in favor of Calderon, and in November declared himself Mexico’s “legitimate” president. But his popularity has since dwindled.

On Thursday, Ebrard sounded like he had joined Calderon’s anti-drug campaign.

“We will continue to attack the neighborhoods where narco-trafficking takes place,” Ebrard said.

sam.enriquez@latimes.com

Cecilia Sanchez in The Times’ Mexico City Bureau contributed to this report.