THE BORDER REPORT

CULIACAN, SINALOA - It's a fair question this morning in this violent, gorgeous capital.

The Federal Electoral Institute promises all 1.7 million eligible voters in Sinaloa will be greeted tomorrow morning by efficiently run voting booths. Barring any political assassinations, strong-arm intervention or power outages, the question of who will be Mexico's new president will be announced by late tonight. It's not an unfair observation, the state has a higher murder rate than New Jersey with half as many people. Murder stats show two murders a day last month, 25 more than June the previous year. The majority of those were committed with automatic weapons, El Noroeste reported. The same type of systematic violence is being conducted throughout Mexico. Two weeks ago, a former sub-jefe of the Ciudad Obregon, Sonora, police department was kidnapped in nearby Bacúm. His car was found with scorch marks, his body never reappeared. The hitmen of the Cartel del Golfo, the notorious Zetas (I'm waiting for the movie), appear to be taking their lessons from Syrian insurgents in Iraq and have now beheaded half a dozen people from Baja California to Guererro. Sometimes the victims are less interesting to me than the manner of killing: two Sinaloan cattle ranchers were taken out a few weeks ago by hitmen with AK-47s, their killers wearing skimasks and commando outfits. Narco-power has never been stronger than it is now, and as Vicente Fox Quesada leaves office, his promises ring as empty as the PRI-led Congress’s have always maintained they would. Some say the PRI-led Congress made certain of that. The poor bastard tried. He turned the Mexican military loose in Operation Mexico Seguro trying to secure the Nuevo Laredo area. His administration fell short in meeting its hiring goals for the prestigious Policia Federal Preventiva, in the end having to hire many of the wack-jobs that usually take municipal police jobs. He never was able to get an immigration accord going with the United States. Sept. 11 took care of that. Mexico did see some growth during his presidency though, reporting a 5 percent revenue increase for the first quarter of 2006 while paisanos brought in a record $39 billion in remittances. Still, it continues and part of that is a question of culture – Mexicans simply don't trust authorities. If they're working for the dark side, they hate them. Loudly. The music stopped and the lights came on at La Sinaloaense late Saturday night. For a moment, confusion; the ley seca wouldn't begin until 11:30 and the men in the bar, never very worried about time, were watching the clock like owls on the hunt. "No mamén," one man shouted.

Others picked up the shout, until the black-clad men came in bearing AR-15s and a black dog. AFI agents, searching for drugs.

The chatter died down as the group of seven strolled through the bar. Men looked away, most stopped talking altogether. Within five minutes, the group left through the front door. "Ya seguimos!" came the cry. "Que chingan a su madre!" "Putos!" Of course, by then the AFI agents were halfway down the block. But I'm getting carried away, this - whatever this is - is supposed to be about Jesus Malverde, the patron saint of the drug traffickers. Legend has it that the narco-santo lived more than 100 years ago, a Mexican bandit who robbed from the rich; sometimes giving it to the poor but mostly robbing from the rich, a nicely twisted Robin Hood figure. "He wouldn't vote for any of these cobadres," says Jesus Manuel Gonzales. Gonzales runs the capilla found across the street from the State Capitol, a shrine dedicated to Malverde.

Gonzales' father built the shrine in 1976 after he was shot six times. If he survived, he swore, he'd build a shrine to Malverde, Gonzales says.

He never says why his dad was shot, maybe it's a moot point. Malverde ran the Mexican back country during the reign of Porfirio Diaz, the legends say. "And he didn’t like him either,' he says with a grin. As for the narco-traffickers themselves, it's hard to say who they'll be voting for today. The Carrillo Fuentes family, forebears of Amado, were PRI-istas long before he became the Lord of the Skies. It’s known that members of the Arellano Felix family voted for Fox in the 2000 elections. Benjamin once said he admired Pres. Bill Clinton. And for those still around today? Don Chapo, El Mayo, Sr. Beltran Leyva, Javier Arellano, who would they vote for? "They'll need an electoral card," said an IFE worker, harried enough by the upcoming day to be bothered with my questions. "I don't even think they vote."