Posted on 03/27/2008 3:17:15 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico – The government of Mexican President Felipe Calderón on Thursday announced a military surge of more than 2,000 soldiers in this besieged border community – caught in the crossfire between two warring drug cartels.
"Operation Chihuahua," named after Mexico's biggest state, nestled against New Mexico and Texas, is aimed at restoring law and order in a region that many say has grown lawless. Since Jan. 1, nearly 200 people have been killed in this city of 1.2 million.
"In this fight, Chihuahua is not alone," said Mexico's interior secretary Juan Camilo Muriño, who was accompanied by the nation's attorney general, the secretary of defense, the governor of Chihuahua and the mayor of Ciudad Juárez. "In this battle, no group will be able to withstand the government's will and force."
The buildup of soldiers began Wednesday evening and will continue through Saturday.
Soldiers will be joined by 425 federal agents and intelligence experts, plus investigators and forensic specialists. The goal is to control all access in and out of the city and monitor communications, officials said.
Most of the killings in the city – across the border from El Paso, Texas – are believed to be related to the ongoing battle between the Juárez and Sinaloa drug cartels, U.S. and Mexican officials have said. The 200 killings include 30 in the last week.
The crackdown comes as a senior U.S. law enforcement official across the border in El Paso cautioned that Juárez , much like Nuevo Laredo in the past, faces a prolonged drug war where the worst is yet to come, a war that's gradually spilling over into the Texas side of the border.
The brutality unfolding in this region also is generating debate on Mr. Calderón's strategy to take on the cartels using more than 30,000...
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
Operation Chihuahua Ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
Didnt he do this last month also?
“Operation Chihuahua” > “Operation Chaos”
jolie frijolie!
First we had Baghdad Bob, now we've got Juarez Juan.
Right now a Mexican police chief on the border has a life expectancy measurable in minutes. Several have been killed the same day they were appointed.
Nuevo Laredo, Rio Bravo and Matamoros back in January?
Yes but I think Calderon is a heap lot better than Vincente Fox. At least he appears to be making a strong effort to curb the corruption. I suspect in Mexico, that’s a very difficult job.
Related Reuters story, via Yahoo:
Mexico drug war opens bloody new front on U.S. border
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - Brazen Mexican drug gangs are escalating their war with the army and each other, murdering a record 720 people this year and opening up a gruesome new battle front on the U.S. border near Texas. ... .
Mexico drug war opens bloody new front on U.S. border
Reuters ^ | 3/26/08 | Ignacio Alvarado
Posted on 03/26/2008 7:58:24 PM CDT by kiriath_jearim
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1992192/posts
IIRC the heads of several senior CJ Police Officers were recently found adorning the hoods of their cars.
L
Sounds like it’s literally, “No Country For Old Men.”
You betcha!:
Chinese-Mexican businessman in meth trafficking case held in U.S.
By: MARK SHERMAN - Associated Press Writer | Tuesday, July 24, 2007 7:03 PM PDT ∞
WASHINGTON -- A Chinese-Mexican businessman, tied to what U.S. officials say was the world's largest seizure of drug cash, is facing criminal charges in two countries that he trafficked in massive amounts of amphetamines destined for the United States.
Zhenli Ye Gon's lawyers said he has nothing to do with illegal drugs and is merely a victim of political corruption in Mexico.
Ye Gon conspired to smuggle drugs into the United States and laundered millions of dollars from illegal drug sales at Las Vegas casinos and elsewhere, the U.S. government said in a criminal complaint that was made public Tuesday.
He has lost more than $125 million gambling in Las Vegas since 2004, the government said.
Ye Gon was arrested Monday night in suburban Washington as he ate dinner at an Asian restaurant. Dressed in an open-necked checked shirt and tan pants, he appeared Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Washington, where he was ordered held without bond for at least the next 10 days. His next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 3.
Ye Gon, also known as Charley Ye, said little during the brief court hearing.
Martin McMahon, a Washington-based lawyer who represents Ye Gon, said outside the courtroom: "This is complete nonsense. He has never had drugs and he didn't have any drugs on him when he was arrested last night."
The attorney said he would fight efforts to hand Ye Gon over to Mexico, where he said his client would not receive a fair trial. "President (Felipe) Calderon has already said he is going to jail," McMahon said.
Ye Gon has been in the United States since March, McMahon said, around the same time police discovered $207 million at his Mexico City mansion.
He says $150 million of the money belonged to Mexico's ruling party, and that he was forced to store it for party officials in his mansion under threat of death during the 2006 presidential race, which Calderon narrowly won.
Calderon has called the accusations "pure fiction."
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