Posted on 02/01/2012 11:30:58 AM PST by SwinneySwitch
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico --Police in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez are spending their time between shifts in heavily guarded hotels after a wave of killings targeting police.
Eight officers were gunned down in January. Most were off duty. The murders are the latest challenge for police chief Julian Leyzaola as he works to restore law and order in Mexico’s murder capital.
The U.S. government has provided $1.5 billion worth of aid to Mexico under the Merida initiative, including including training and equipment to help police fight violent drug cartels.
Police officers in Juarez say they’re in a fight for their lives.
“The only thing we’re sure of is they want us dead,” said an officer standing outside police headquarters. She and others did not want their names used for fear they’ll be fired or become targets.
Officers are on edge after the latest attack near a police substation. Monday, a group of gunmen opened fire and tossed a grenade at officers at a gas station. The grenade failed to detonate.
The police shot and killed three suspected hit men. Three officers were wounded during the gunfight but none seriously. And officers chased down and caught one suspect at the scene.
Banners hung in the border city last Wednesday warned the police chief a cop a day would be killed unless he stepped down.
The previous police chief of Juarez resigned in 2009 after a wave of cop killings followed by similar threats. But the mayor of Juarez says the current chief has no plans to leave his job.
Chief Leyzaola says the killings are the work of a group calling itself the New Juarez cartel and vowed to catch the leader, Johnny Gonzalez, a member of the Azteca gang nicknamed “Tin Tan.”
On a Juarez radio news program Chief Leyzaola said the cop killers belong behind bars or dead and buried.
To safeguard his officers the chief ordered the police force to sleep in heavily guarded hotels until further notice.
“The order came from the top,” said an officer who did not want her name used. “We were told those who did not like it could resign.”
The officers are working double duty protecting the city and each other. Some had to scramble to deal with childcare issue.
Unlike federal police from Mexico City who lived in guarded hotels while on assignment, this is home for city police in Juarez.
“We’re going to be safe but what about our families?” asked an officer
Yes, he was here legally.
/johnny
/s
Mexican SCUM...coming to your town soon (probably there already).
Who is guarding the hotel?
Nice...cops hiding out from criminals...$HIT is getting curiouser and curiouser all the time!!!
So we've been arming both sides. Interesting strategy.
We’re giving them 1.5 billion to protect their own police?
...and we STILL won’t be on the winning side...
Well, Wikipedia has this on it.
“The U.S. Congress has now authorized $1.6 USD billion for the three-year initiative (2007–2010). The U.S. Congress approved $465 million in the first year, which includes $400 million for Mexico and $65 million for Central America, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti. For the second year, Congress approved $300 million for Mexico and $110 million for Central America, the Dominican Republic and Haiti. A FY09 supplemental appropriation is providing an additional $420 million for Mexico; and $450 million for Mexico and $100 million for Central America has been requested for FY10.
Only about $204 million of that, however, will be earmarked for the Mexican military for the purchase of eight used transport helicopters and two small surveillance aircraft. No weapons are included in the plan. The bill requires that $73.5 million of the $400 million for Mexico must be used for judicial reform, institution-building, human rights and rule-of-law issues. The bill specifies that 15% of the funds will be dependent on Mexico making headway in four areas relating to human-rights issues, and on which the U.S. Secretary of State will have to report periodically to Congress.
An additional $65 million was granted for the Central American countries (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama); the House also included Haiti and the Dominican Republic in this bill for Central America, which is a comprehensive public security package that seeks to tackle citizen insecurity in Central America by more effectively addressing criminal gangs, improving information sharing between countries, modernizing and professionalizing the police forces, expanding maritime interdiction capabilities, and reforming the judicial sector in order to restore and strengthen citizens’ confidence in those institutions.
Much of the funding will never leave the United States. It will go toward the purchase of aircraft, surveillance software, and other goods and services produced by U.S. private defense contractors. While this request includes equipment and training, it does not involve any cash transfers or money to be provided directly to the Government of Mexico or its private contractors. According to U.S. State Department officials, 59% of the proposed assistance will go to civil agencies responsible for law enforcement, and 41% to operational costs for the Mexican Army and Mexican Navy. While the initial cost for equipment and hardware that the military required is high, it is expected that future budget requests will focus increasingly on training and assistance to civil agencies.
As of November 2009, the U.S. has delivered about $214 million of the pledged $1.6 billion.
With the Mérida Initiative set to expire on September 30, 2010, the U.S. State Department has proposed a major renewal and expansion of the program. If approved, starting in 2011, $310 million would be granted to Mexico, another $100 million for the Central American Regional Security Initiative (CARSI), and $79 million for the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI).”
From what I’ve heard, the program was never renewed, though I’m not 100% sure on that.
Clint Eastwood should make a movie about Lezayola. He is one tough hombre. He cleaned up Tijuana (relatively) and was “promoted” to Juarez police chief. During his first days in Juarez he was attacked at his office and left the bad guys dead in the street. I cannot believe that he is still alive.
BW ping
“The officers are working double duty protecting the city and each other.”
Then why don’t they build an encampment of their own?
Legalize the damn stuff and end this insanity
Only a police state can stop it
Imagine the outcome if she had been armed and believed it was a gang of criminal homebreakers (those not employed by the government) trying to break in to her home.
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