Posted on 08/09/2005 7:45:19 AM PDT by SwinneySwitch
MEXICO CITY — As many as 1,000 soldiers and federal police are headed to the southern side of the Texas-Mexico border to combat rising drug-cartel violence in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, officials said Monday.
The U.S. Consulate there re-opened after being closed for a week because of security concerns, and Nuevo Laredo's mayor was traveling in an armored car and using soldiers as bodyguards.
As part of President Vicente Fox's ongoing Operation Safe Mexico, multiple federal agencies began deploying Sunday to Nuevo Laredo and elsewhere along the border in the state of Tamaulipas, including Reynosa and Matamoros.
Federal and state officials emphasized the number of troops, police and agents headed to the border is an estimate. Various operations are under way to protect the cities and crack down on organized crime.
"The exact total is a bit confusing," one official said.
There is also the need for secrecy, a federal official said.
"Operations are a surprise, and they do not want the criminals to know how many (officers and soldiers) are coming," he said.
"It would be like, 'They are sending three, so we will send four,'" he said of how gangs might react to deployment information.
At least 100 people have been killed in Nuevo Laredo so far this year, including 18 police officers, a police chief who was gunned down just hours after taking office, and a city councilman shot last week on a busy street.
Most of the dead are believed to be tied to rival gangs vying for control of drug smuggling routes into the United States.
Police and other officials are said to often face the dilemma known as "silver or lead," meaning, take bribes and turn a blind eye to mafia activities or don't take the bribes and risk being killed.
In the wake of Friday's assassination of Councilman Leopoldo Ramos Ortega, who headed the city's Public Safety Commission, Nuevo Laredo Mayor Daniel Peña Treviño is being protected by a contingent of army soldiers.
Some observers said that given how Ramos and his bodyguard were cut down in broad daylight, the soldiers might not be enough to deter potential killers.
"He should have even more protection," said a city official, who, like most people discussing the tense situation in Nuevo Laredo, requested anonymity.
The U.S. Consulate in Nuevo Laredo opened for business after being closed for a week as authorities evaluated the safety of employees and visitors at the building, which functions as the U.S. government's office in that city.
"We are satisfied with the guarantees and promises made to Ambassador (Tony) Garza," a U.S. official said. "We are going to be vigilant. Mexico needs to do much more to rid the area of narco-traffickers, kingpins and capos."
Before ordering the consulate re-opened, Garza met behind closed doors with ranking officials in the Fox administration.
"One week ago, I asked the government of Mexico to take swift and what I then called decisive action, and in my view, they have done so," Garza said in a statement released Friday by the U.S. Embassy.
Authorities, including representatives of the federal attorney general's office in Mexico City and the Nuevo Laredo police department, declined to comment.
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express@cablevision.net.mx
Fallujah on the Rio Grande!
the 1000 troops and federal agents are flocking to nuevo laredo to line up and get their paychecks from the drug dealers
I would suggest we beef up our side of the border too.
If we don't send a larger force to the area we are just stupid.
Not saying they will attack or come across but don't you think it makes sense?
If our politicians had bolos we would close the border until Mexico got its act together.
Our politicians don't and therefore wont. Operation Safe Mexico is another version of the "religion of peace" wheeze we are subject to here.The problem with politicians is they are incapable og distingushing the difference between motion and progress.
Fox sends a 1000 troops,must not be getting his share of the drug money.
Also he is probably not getting his share of "fines" from the dumb americans who drive in Mexico.
NL Ping!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off this South Texas/Mexico ping list.
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