Drug war ravages Mexico border city, upsets U.S.

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico, – The first victim of the day was bound with duct tape, tortured and shot once in the back of the head. His body was then stuffed in the trunk of a Buick Century, doused with gasoline and set ablaze.

A second was found burned beyond recognition, propped up on a makeshift pyre of blazing car tires on the outskirts of this sweltering city on Mexico's border with the United States.

The two killings Friday brought the murder toll to 119 this year in Nuevo Laredo, and the mayhem has put a strain between Mexico and Washington.

Most of the dead are victims of an all-out war between powerful drug gangs from western Sinaloa state and the local Gulf cartel for control of a route bringing cocaine from Colombia and heroin and marijuana from Mexico into Texas.

Scared local residents have watched the pace of killings accelerate since January. One placed a flickering candle at the site of the first murder Friday just a few blocks south of the Rio Grande, then retreated indoors.

"I sense the people's fear and I feel impotent," said Leonardo Lopez, a priest in a quiet residential neighborhood nearby. "Almost every day we hear of murders to the extent that this situation is becoming habitual."

The dead include 15 police officers shot by gunmen toting assault rifles in the city streets. Other victims have been picked off at taco stands, shot in their cars, or kidnapped and executed.

Washington is keeping a wary eye on the bloodshed, repeatedly warning U.S. citizens against traveling to the region and telling Mexico to restore order. Mexico has told U.S. officials to keep out of its affairs.

Three years ago, the two neighbors appeared to be forging a close alliance but it has been weakened by disputes over the Iraq war and U.S. immigration reform. The violence on the border has added serious strains.

In January, U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza riled Mexican President Vicente Fox with a frank letter to Mexican leaders complaining about drug violence in border cities.

Relations hit a new low this month after gunmen battled with bazookas and machine guns on a normally quiet city street, and Garza said he briefly closed the consulate here to "punish" Mexico for failing to end the chaos.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano have declared a state of emergency along the border due to what they described as an increase in crime and illegal immigration.

Mexico took the comment as a snub, with Geronimo Gutierrez, a Mexican Foreign Ministry undersecretary, calling it "frankly unfortunate."

BORDER CRACKDOWN

Both sides are trying to crack down on the violence.

Fox has sent hundreds of federal police and troops to the streets of border cities to help local police patrol.

Texas allocated $5 million to improve law enforcement communication in border communities since the crisis in Nuevo Laredo began, including $1.2 million for the Laredo area.

The murders have continued, however, and the crime gangs seem as vigorous as ever.

Texas agents seized more than 800 pounds of cocaine heading north near here in recent days, as well as a shipment of more than 8,000 rounds of machine-gun ammunition being smuggled south – presumably to arm the cartels.

The army's security chief in Nuevo Laredo, General Alvaro Moreno, said this week residents should "bet on Nuevo Laredo, bet that we are going to eradicate organized crime."

But most people are skeptical as the death toll rises. Critics say very few cartel enforcers have been put behind bars and there is no evidence the tighter security will stem the flow of illegal drugs across the border.

"Neither the United States nor Mexican governments are able to eradicate organized crime," said a vendor selling tourist trinkets in a city market. "We just hope that one or other of the bands wins so that we can have some peace."

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