Free Republic

<p>MEXICO CITY – Mexico has extradited two former U.S. Border Patrol agents accused of taking bribes from migrant smugglers.</p> <p>The U.S. Embassy says Raul Villarreal and Fidel Villarreal allegedly fled to Mexico after they learned U.S. authorities were investigating them in 2006. The brothers were veteran agents in the San Diego area.</p>

Mexico’s Other Export by: Heather Latham, March 10, 2009 Mexico has a major export that never gets discussed in free-trade agreements. “There has been an alarming spike in violence in Mexico in recent years, most of which is associated with the trafficking in illegal drugs and the efforts of the Mexican government to shut down that trade,” Ted Galen Carpenter writes in a recent CATO Institute Policy Analysis titled “Troubled Neighbor: Mexico’s Drug Violence Poses a Threat to the United States.” He continues, “The turf battles have been ferocious. In 2005, more than 1,300 people perished in drug-related violence. By...

MEXICO CITY — Federal police made two arrests and confiscated weapons and marijuana Sunday in Tijuana, across the U.S. border from San Diego, after coming under attack by men linked to a drug cartel. Police said one of the suspects told them they worked for “the engineer,” an apparent reference to a leader of the Arellano Felix drug cartel. Officers, who were not injured in the attack, seized three assault rifles, pistols and bundles of marijuana. - snip - On Saturday, two police officers in the town of Praxedis Guerrero were shot dead in their patrol vehicle, prosecutors said. The...

President Felipe Calderon hopes to quell Mexico's rampant drug violence by the end of his term in 2012, and disputes U.S. fears that Mexico is losing control of its territory. In interviews with The Associated Press on Thursday, Calderon and his top prosecutor said the violence that killed 6,290 people last year — and more than 1,000 in the first eight weeks of 2009 — is a sign that the cartels are under pressure from military and police operations nationwide, as well as turf wars among themselves. "To say that Mexico is a failed state is absolutely false," Calderon said....

Security beefed up at other bridges An afternoon gun-battle in Matamoros led to the temporary shutdown of the Gateway International Bridge. Cameron County Sheriff Omar Lucio closed the southbound traffic lanes at the Gateway International Bridge and reinforced security at the other two international bridges linking Brownsville to Matamoros. Lucio said his decision to close the bridge stemmed from a reported gun-battle that took place at 3 p.m. in Matamoros. The bridge was re-opened about 30 minutes later. "There was a raid by state and federal police who were investigating warehouses in Matamoros near the Soriana by the Veterans International...