Pubdate: Sat, 20 Jan 2001
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2001 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  PO Box 120191, San Diego, CA, 92112-0191
Fax: (619) 293-1440
Website: http://www.uniontrib.com/
Forum: http://www.uniontrib.com/cgi-bin/WebX
Authors: S. Lynne Walker, Copley News Service and Sandra Dibble, Staff Writer
Note: Copley News Service Washington correspondent Joe Cantlupe contributed 
to this report. S. Lynne Walker reported from Mexico City.

ARMY OF COPS SWEEPS INTO TIJUANA

TIJUANA -- Mexican federal police swept through Tijuana yesterday in a show 
of force that came one month after President Vicente Fox vowed his 
government would "eradicate crime" in the violence-plagued city.

The police action signaled a new effort by the Mexican government to crack 
down on the Arellano Felix drug cartel, which operates out of Tijuana where 
it has easy access to the U.S. drug market.

But after a day of patrolling posh hillside neighborhoods and stopping cars 
on busy boulevards to search for weapons and drugs, yesterday's effort by 
700 heavily armed federal police also underscored how difficult the search 
for the Arellanos has become.

No concrete results were announced. No arrests were made. And Mexican law 
enforcement officials even suggested the drug traffickers may have fled 
across the border and checked into San Diego hotels.

Still, authorities said this new police offensive is a clear sign Fox 
intends to keep his promise to increase pressure on Mexican drug 
traffickers and to try to bring peace to Tijuana in six months.

The action came after a Thursday night ruling by Mexico's Supreme Court 
that cleared the way for Arturo Paez, a 34-year-old Tijuana native 
suspected of being a top lieutenant in the Arellano cartel, to be 
extradited to San Diego. Paez, known in the criminal underworld as "El 
Kitty," is charged in a federal indictment with smuggling more than 2,200 
pounds of cocaine into the United States.

U.S. law enforcement officials in offices stretching from San Diego to the 
nation's capital praised the decision as a "positive step" in binational 
efforts to fight drug trafficking organizations.

"It has multiple effects in the political world, in the legal world, in the 
minds of drug traffickers, in the minds of U.S. law enforcement," said 
Gonzalo Curiel, chief of the narcotics enforcement section with the U.S. 
Attorney's Office in San Diego. "The importance of this decision can't be 
overstated."

Despite these efforts, U.S. law enforcement officials say there's no 
guarantee the federal police massed in Tijuana will be able to capture the 
Arellanos. And there's no guarantee Paez, who has the right to appeal, will 
be extradited to San Diego anytime soon.

"We're waiting to see if an extradition takes place," said one DEA 
official. "We're not suggesting anything sinister, we're just waiting to 
see what is going to happen."

Law enforcement officials on both sides of the border have spent years 
trying to capture the Arellanos, who are known for the brutality of their 
crimes. The cartel leaders are suspected in the slaying of a Roman Catholic 
cardinal and the assassination of a top Mexican law enforcement official. 
They also rank among the top cocaine shippers in North America. Yet only 
one brother -- who by all accounts was a minor player in the drug business 
- -- has been arrested.

"I don't think we're prepared to have a celebration party and call off the 
dogs," said Curiel.

The stepped-up efforts by Mexican and U.S. law enforcement seem to have 
changed the Arellanos' method of operation. They no longer are freewheeling 
figures in Tijuana.

"More and more they are working underground," Curiel said. "I don't hear 
that much about them being out and about. They're not as visible as they 
used to be."

But, he added, no one is counting the Arellanos out.

"There's no question that they're still around."

The federal police drove into Tijuana at twilight Thursday in an impressive 
caravan that had traveled from the city of Tecate.

Yesterday morning, the truckloads of young cops, dressed in the distinctive 
gray uniforms of the Federal Preventive Police, drew stares as they 
patrolled neighborhoods across Tijuana.

Residents who were searched offered few complaints.

On Calle Brasil, in the well-to-do-neighborhood of Colonia Cacho, a 
58-year-old construction worker applauded when his car was searched.

"I hope these operations continue," said Macario Torres, after being 
ordered out of his car. "We want the violence to end and to be able to live 
in peace."

Baja state officials also praised the federal police operation.

"The presence of these troops guarantees that there will no longer be so 
much impunity, that they (criminals) can no longer go around every night 
conducting business as they are accustomed to doing," said Jorge Ramos, 
Baja California's secretary general and second-highest ranking official.

The sweep through Tijuana followed a similar operation earlier this week in 
Sinaloa, a state so rife with drug trafficking that some law enforcement 
officials compare it with Colombia.

The police action there, involving at least 500 officers, represented the 
first phase of the government's National Pilot Program Against Organized Crime.

Fox's aggressive stance toward drug traffickers and his government's new 
willingness to extradite alleged cartel leaders to the United States 
represents a change of attitude, said Jorge Chabat, a Mexico City 
university professor who specializes in international drug trafficking.

"I think Fox has the willingness to do this. I'm just not sure he has the 
capacity to do it," Chabat said. "It is a matter of money, of human 
resources, of resistance to corruption, and of strengthening institutions."

By challenging drug traffickers, Fox is pitting his government against one 
of Mexico's toughest adversaries. He is expected to visit Tijuana later 
this month to discuss the city's crime problem.

"The drug trafficker is a very dangerous enemy. He is very powerful. He 
corrupts," Chabat said. "This is not Fox's problem. It is a problem of the 
Mexican state, and it will take years to correct."

Copley News Service Washington correspondent Joe Cantlupe contributed to 
this report. S. Lynne Walker reported from Mexico City.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jo-D