Pubdate: Mon,  7 Mar 2005
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2005 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  http://www.mercurynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Author: Jorge Vargas

CRACKDOWN ON MEXICO'S DRUG VIOLENCE

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico - More than 700 soldiers and federal and state agents 
took to the streets of this city on the Mexico-U.S. border Sunday to help 
local authorities control an increasing wave of violence believed to be 
drug-related.

Saturday, two men whose mouths were covered with adhesive tape were shot 
and killed inside a sedan left beside a highway linking Nuevo Laredo and 
the city of Monterrey.

Those killings came less than 24 hours after a gunman on a bicycle opened 
fire on a group of men smoking marijuana and drinking beer as they sat in a 
parked car in this city's Colonia Victoria neighborhood around 11:30 p.m. 
Friday. Two passengers were killed and a bystander was wounded in that attack.

The four victims raised to 20 the number of people who have been killed in 
ambush-style shootings in Nuevo Laredo so far this year. The city is 
located across from Laredo, Texas.

Arturo Jimenez, a commander of the Federal Preventive Police, said in 
addition to the massive mobilization of forces, investigators would begin 
interviewing Nuevo Laredo municipal police officers and state prosecutors 
in search of those who may be taking bribes from drug-smuggling gangs.

"It's difficult to combat crime when there are a lot of allies of organized 
crime who block our efforts," said Jimenez, who was sent to oversee the 
Nuevo Laredo crackdown by Mexico's Public Safety Secretary Ramon Huerta.

Jimenez said the first priority will be re-establishing law and order, but 
that soldiers and agents also would eventually play an active role in going 
after key drug smugglers.

The border region in Mexico's northeast has seen an increase in drug 
violence after the area's alleged kingpin, Osiel Cardenas, was arrested in 
2003 in the border city of Matamoros.

Authorities say the violence has intensified in recent months because 
another reputed drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, has been fighting 
smugglers loyal to Cardenas to gain access to the drug smuggling routes in 
Nuevo Laredo.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom