Violence in Mexican drug wars escalates
No al-Qaeda to blame either.
Sometimes, you think it can’t get worse.
When we last addressed the topic, there were 30 murders
in a week in Ciudad Juarez. The police chief in Palomas asked for asylum in
Columbus, NM, after his entire small town department resigned after death
threats.
Living in a border state, you get to see this rolling disaster on local TV. Tonight, local news showed Mexican Federal Police gun trucks now patrolling the streets of Palomas. Ten gunshot victims tried to make it through the border crossing in Columbus to hospital on the U.S. side of the border.
Mexico’s drug war violence has escalated sharply since President Felipe Calderon ordered nearly 30,000 federal police and troops into the field against drug traffickers 17 months ago. Most of the federal forces are operating in states along the border and down the Pacific coast…
More than 3,000 people have been killed in Mexico since Calderon’s crackdown began, according to media tallies. The settling of scores between rival gangs accounted for most deaths. But the pursuit of the drug-trafficking gangs and their enforcers also has had fatal consequences for Mexican law enforcement, including some of its most senior lawmen.
The police chief of Ciudad Juarez was killed last weekend, cut down in a volley of some 60 bullets as he arrived home unescorted in the early morning. Gunmen killed a senior Federal Preventative Police official at his Mexico City home last Thursday, wounding two of his four bodyguards in the process…
Three Mexican state policemen were gunned down in an ambush this week near the West Texas border. Another two officers were killed, and six kidnapped, in the southwestern state of Guerrero. And a large contingent of gunmen reportedly attacked a police outpost in the highlands of Sinaloa state, on the country’s Pacific coast…
Some of the policemen have been killed because their heightened enforcement started affecting the drug trade. But Mexican officials acknowledged that some police, especially on local and state forces, may be targeted because they provided protection to one cartel or the other.
Yeah, it can get worse and probably will. And, of course, the National Guard troops that should be protecting our side of the border - are in Baghdad.
Living in a border state, you get to see this rolling disaster on local TV. Tonight, local news showed Mexican Federal Police gun trucks now patrolling the streets of Palomas. Ten gunshot victims tried to make it through the border crossing in Columbus to hospital on the U.S. side of the border.
Mexico’s drug war violence has escalated sharply since President Felipe Calderon ordered nearly 30,000 federal police and troops into the field against drug traffickers 17 months ago. Most of the federal forces are operating in states along the border and down the Pacific coast…
More than 3,000 people have been killed in Mexico since Calderon’s crackdown began, according to media tallies. The settling of scores between rival gangs accounted for most deaths. But the pursuit of the drug-trafficking gangs and their enforcers also has had fatal consequences for Mexican law enforcement, including some of its most senior lawmen.
The police chief of Ciudad Juarez was killed last weekend, cut down in a volley of some 60 bullets as he arrived home unescorted in the early morning. Gunmen killed a senior Federal Preventative Police official at his Mexico City home last Thursday, wounding two of his four bodyguards in the process…
Three Mexican state policemen were gunned down in an ambush this week near the West Texas border. Another two officers were killed, and six kidnapped, in the southwestern state of Guerrero. And a large contingent of gunmen reportedly attacked a police outpost in the highlands of Sinaloa state, on the country’s Pacific coast…
Some of the policemen have been killed because their heightened enforcement started affecting the drug trade. But Mexican officials acknowledged that some police, especially on local and state forces, may be targeted because they provided protection to one cartel or the other.
Yeah, it can get worse and probably will. And, of course, the National Guard troops that should be protecting our side of the border - are in Baghdad.
Posted: Fri - May 16, 2008 at 08:08 AM