Crime Crackdown
With statistics like that, it's no surprise that Calderon's tactics are under fire. "This strategy doesn't work," says Jose Ramos, a security expert at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Tijuana. Ramos and other drug-war experts say that while the military might may work in the short term, better intelligence, investigations and judicial processes are needed to maintain momentum. More important, they say better cooperation is needed between soldiers, federal police and local cops in order to tackle organized crime, something the president himself has admitted.
Ironically, in Juarez--as in Tijuana before it--the soldiers are not only fighting some of the most powerful drug traffickers in the country, but also local police officers long accused of being corrupt, inept or ill-equipped to maintain law and order. "Police cadets join the force and go, 'Ha, ha, I'm going to rob the world'," says Juarez resident Julio Bernardo Washington. He welcomes the Army's arrival. Before the soldiers came, he says, people would report drug dealers and other criminals, but the cops would just "come and kill people for reporting on other people." The Juarez police department, while admitting that corruption does exist in the force, denies the allegations of murder.
For now, at least, the Army has instilled a sense of security in Juarez. A combination of foot patrols, random roadblocks and some psy-ops--posters depicting a soldier with a firearm line the city streets promising WE'RE HERE TO HELP YOU--is aimed at sending an intimidating message to criminals while putting pressure on the local police to do their jobs. "[The police and criminals] are scared. No one's selling drugs in the streets anymore," says Bernardo Washington. "They're scared of the power of the state." Not everyone's happy about it, though. A recent demonstration by members of the local police force against the military's presence and allegations of police corruption brought tensions between federal and local authorities to the fore. A predawn shootout just hundreds of yards from the border with El Paso between local cops and soldiers on April 2 took the friction a step further.
The municipal police, many of whom earn less than $10,000 a year, are fed up. Felipe, a policeman who asked that only his first name be used for fear of reprisals from the drug cartels or even soldiers, says the military's presence actually endangers police lives because they could rile up the cartels. The police are indeed under serious threat: early this year, a death list posted on a monument dedicated to the Juarez police named the drug cartels' next 17 police targets; in one 48-hour period in late March, three cops were found murdered in the city, though it is unclear whether their names were among those listed.
Carrying out his duties near the border crossing into El Paso, Felipe also says that promised cooperation between the Army and the police in the so-called Joint Operation Chihuahua is a joke. And echoing several other policemen interviewed, Felipe says that soldiers are abusing their authority, harassing civilians and policemen alike, on some occasions even torturing them in detention centers.
At the behest of the National Human Rights Commission, Mexico's Defense Department says it is investigating all claims of abuses, but the Juarez police department is skeptical. "Sedena [the Defense Department] has its position, the agents have theirs," says Jaime Alberto Torres Valadez, chief spokesman for the Juarez police department. "The municipal police, with their lawyers, are doing their own investigating."
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Member Comments
Posted By: mlk23 @ 04/19/2008 12:51:32 PM
Comment:
Again the US media wants to exagerate the risk of a regular guy traveling to Mexico. Carjackings against visitors to Baja is virtually nil. In the month of March in San Diego right across the border there were 2 "reported" carjackings and a trail going on for a man accused of torturing a Australian tourist.
Lets put this in perspective. Why is the US not issuing travel warnings for San Diego. I heard a news comentator for KFI los Angeles yesterday say that 3 to 4 bodies turn up each day in LA that dont even make the news. Why is there a such a singular effort to put Mexico in the forefront. Yes Mexico has a serious problem with the cartels fueled mainly by US dollars.. Without consumers the money would dry up and the business would disappear. Lets not constantly criticize our neighbor for having to deal with problems that we create. This month over month bashings seems more like politics than news.
Does anyone report good news about the area? Aout the boys and girls club opening this week in Tijuana. With Ana Kourkian being at the grand opening. This was on the 16th of April.
http://www.heybrewer.com/2008/04/16/anna-kournikova-visits-tijuana/ Today Rosarito is having a bike race with over 6500 contestants heading to Ensenada.. What a great story.
Probably wont make the news as it does not scare people.. Remember good news is new too.
Posted By: mlk23 @ 04/19/2008 12:50:06 PM
Comment:
Again the US media wants to exagerate the risk of a regular guy traveling to Mexico. Carjackings against visitors to Baja is virtually nil. In the month of March in San Diego right across the border there were 2 "reported" carjackings and a trail going on for a man accused of torturing a Australian tourist.
Lets put this in perspective. Why is the US not issuing travel warnings for San Diego. I heard a news comentator for KFI los Angeles yesterday say that 3 to 4 bodies turn up each day in LA that dont even make the news. Why is there a such a singular effort to put Mexico in the forefront. Yes Mexico has a serious problem with the cartels fueled mainly by US dollars.. Without consumers the money would dry up and the business would disappear. Lets not constantly criticize our neighbor for having to deal with problems that we create. This month over month bashings seems more like politics than news.
Does anyone report good news about the area? Aout the boys and girls club opening this week in Tijuana. With Ana Kourkian being at the grand opening. This was on the 16th of April.
http://www.heybrewer.com/2008/04/16/anna-kournikova-visits-tijuana/ Today Rosarito is having a bike race with over 6500 contestants heading to Ensenada.. What a great story.
Probably wont make the news as it does not scare people.. Remember good news is new too.
Posted By: mlk23 @ 04/19/2008 12:49:58 PM
Comment:
Again the US media wants to exagerate the risk of a regular guy traveling to Mexico. Carjackings against visitors to Baja is virtually nil. In the month of March in San Diego right across the border there were 2 "reported" carjackings and a trail going on for a man accused of torturing a Australian tourist.
Lets put this in perspective. Why is the US not issuing travel warnings for San Diego. I heard a news comentator for KFI los Angeles yesterday say that 3 to 4 bodies turn up each day in LA that dont even make the news. Why is there a such a singular effort to put Mexico in the forefront. Yes Mexico has a serious problem with the cartels fueled mainly by US dollars.. Without consumers the money would dry up and the business would disappear. Lets not constantly criticize our neighbor for having to deal with problems that we create. This month over month bashings seems more like politics than news.
Does anyone report good news about the area? Aout the boys and girls club opening this week in Tijuana. With Ana Kourkian being at the grand opening. This was on the 16th of April.
http://www.heybrewer.com/2008/04/16/anna-kournikova-visits-tijuana/ Today Rosarito is having a bike race with over 6500 contestants heading to Ensenada.. What a great story.
Probably wont make the news as it does not scare people.. Remember good news is new too.