AP:A Week with Mexico's Army Fighting the War on Drugs

CNSNews.com
There are a number of photographs included at the source.

Mexican Army Officer in Border Town: ‘Here You Can't Call Police Because They’re in Collusion’
With Mexico's Army in the War on Drugs

Monday, March 30, 2009
By Olga R. Rodriguez, Associated Press


Handcuffed Central American migrants, who were being held hostage by a kidnap gang, react at soldiers, unseen, as they are freed in Reynosa, Mexico, March 17, 2009. According to authorities, more than 50 migrants were held by the kidnap gang that was trying to extort their families in exchange for their freedom. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)


Reynosa, Mexico - Acting on a tip, 30 masked soldiers in combat gear bust down the door of a boarded-up house to find 55 terrified migrants, hostages of the Gulf drug cartel.

Amid screams and the smell of urine and sweat, they find a blood-spattered room and a nail-encrusted log used to beat the captives and extort money from their families: $3,000 each.

Five suspected kidnappers are hauled off in a military truck, including the alleged leader--the son of a local police officer.


Soldiers patrol the streets of Reynosa, on Mexico's northeastern border with the U.S., Tuesday, March 17, 2009. Mexico has deployed thousands of soldiers and federal agents to drug strongholds as part of a nationwide crackdown on drug cartels since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006. (AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)


The Associated Press spent five days on the front line of Mexico's drug war, embedded with the army’s 8th Division in Tamaulipas state, one of many organized-crime hotspots now policed by 45,000 troops nationwide. Launched by President Felipe Calderon in December 2006, the army is Mexico’s last and best hope to gain control over drug cartels and spiraling violence, which have killed more than 9,000 people since then.

But the AP's exclusive front-row seat reveals the army offensive to be at once successful and imperfect, marred by police corruption, lack of training and local distrust. As Calderon has said, it's a temporary fix. There's still not a long-term solution.


Soldiers arrest an alleged member of a kidnap gang in Reynosa, Mexico, Tuesday, March 17, 2009. According to authorities, more than 50 Central American migrants were being held by the kidnap gang that was trying to extort their families in exchange for their freedom.(AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)


Many Mexicans see the army as the only government entity able to face the heavily armed drug cartels, and soldiers rely on citizen complaints, such as the call that led them to the migrant hostages. They enter the house in a rough neighborhood without working with local police to get a search warrant, fearing officers could tip off the smugglers.

Army officials acknowledge they break rules to get results. Their fight is complicated by deep-rooted corruption among local and state police, who work as lookouts and sometimes hit men for the cartels.


Soldiers arrest an alleged member of a kidnap gang in Reynosa, Mexico, Tuesday, March 17, 2009. According to authorities, more than 50 Central Amercian migrants were being held by the kidnap gang that was trying to extort their families in exchange for their freedom.(AP Photo/Alexandre Meneghini)


“Here you can't call police,â€