"Threat of kidnapping, drug violence put U.S. workers on alert in Mexico
BY TIM HIGGINS • FREE PRESS BUSINESS WRITER • April 19, 2009 JUAREZ, Mexico -- This is what it's like to work in a war zone.



Nearly 3,500 white-collar workers from El Paso, Texas, cross a fortified border each workday, some of them wearing body armor as they enter the drug-torn city of Juarez, home to more than 100 parts factories that are a critical cog in the U.S. auto industry.

They encounter military trucks loaded with armed Mexican troops throughout Juarez, which recorded an estimated 1,600 homicides in 2008.

This passes for improved conditions, because the show of force has, for now, calmed the violence after drug lords forced a police chief to resign by killing officers.......... "



Full story:

http://www.freep.com/article/20090419/B ... 904190495/