http://www.dominicantoday.com/app/article.aspx?id=11029

March, 6 - 10:33 AM

Thousands march in Monterrey demanding end to "narco-terrorism"

Monterrey, Mexico.– Thousands of people marched on Sunday in this northern Mexican city to demand that the government put an end to the wave of violence attributed to a combination of drug traffickers, kidnappers and other criminal groups.

Shouting "That's enough!" and dressed in white, the protesters in this industrial city demonstrated their rejection of the large number of recent killings among rival criminal gangs near the northern border with the United States.

On average, an estimated 300 murders are committed annually in the region by organized crime elements, including Monterrey, which has been one of the cities most impacted by the violence, said protest leaders.

They also said that between 3,000 and 5,000 people participated in the demonstration Officials with the Nuevo Leon state public safety secretariat, which oversees the police here, said that the march transpired without incidents.

"We don't want narcos" and "Yes to peace" were other slogans shouted and chanted by the demonstrators, who gathered before the state government palace, where they demanded that federal and regional authorities put criminals behind bars.

Among the protesters were artists, athletes, public officials and workers, as well as political and civil society leaders and, it was reported.

The march follows those called last year in Mexico City, where activists and businessmen denounced what they said was the fact that the country was finding itself more and more at the mercy of criminals because of the impotence and slack attitude of the authorities.

In Nuevo Leon, of which Monterrey is the capital, as well as in the neighboring state of Tamaulipas - and both of which lie along the border with the United States - operate powerful drug cartels which are battling savagely with one another for control of the lucrative cocaine and heroin trafficking routes north.

So far this year, at least 37 people have been killed in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, authorities say.

To try and reduce the violence, the government of President Vicente Fox in mid-2005 launched the "Safe Mexico" combined military and police operation, but the campaign has not had very good results at reining in the killing, observers say.

Washington has expressed its concern over the rise in criminal activity along the frontier and has urged the Fox government to arrest and jail the criminals.

The two national governments on Friday signed an accord to strengthen security measures on the mutual border.