Thread: Fear of Unrest Also Force Organizers To Cancel 'Peace March'

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Fear of unrest also forces organizers to cancel 'peace march'
10:40 AM CDT on Thursday, June 23, 2005
By ALFREDO CORCHADO / The Dallas Morning News


NUEVO LAREDO – City officials abandoned plans to announce a new police chief Wednesday and organizers scrapped a scheduled "peace march," in actions apparently fueled by fear of unrest and possible reprisals from drug cartels active along the border.

Mayor Daniel Peña Treviño said the City Council decided to delay a decision on a new chief because of concerns that relatives of fired police officers might disrupt the proceeding. Other officials said privately that the decision stemmed from concerns about another assassination attempt.

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The last police chief was shot to death seven hours after he started his first day. Mr. Peña said a new chief would be named within 15 days, when "the timing is better."

"There is no authority whatsoever in Nuevo Laredo," said Ninfa Cantú Deandar, one of the organizers of the march, which was scheduled for today."Who is there to protect the marchers, the people demanding peace?"

Last week, following a protest in front of City Hall, one of the marchers was shot dead by unknown assailants.

Ms. Cantú said the march has been rescheduled for September, when "we hope a semblance of normality returns to the city." In the meantime, organizers have asked that on Thursday supporters turn on their car headlights, wear white and distribute 25,000 bumper stickers featuring a dove and a call to promote peace. In Washington, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said President Bush was closely monitoring the situation here.

"I know the president is concerned about the violence that has occurred recently along the border, particularly in the Nuevo Laredo area there along the Texas-Mexico border," he said.

He added that "drug trafficking is a real concern that we've worked with Mexico to address." Mr. Bush's comments were featured on the front page of El Mañana newspaper. Reading the headlines, 45-year-old Roman Colin Villalobos, remarked: "We're not so different from Iraq anymore. We, too, are in the eye of the hurricane."

Across the border in Laredo, members of Laredosmissing.com, relatives of some of the approximately 40 Americans reported missing in Nuevo Laredo since last August, held a press conference to demand that their loved ones be returned to them.

"Where are our children? Liberate one and we will liberate all," said Priscilla Cisneros, whose daughter, Brenda, went missing in September. "Just tell us whereour children are and we'll find thecourage to get them."

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, sent a statement calling the situation "tragic" and saying he continues to work with officials on both sides of the border tobringawareness to the issue.

President Vicente Fox launched Operation Safe Mexico to restore law and order to the city, which has been the site of a sometimes bloody power struggle between rival drug gangs.

Almost two weeks into the campaign, Mexican Army soldiers roam the streets in armored vehicles and federal agents and state authorities watch over the city. Dozens of municipal police officers remain idle, many spending their time reading newspapers, or snacking and drinking soft drinks to beat the heat. The entire force was grounded last week after some local police opened fire on federal agents.

City officials said as many as 150 of the more than 700 local police officers will be fired for a variety of reasons, including failing drug tests or background checks and having ties to organized crime

"We will start handing out notices this week," said Mr. Pena.

Mr. Pena said a woman is among the three police chief candidates, who include Omar Pimentel, director of the local police academy.

"The new police chief faces the difficult task of building a professional police force," the mayor said. "That process has already begun. Each officer is undergoing extensive screening that involved a criminal background check, drug testing and a polygraph."

Forty municipal police are expected to graduate June 30 and will be better trained, local officials said.

In the meantime, crime continues. Over the weekend, suspected drug traffickers used two grenades and a bazooka to kidnap an undermined number of men from a local hotel.

And in Mexico City two federal agents who are part of Operation Safe Mexico were detained. They face charges of soliciting a bribe in the border town of Reynosa and of driving a stolen vehicle.

"Every day you lose more hope, and struggle to maintain the faith," said Javier Uresti, 47, a computer maintenance worker.

Staff Writer G. Robert Hillman and Belo Television Mexico bureau chief Angela Kocherga contributed to this report.

E-mail acorchado@dallasnews.com

This is what happens....Texas is next....California round the bend....Arizona....and the END OF THE UNITED STATES!!

This is Life in a Third World Toilet Bowl!!

This is what Life will be like in every American City after CAFTA when there is not enough food, water, housing or money to sustain the population of the United States.

WAKE UP AMERICA!!

This is not a joke, this is not a speculation, this is IRREFUTABLE FACT!

KILL CAFTA and then destroy the political and economic life of ANY PERSON in CONGRESS or AMERICAN BUSINESS supporting CAFTA!!

GOP....remember your mascot....the Elephant.

Elephants Never Forget!!

AND Americans will never forget or forgive this attempt to take us OUT and end out Nation.

NEVER.