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Fox admits dim results on security
Mexican president's office vows to beef up anti-crime campaign


08:30 PM CDT on Thursday, August 4, 2005

By ALFREDO CORCHADO / The Dallas Morning News


MEXICO CITY – President Vicente Fox's office acknowledged Thursday that its anti-crime operation strategy hasn't produced the "results we expected, or wanted" and vowed to intensify the campaign in the days ahead.

The comments by presidential spokesman Ruben Aguilar were the first official confirmation that violence has worsened since Operation Safe Mexico began June 13, and they buttress concerns expressed by both U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials of a sense of increased lawlessness. They point to escalating violence not just along the U.S.-Mexico border but also in the key states of Guerrero and Jalisco.

No details were offered on how Mr. Fox will beef up his campaign.

In Tampico, in the border state of Tamaulipas, Mr. Fox said the government's campaign will be "tough, difficult and long" and vowed to redouble efforts to return security to the streets of Nuevo Laredo and other cities affected by the drug war.

Meanwhile, law enforcement officials in Laredo remain on high alert.

"We thought that by having the Mexican military presence we would see violence in Nuevo Laredo subside," said Webb County Sheriff Rick Flores. "But the homicides have increased. Cops in Nuevo Laredo are dying. One of my deputies was met with fire [along the banks of the Rio Grande]. So this validates what we have been saying all along: The situation is serious and worsening. It's a time bomb, and if we don't address it now, it will come back to bite us in the rear because this stuff is spreading to our side, too."

Mr. Aguilar's comments come as the U.S. State Department, which has already issued three warnings to Americans venturing into Nuevo Laredo, wrestles with whether to reopen its consulate in Nuevo Laredo. Last Friday, U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza ordered the office shut, blaming increased violence.

Mr. Garza and Interior Secretary Carlos Abascal met for an hour Wednesday and decided that the consulate will reopen in the "days ahead," although no definite time frame was offered. An official in Washington said that Monday is "a likely day, if the situation warrants it."

"We're still reviewing security in Nuevo Laredo, and a decision on resuming normal operations has not been made," said another U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

So far this year, more than 800 people have been killed nationwide as a result of a bloody drug war in which high-powered weapons, grenades and bazookas are used.

The state of Tamaulipas has reported 228 murders, with at least 106 people – including nearly 20 police officers – killed in Nuevo Laredo alone.

On Monday, Mexican police discovered the bodies of two men on a road outside Nuevo Laredo. One victim, identified as Horacio Diaz Garcia, had been shot 19 times. On his body was a written message to the Sinaloa cartel whose alleged leaders – Edgar Valdez Villarreal, alias "Barbie"; Joaquin "Chapo" Guzmán; and Arturo Beltran – are waging war with the Gulf cartel to take over the distribution route along Interstate 35.

The note read: "[Expletive] Barbie and Arturo Beltran, you won't take over, not even with the support of the Mexican special forces, not even by killing innocent people."