Put this in the who cares department

http://www2.eluniversal.com.mx/pls/impr ... abla=miami

Government riled by Garza's remarks

The U.S. ambassador to Mexico said the day before that the Nuevo Laredo consulate was closed in part to warn Mexico about their concern over the continuing violence.

U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza's comment that he briefly closed a consulate partly to punish Mexico's government for border violence drew a sharp response Wednesday from Mexican officials.

Deputy Foreign Relations Secretary Gerónimo Gutiérrez issued a news release saying Garza's statements "have not been well received."

Gutiérrez said Mexico's government agrees Garza has to work for the security of U.S. citizens, but said, "His selection of words was frankly unfortunate and does not correspond to the role of an ambassador."

Garza's latest comment, Tuesday night at the University of Denver, followed a series of other criticisms of border region security in Mexico that had irked officials who argue that the United States shares responsibility for a problem ignited by drug consumption north of the border.

Early this month, Garza suspended all but emergency operations at the Nuevo Laredo consulate for a week after a string of incidents that included dozens of drug-related killings, the assassination of the police chief and a machine-gun, grenade and rocket attack on an alleged drug safe house.

Garza said at the time that the closure was to let officials "assess the security situation for our employees, American travelers to the region, and visitors to the consulate."

In Denver on Tuesday, Garza expanded on the reasons: "Some have said that I ordered the shutdown to punish the Mexican government for its failure to control violence in the region," Garza said. "And in a sense that's true....

"I've been clear, my primary responsibility as ambassador is the safety of United States' citizens, and I shouldn't and I won't hesitate to take action when they are at risk," he added.

Earlier this year, he also had requested that the State Department issue three travel advisories alerting Americans to violence in the border region.

Garza also stressed joint responsibility: "The security of the border region can be a joint effort and that simply finger-pointing would not be productive.

"The United States is committed to doing its part to restore law and order to the border region," he said, praising "the cooperation and commitment we are seeing" from the government of President Vicente Fox.

But Garza said the violence threatens "our shared vision of a secure and prosperous North America" and added, "The longer that violence continues, the tougher it becomes for many Americans to talk about Mexicans as our trusted partners with mutual interests...

"If that violence from Matamoros to Tijuana is not controlled, it will seriously undermine investment, tourism, and our citizens' quality of life far beyond, and both north and south, of that border."

In an example of cooperation earlier Wednesday, the U.S. and Mexican governments announced a bilateral effort to help identify and prosecute migrant smugglers.

On Tuesday, Fox called on U.S. federal and state governments to work with Mexico on controlling lawlessness along the border, responding in part to U.S. concerns and the declaration of states of emergency in border counties of both New Mexico and Arizona.

"On that side and this side there is organized crime," Fox said. "On that side and this side there is drug consumption."