Thread: 200 agents sent to El Paso after consulate slayings

200 agents sent to El Paso after consulate slayings, U.S. Mexico form pilot program
By Maggie Ybarra \ El Paso Times
Posted: 10/23/2010 12:00:00 AM

The slayings of three people connected to the U.S. Consulate in Juárez prompted the U.S. government to deploy 200 law enforcement agents to El Paso earlier this year, according to a federal report obtained by the El Paso Times.

Those agents played a part in a pilot program designed to help Mexico fight the cartel war in Juárez that has claimed more than 6,700 lives since 2008, said the report published by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.

The report, issued in May, outlines a variety of ways of expanding intelligence systems along the border.

The pilot program was successful in establishing daily coordination procedures and information exchanges among intelligence specialists at the El Paso Intelligence Center and their Mexican counterparts in Juárez, according to the report.

The agencies trade information on organized crime organizations, cartels and gangs.

It's not known if that information exchange resulted in the arrest of Jesus Ernesto Chávez Castillo, who was accused by Mexican and U.S. law enforcement agencies of planning the shooting deaths in March of U.S. Consulate worker Leslie Enriquez Redelfs; her husband, El Paso County Detention Officer Arthur Redelfs; and Jorge Salcido Ceniceros, a maquiladora supervisor and husband of a consulate employee.

According to the report, the pilot program also was used to send five sets of biometric data collection equipment to Mexican law enforcement agencies in Juárez for the collection of digital fingerprints and photographs.

And more intelligence initiatives are in store for the borderland.

The report also details future intelligence protocols, investigations and public security operations that may used.

It outlines a plan to develop an encrypted communications system for law enforcement agencies stationed in Juárez. The system would include 1,000 secure and encrypted GPS-equipped radios for Mexican federal and local police. The plan is to install 500 of those radios in vehicles and distribute 500 more among the foot patrols, according to the report.

In addition, the report said, Mexico will develop standards for police officers and will train specialists in major crimes and provide advanced training for mid- and senior-level state and municipal officers.

The report said that Mexico will improve intelligence capabilities and surveillance and that Mexican authorities are considering the use of unmanned aircraft systems.

The U.S. will provide 10 to 15 Mexican investigators an office in El Paso so they can work and keep investigative files. The investigators will be trained by U.S. experts, the report said. U.S. advisers will help Mexican investigators with DNA and hair-strand analysis and evidence preservation.

Other help the U.S. will provide will be 60 dogs trained in the detection of drugs, cash and weapons, along with 32 vehicles to transport the dog teams.

How much the program will cost is not mentioned in the report. It also does not say whether the 200 agents sent to El Paso have remained or have been reassigned. What they did to help in the consulate slayings also is not mentioned.

Overall, the program aims to strengthen the Mexican government's ability to gather intelligence on narco-trafficking, extortion, kidnapping and other organized criminal activities in Juárez and solidify the relationship between Mexican and U.S. agencies.

Special Agent Bill Weiss, a spokesman for the FBI, declined to comment on the report.

José Ramón Salinas, spokesman for Mexican federal police, also declined to comment.

Vince Perez, press secretary for U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, said the Merida Initiative, a security cooperation between the two countries from which the pilot program stems, is beneficial to both Mexico and the U.S.

"Through the Merida Initiative, the U.S. has been working cooperatively with Mexico to help combat drug-related violence. The sharing of intelligence, training, expertise and equipment has been critical to this binational effort to combat organized crime," he said.

But in Juárez, where most murders often go unsolved and many criminals go unpunished despite the assistance of U.S. intelligence, the initiatives outlined in the pilot program might not have an immediate effect on the chaos and violence.

This year, more than 2,470 people have died in gunbattles, carjackings, executions and other forms of violence. More than 6,700 have been killed since the battle between the Sinaloa and Juárez drug cartels for the lucrative Juárez drug corridor began.

More than 30 U.S. citizens are among the victims of the war, including Pfc. José Gil Hernández RamÃ*rez, 22, who was gunned down Wednesday in a quiet South Central Juárez neighborhood.

Maggie Ybarra may be reached at mybarra@elpasotimes.com; 546-6151.

http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_16412590

Sounds like the US is spending more time, effort and money in assisting Mexico than assisting our own country.