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Monday, February 20, 2006

Mexico Must Take Control of Nuevo Laredo


By Jerry Brewer

The massive death toll and extreme violence in the city of Nuevo Laredo, Mexico is a horrendous war that knows no boundaries. The murder of two more police chiefs in cities between Monterrey and Nuevo Laredo last week must be a wakeup call for proactive attention by Mexican authorities.

The importance of this Nuevo Laredo and Laredo, Texas corridor for traffickers must be incredibly obvious by now. Not even the Mexican media is safe. Forget about walling this violence in and fencing it out, for it is a beast of epidemic proportions bursting on both sides of our border. We must remember that the voracious drug habit of US$26 billion is on our side of the Rio Grande, although we hate to be reminded of this fact. The demand brings the supply, and the providers have a sophisticated and highly trained core of killers carrying the load.

Texas Governor Rick Perry announced a border security plan last year. He should be lauded for his efforts for Texas, but he may have lacked credible intelligence and analysis information on what was to come over the many months after his announcement.

Pouring millions of dollars into what too often becomes a bottomless pit, without strategic and innovative design, is never the answer to situations that require long-term results. Governor Perry’s assessment of local law enforcement as “on the ground expertsâ€