Mexico turns to its military

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Mexico turns to its military

Troops tackle drug violence, border crossers

By Michael Marizco
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

HERMOSILLO, Sonora - Facing heavy criticism over drug-related violence and illegal immigration, Mexico has turned to its military for help.

In one of the largest military buildups in recent memory, the government sent more than 6,000 soldiers to its northern border, 1,600 of them deployed to the northern and southern regions of Sonora to take on the drug traffickers. That resulted in a significant drop in drug seizures this month, U.S. law enforcement data show.

Then earlier this month the Mexican government used its military to deter Mexican migrants' crossing into Southeastern Arizona. The effort was an attempt to avoid confrontations between its citizens and the Minuteman Project, in which a group of U.S. citizens have patrolled that stretch of the border since April 1 to protest illegal immigration.

After that, the Mexican Congress was presented with a proposal to use the military to keep migrants from trying to sneak through the most dangerous parts of the U.S.-Mexican border. That plan ignited a spark of outrage in the Mexican press and was quickly shelved, mostly because the country's constitution allows its citizens to travel where they please within Mexico.

But the proposal isn't dead. Sen. Hector Jaime Osuna, of President Vicente Fox's National Action Party, rewrote the contrversial measure and reintroduced it this week. ( Related story on Page A18.)

When it comes to seizing narcotics, the military has proved effective, analysts say.

The recently retired chief of international operations for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Mike Vigil, said, "Mexican federal police are so inundated with so many issues there's no way they alone can handle these border issues."

Vigil said the Mexican government has turned to its military units because they are less likely to be corrupted by drug traffickers.

The military proved necessary in the last few months as a northern Mexico drug war escalated, resulting in more than 250 executions and other killings. That damaged tourism, prompting a call for military intervention from the governors of four border states, including Sonora.

"They've been a tremendous asset to this problem," said Otto Claussen Iberri, press secretary for Sonoran Gov. Eduardo Bours Castelo.

Soldiers were deployed throughout the state, focusing heavily on marijuana fields in southern Sonora, near Navojoa, and surveilling, then seizing, clandestine airplane runways in northern Sonora, near Caborca.

Since operations began earlier this month, soldiers have seized more than 15 tons of marijuana and 475 pounds of cocaine, primarily in Caborca and north of the state capital, Hermosillo, according to the National Defense Secretary in Mexico City. At the same time, 161 people were swept up on drug-trafficking charges, though dispositions of their cases have not been determined.

Despite the military's apparent success, Its real effectiveness will come only through a sustained presence, Vigil said.

"They're going to have to have almost a permanent presence there. Once they withdraw, you're going to get back to a similar situation."

Sonoran officials have estimated the military buildup will last until next month.

The increased presence of soldiers means a reduction in the amounts of marijuana and cocaine smuggled into Arizona, said Lt. Ken Hunter, of the Arizona High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, the federal intelligence-gathering agency that tracks drug loads moving across the U.S.-Mexican border.

Marijuana seizures fell by 60 percent and cocaine seizures fell by a third in Arizona after the Mexican military operations began.

With the troop buildup, concern arose over the potential for violation of the civil rights of Mexican citizens.

When a Baja California senator announced a new role for the military - stopping migrants from crossing through the more treacherous paths into the United States - outrage over constitutional rights quickly followed.

Osuna proposed placing the military at the most dangerous crossing points along Mexico's northern border, such as the desert leading into the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge, where 14 people died four years ago. The idea was to persuade migrants to pick a safer route.

The senator withdrew his proposal Thursday after he was shouted down by Mexico's intellectuals and the press.

"He found that he was provoking controversy," said Jorge Bustamante, an analyst with Tijuana's Colegio de la Frontera Norte and a sociology professor at the University of Notre Dame, one of those who lashed out at Osuna.

Using the military to stem illegal immigration has been tried before, Bustamante said.

"It never formed a solution; it simply introduced corruption within the ranks of the military," he said.

● Contact reporter Michael Marizco at 573-4213 or at mmarizco@azstarnet.com.

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