Thread: Fox says crime worse in U.S. than in Mexico

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Fox says crime worse in U.S. than in Mexico

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico -- Mexican President Vicente Fox said Friday that violence was a problem on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, and that American crime and homicide rates were worse than Mexico's.

"There is work to be done on both sides. As we've always said, it's a shared responsibility," Fox said while traveling in Puerto Penasco, a tourist destination in the northern border state of Sonora that's commonly referred to in Arizona as Rocky Point.

"I saw that crime rates in the United States increased 3.5 percent so far this year. So they have their own problems," the president continued. "And with numbers of homicides, it's better we don't speak about them, because, even though they show up on the front pages every day, there are many fewer here than there."

His comments came a day after high-level Mexican and U.S. officials agreed to redouble efforts to crack down on drug-related violence and kidnappings plaguing the border at a meeting in Laredo, Texas, across the Rio Grande from the violence-plagued Mexican city of Nuevo Laredo.

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza did not participate in the meeting, but said in a statement afterward that authorities would focus on Nuevo Laredo and Tijuana, near San Diego, and that both countries agreed on the need to establish a joint task force to curb kidnappings of Americans. Scores of U.S. citizens have been abducted in Nuevo Laredo in recent years and more than two dozen cases remain unresolved.

But Garza also urged Fox to increase the presence of federal agents patrolling Nuevo Laredo's streets as a way to cut down on drug-related violence.

When asked Friday if his government failed in its fight against drug traffickers and organized crime, Fox said, "I can't classify it as a failure, nor can I classify it as a success. It's just simply a permeant battle."

Mexican presidents are limited by the constitution to a single, six-year term, and Fox leaves office Dec. 1. He said his administration has captured 18 major drug lords since he took office.

The Laredo meetings on border violence came after the U.S. ambassador advised Americans to exercise extreme caution when traveling in Mexico because of "the rising level of brutal violence." Garza said that despite Thursday's meeting, his advisory to U.S. citizens remains in effect.

The ambassador spent Friday in the border city of Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, inaugurating a new forensic laboratory. He said that combining U.S. and Mexican forces "is crucial if we are to send a clear message to all criminals, drug traffickers, murderers and sexual exploiters of women and children _ that we will not tolerate violence on either side of our border."

Juarez has become infamous around the world because of hundreds of mostly unsolved slayings of women since 1993. Families of the victims have argued that state investigators botched those investigations.

"We all hope that this laboratory will help in the investigations of the hundreds of unsolved cases of murder of women in the Ciudad Juarez area in the past several years," Garza said.

Hundreds of women have been killed in Juarez since 1993. Investigators say more than 100 of the victims were slain in sexually motivated attacks, provoking outrage that reached around the world and attracted Hollywood stars Jane Fonda and Salma Hayek to demand justice.

Garza said the laboratory was "undoubtedly one of the most important achievements that the state has had in its work to increase its citizens' trust in their justice system," but added much more work was needed to secure the border.

Garza visited the forensic facility with Chihuahua Gov. Jose Reyes, who has backed a proposed plan that would try homicide cases statewide publicly and orally _ a first-time proposal in Mexico.

Garza said that the U.S. was willing to work with Chihuahua to "ensure a smooth transition from its criminal justice system of the past to a new, public, oral and adversarial system."

Perhaps so since most of your prison population has been pushed north into America.

W

Perhaps so since most of your prison population has been pushed north into America.

W

Additionally, let's not forget that our population is triple that of Mexico's. Furthermore, the illegal drugs that come across the Mexican border are to blame for more crime in the United States than most people think. President Fox isn't being very honest when he makes such comments without listing all the facts.

Absolutely William. No wonder their crime rate is lower....all their criminals are up here.

GRRRRR!!

I don't see decapitations and mass executions every other day in the United States like we are in Mexico.

Yeah, I'm just waiting for "heads to roll" in the local bars in DC. Maybe then the politicians having their Friday martinis and slapping themselves on the back for what bad boys they've been all week will say ... "Whoa...now this is not what I had in mind when we were selling out America ... I mean .... Not In My Pub"!

combining U.S. and Mexican forces

They've sent us so many criminals, that now they want our help!

With the way Mexico ignores crimes, I would question any crime statistics they throw out there. They resisted acknowledging or even investigating the murders of all those women along the border. Crime is endemic, drug violence is endemic, Mexican police are frequently involved, and it's largely the poor being killed. Apparently Fox isn't too concerned. Great attitude.