Thread: Border bloodshed likely to worsen, experts warn

Border bloodshed likely to worsen, experts warn

Unease about potential for spillover rises in U.S.

Unease about potential for spillover rises in U.S.

By Leslie Berestein and Sandra Dibble
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS

October 5, 2008

After a particularly violent week in Tijuana that has left 54 dead in a fierce cartel power struggle, experts on both sides of the border fear the worst is yet to come.


MIGUEL CERVANTES
Law enforcement officers inspected several bodies found on a Tijuana street Friday. The string of violence continued yesterday, with 10 more bodies found around the city.
Since early last year, Mexican President Felipe Calderón has deployed thousands of soldiers and federal police to drug-route battlegrounds such as Baja California, Chihuahua and Michoacan. Experts say it's clear that the recent bloodbath along the border, felt especially hard in Ciudad Juarez and Nuevo Laredo and now increasingly in Tijuana, is the backlash.

In the United States, there's a growing unease about the potential for spillover. Some sectors of the border-region economy have already suffered severe losses as a result of the violence, and others may follow.

“The Mexican government has said that their strategy is to attack the cartels and break them down to a more manageable size,â€

[quote]“We demand that the United States stop the consumption of drugs,â€