U.S. officials praise Mexico for anti-drug efforts

12:00 AM CDT on Tuesday, August 12, 2008
By DAVID McLEMORE / The Dallas Morning News
dmclemore@dallasnews.com

EL PASO – Top U.S. law enforcement officials praised Mexico's anti-drug efforts Monday and urged more binational cooperation as an antidote to the drug-fueled violence along the border.

FBI Director Robert Mueller, addressing the fifth annual border security conference at the University of Texas at El Paso, said his agency is concerned with the level of violence along the border and the drug and human smuggling and gang activity that generates it.

Of particular concern is the situation just across the border in Ciudad Juárez, where 700 people have been killed in drug violence this year, Mr. Mueller said. He praised Mexican President Felipe Calderón for his strong response.

"We have two cartels fighting for control. President Calderón has taken the fight to them, but serious challenges still exist to border security that must be met with a joint effort," he said.

José Riojas, UTEP vice president of strategic initiatives, also said the problem demands a shared response.

"We have to develop a strategy that is best for public safety no matter what side of the border people live on," he said. "We believe that is best arrived at through a binational effort that provides for both border security while protecting commerce."

Today at the conference, Mr. Riojas will be formally named executive director of the university's new National Center for Border Security and Immigration.

"We are destroying the crime organizations' structure, and that has spurred more violence ... as the drug organizations spread out to kidnapping and extortion to make money," said Manuel Suárez-Mier, legal attache for the Mexican attorney general. "What we need is the full commitment of the United States, particularly in helping integrate technology we don't have access to. ..."

"We are seeing the benefits of greater cooperation between the United States and Mexico, but the price has been high for us," he said. "More than 2,500 people have been killed in the drug wars, and people want immediate results."

Michael Sullivan, director of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, praised Mexico's efforts.

"We have asked Mexico to assist in stopping the flow of drugs across our borders, and they have done so extraordinarily well – and at great cost to civilians and law enforcement officers targeted for execution and assassinations by the drug cartels," Mr. Sullivan said. "What Mexico asks us to do is something similar, to halt the flow of guns into Mexico."

ATF data shows that 90 to 95 percent of the guns used to drug violence in Mexico enter illegally from the United States, adding significantly to the rising tide of violence.

U.S. and Mexican law enforcement agencies recently unveiled a joint effort, called Armas Cruzadas (Crossed Arms) to disrupt cross-border weapons smuggling through the sharing of databases and better monitoring of illicit sales at gun shops and gun shows.

Mr. Mueller noted that the FBI is engaged in 146 task force investigations, 12 of them in Texas, aimed at drug-smuggling groups and gang activity.

And the agency is engaged with Mexican police in a binational anti-kidnapping task force. Asked how U.S. agents know they can trust Mexican law enforcement officers, Mr. Mueller stressed that drug corruption does not affect only Mexico.

"Mexico struggles to build up its rule of law," he said. "We carefully vet the agencies we share information with. We work only with those we can trust."
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