Thread: Military not likely to leave border soon , officials say

Taking back Juárez
Military not likely to leave border soon, officials say
By Daniel Borunda / El Paso Times
Article Launched: 06/15/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT


Juárez city officials last week said that the military effort in Juárez and the surrounding region, dubbed Joint Operation Chihuahua, is expected to continue through the rest of the year and has no scheduled completion date.

Their warning echoed a prediction made by Mexico President Felipe Calderón, who said it would take at least two years to take back control of Mexico from the drug cartels, which grew in power over decades, according to a report compiled last year for members of the U.S. Congress.

One of the front lines in the drug war shifted to Juárez in March, when Mexico special forces soldiers carrying .50-caliber rifles and shouting cadence marched out of green C-130 Hercules transport planes when the army arrived in the besieged city.

While the military and federal police are expected to remain on the scene indefinitely, at least one expert said Mexico will have to ultimately change its tactics if it wants to regain and maintain control of regions apparently overrun by organized crime.

"If the question is the use of the military a long-term sustainable strategy -- my answer is no," said Robert Donnelly, coordinator of the Justice in Mexico Project of the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego.

"The military can't be relied on forever to maintain public order and prosecute
and pursue criminal gangs," Donnelly said.
The outbreak of violence in Juárez has claimed more than 450 lives this year, due in large part to what is believed to be a war between the Sinaloa and Juárez drug cartels for control of the region's lucrative smuggling corridor into the United States.

With the arrival of more than 2,000 soldiers and 500 federal police officers in Juárez, the deployment of federal forces has expanded to ranches, towns and cities across the state of Chihuahua.

"Our data show us that so far this year, Chihuahua has the highest per-capita rate of drug killings," said Donnelly of the Justice in Mexico Project, which studies criminal-justice issues in Mexico.

The Justice in Mexico Project, using information from the Mexican newspaper Reforma, tracks drug-related homicides across Mexico. Through June 6, there had been 1,552 drug killings in Mexico, including 448 in Chihuahua, followed by Sinaloa with 162 homicides.

The term "drug killing" is subjective, Donnelly said. "It's imperfect, but it is the best indicator for the magnitude of these killings."

Juárez is experiencing the extraordinary violence that flared up and then declined during the past three years in various parts of Mexico, such as the southern Pacific coastal states of Guerrero and Michoacan.

"The violence can skip around from region to region," Donnelly said.

Mexico scholars and government officials say municipal and state police either don't have the resources or have been corrupted to the point that they are incapable of fighting drug traffickers.

"There are parts of Mexico where the rule of law is absent and the drug-trafficking gangs virtually control (or) are the controlling force. It is definitely a threat to natural sovereignty," Donnelly said.

The military has the firepower and equipment and is believed to be less susceptible to the corruption that has infected law enforcement.

"The reason for the violence is clearly to intimidate the forces of law and order," said John P. Walters, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy. "There's three ways they do this: buy you, scare you or kill you. That's why they don't just kill people; they mutilate the bodies. They want to scare people.

"There is a period unfortunately of violence against each other when these hyperviolent criminal groups attack against the forces of law," Walters said during a recent visit to El Paso.

Even as deadly shootings continue daily in the state of Chihuahua, the army has had some success, including multi-ton marijuana seizures, the capture of alleged hit men and the arrest of reputed Juárez cartel lieutenant Pedro "El Tigre" Sanchez Arras.

Federal authorities also are attempting to weed out corruption. They are conducting polygraph, drug and psychological tests on Juárez police, as well as ballistics tests on firearms in an attempt to remove corrupt officers.

At one point during the U.S. women's soccer team visit in April for a tourney in Juárez, traffic officers escorting the team had empty pistol holsters because federal forces had taken their guns for ballistic tests, a U.S. diplomatic security official said at a forum about violence in Juárez.

The scrutiny by the federales has led to some complaints by police who feel they were mistreated.

Juárez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz addressed the challenge facing the police force last week during the graduation of 92 cadets from the police academy.

"In the middle of a crisis of violence, you are the generation of hope for the municipal public safety department," Reyes Ferriz told the new police officers.

"You have arrived at a time when the citizenry needs you the most, when public opinion is at its highest levels with a lack of confidence in the police force."

Law enforcement agencies in El Paso are monitoring the situation in Juárez. Combating the cartels in the United States falls under a variety of jurisdictions and local, state and federal law enforcement agencies, who often work together on different task forces dealing with gang and drug activity.

But the cartels are not limited to Mexico and have expanded their presence in the U.S. to as far north as North Dakota, Buffalo, N.Y., and Boston, according to the National Drug Intelligence Center.

"There is evidence that the Mexican cartels are also increasing their relationships with prison and street gangs in the United States in order to facilitate drug trafficking within the United States as well as wholesale and retail distribution of drugs," stated the drug cartel report by the Congressional Research Service. " ... The Mexican cartels reportedly work with multiple gangs and do not take sides in U.S. gang conflicts."

In El Paso, the Juárez cartel has an alliance with the Barrio Azteca gang, which is paid with drugs sold at low prices, federal prosecutors have said. The gang is the target of a current crackdown by the FBI.

Daniel Borunda may be reached at dborunda@elpasotimes.com; 546-6102.

El Paso Times reporter Chris Roberts contributed to this story

There are parts of Mexico where the rule of law is absent and the drug-trafficking gangs virtually control (or) are the controlling force. It is definitely a threat to natural sovereignty," Donnelly said.

And those same people are comming here and trying to erode our own "rule of law"......and chaos begins.