Thread: Border conference stresses collaboration

Border conference stresses collaboration

By David McLemore
The Dallas Morning News
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 08.12.2008
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, stressed that crime doesn't recognize borders. The FBI is concerned with the high level of violence along the border and the drug and human smuggling and gang activity that generates it, he said.
Of particular concern is the violence just across the border in Ciudad Juarez, where 700 people have been killed in drug violence this year, Mueller said. He praised Mexican President Felipe Calderon for his strong response.
"We have two cartels fighting for control. President Calderon has taken the fight to them, but serious challenges still exist to border security that must be met with a joint effort," Mueller said.
Jose 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. But Mexico has to be part of that conversation."
At the conference today, Riojas will be formally named executive director of the university's new National Center for Border Security and Immigration.
Manuel Suarez-Mier, legal attache for the Mexican attorney general, said Mexico has paid a high price for its success against drug cartels.
"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," he said. "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," Suarez-Mier 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," Sullivan said. "What Mexico asks us to do is something similar, to halt the flow of guns into Mexico."
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.
The new measures will also give Mexican law-enforcement officials greater access to the eTrace computer database in the U.S., allowing them to use the serial numbers to trace weapons used in Mexican crimes to U.S. gun dealers.
The border conference continues today.
http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/252329

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