Pubdate: Tue, 09 Aug 2005
Source: San Antonio Express-News (TX)
s.d85957a.html
Copyright: 2005 San Antonio Express-News
Contact:  http://www.mysanantonio.com/expressnews/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/384
Author: Dane Schiller, Express-News Mexico City Bureau

NUEVO LAREDO IS BEEFED UP

MEXICO CITY - As many as 1,000 soldiers and federal police are headed to 
the southern side of the Texas-Mexico border to combat rising drug-cartel 
violence in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, officials said Monday.

The U.S. Consulate there re-opened after being closed for a week because of 
security concerns, and Nuevo Laredo's mayor was traveling in an armored car 
and using soldiers as bodyguards.

As part of President Vicente Fox's ongoing Operation Safe Mexico, multiple 
federal agencies began deploying Sunday to Nuevo Laredo and elsewhere along 
the border in the state of Tamaulipas, including Reynosa and Matamoros.

Federal and state officials emphasized the number of troops, police and 
agents headed to the border is an estimate. Various operations are under 
way to protect the cities and crack down on organized crime.

"The exact total is a bit confusing," one official said.

There is also the need for secrecy, a federal official said.

"Operations are a surprise, and they do not want the criminals to know how 
many (officers and soldiers) are coming," he said.

"It would be like, 'They are sending three, so we will send four,'" he said 
of how gangs might react to deployment information.

At least 100 people have been killed in Nuevo Laredo so far this year, 
including 18 police officers, a police chief who was gunned down just hours 
after taking office, and a city councilman shot last week on a busy street.

Most of the dead are believed to be tied to rival gangs vying for control 
of drug smuggling routes into the United States.

Police and other officials are said to often face the dilemma known as 
"silver or lead," meaning, take bribes and turn a blind eye to mafia 
activities or don't take the bribes and risk being killed.

In the wake of Friday's assassination of Councilman Leopoldo Ramos Ortega, 
who headed the city's Public Safety Commission, Nuevo Laredo Mayor Daniel 
Pena Trevino is being protected by a contingent of army soldiers.

Some observers said that given how Ramos and his bodyguard were cut down in 
broad daylight, the soldiers might not be enough to deter potential killers.

"He should have even more protection," said a city official, who, like most 
people discussing the tense situation in Nuevo Laredo, requested anonymity.

The U.S. Consulate in Nuevo Laredo opened for business after being closed 
for a week as authorities evaluated the safety of employees and visitors at 
the building, which functions as the U.S. government's office in that city.

"We are satisfied with the guarantees and promises made to Ambassador 
(Tony) Garza," a U.S. official said. "We are going to be vigilant. Mexico 
needs to do much more to rid the area of narco-traffickers, kingpins and 
capos."

Before ordering the consulate re-opened, Garza met behind closed doors with 
ranking officials in the Fox administration.

"One week ago, I asked the government of Mexico to take swift and what I 
then called decisive action, and in my view, they have done so," Garza said 
in a statement released Friday by the U.S. Embassy.

Authorities, including representatives of the federal attorney general's 
office in Mexico City and the Nuevo Laredo police department, declined to 
comment.
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