Pubdate: Tue, 25 Jan 2005
Source: Reuters (Wire)
Copyright: 2005 Reuters Limited
Contact: London, UK
Website: http://www.reuters.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/364
Author: Tim Gaynor

MEXICAN DRUG WAR HURTS BUSINESS ALONG TEXAS BORDER

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico - A Mexican government crackdown on violent drug gangs 
on the Texas border, where army and federal police have been deployed, is 
scaring away U.S. visitors, business owners complained on Tuesday.

This week, Mexican President Vicente Fox sent more than 600 federal agents 
toting assault rifles to join army units in the northern state of 
Tamaulipas for what he called "the mother of all battles" against drug lords.

Business leaders and bar owners in the Mexican cities of Nuevo Laredo and 
Reynosa, south of the Rio Grande from Laredo and McAllen, Texas, said the 
convoys of flak jacket clad agents roaring through their streets were over 
the top.

"When they see the assault rifles, they think that they are going to get 
caught up in a gunfight," bartender Jaime Arrocha told Reuters at a taco 
and tequila stand three blocks from a bridge across the Rio Grande.

Nuevo Laredo Chamber of Commerce President Alejandro Dominguez said tourism 
has been on the decline for the past two years in the region, which serves 
as a key route for both legitimate trade and illegal drugs bound for the 
eastern United States.

Mexico's latest crackdown was prompted by the murders last week of six 
guards from a high-security prison in Matamoros, south of Brownsville, Texas.

The guards were found blindfolded, handcuffed and shot in the head. The 
attack received widespread media attention on both sides of the border.

Bar owners and stall holders in Nuevo Laredo, which is popular with 
day-trippers from Texas, said visitors had all but stopped coming over the 
border to sip a margarita or buy souvenir T-shirts in recent days.

"The federal police and army patrols create the wrong impression and are 
driving away the few visitors that we have," business leader Dominguez 
said. "We are not at war."

In Reynosa, south of McAllen, few tourists were visiting money changers and 
medical centers in shops near the border on Tuesday.

"The patients watch the news across the border and get scared," 
receptionist Rossy Gonzalez told Reuters. "They think it's too dangerous to 
come over."
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MAP posted-by: Beth