Pubdate: Fri, 27 Feb 2009
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Copyright: 2009 Los Angeles Times
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/bc7El3Yo
Website: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248
Author: Ken Ellingwood, Reporting from Mexico City
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/topic/Juarez
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Mexico
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/find?255  Mexico Under Siege (Series)

Mexico Under Siege

MEXICO TO SEND UP TO 5,000 MORE TROOPS TO CIUDAD JUAREZ

The increase would triple the law enforcement presence in the border 
city, which has been racked by drug violence. Its police chief quit 
recently and its mayor has received threats.

Amid growing alarm over drug violence in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, the 
Mexican government will deploy as many as 5,000 more troops to the 
border city, officials said Thursday.

The increase would triple the number of troops and federal police 
officers operating there as part of President Felipe Calderon's 
offensive against drug traffickers.

Ciudad Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said the added troops would 
give the military a higher profile by taking control of police 
functions, including street patrols. Currently, soldiers tend highway 
checkpoints, guard crime scenes and take part in special operations, 
such as house searches.

The city is without a police chief. Roberto Orduna Cruz quit last 
week after several officers were slain and someone posted threats 
saying more would be killed unless he stepped down.

On Wednesday, top Mexican security officials traveled to Ciudad 
Juarez to reassure local leaders and vowed to significantly boost the 
federal presence.

A little more than 2,000 soldiers and 425 federal police officers are 
assigned to Juarez in addition to local police, army spokesman 
Enrique Torres said. He said the reinforcements could begin to arrive 
in two weeks.

The move would represent a continuation of Calderon's strategy of 
relying on the army and federal police to counter drug-trafficking 
gangs in the country's main smuggling corridors. He had deployed 
45,000 soldiers and 5,000 police officers across the nation as part 
of the crackdown, launched two years ago.

The offensive has sparked shootouts between soldiers and traffickers 
and triggered vicious fighting between drug gangs that has propelled 
the country's fast-climbing death toll. More than 6,000 people were 
slain in 2008, and the figure has exceeded 900 this year, according 
to unofficial tallies by the news media.

Ciudad Juarez, which had about 1,600 killings last year, has been on 
edge over the police chief's resignation and threats that appeared 
over the weekend against the mayor.

Reyes and other officials have described the police slayings and 
threats as "acts of terrorism."

In a radio interview Thursday, Reyes said the city's 1,600-member 
police force was too small even before officers were ordered to 
double up in patrol cars after the recent threats. A beefed-up 
military contingent will help combat other crimes, such as robberies, 
kidnappings and extortion, the mayor said.

Reyes has vowed to continue trying to clean up the city's 
corruption-laden police force, which, like many in Mexico, has been 
infiltrated by drug smugglers. 
- ---
MAP posted-by: Richard Lake