Living in Texas, we know the plight of the fighting and killing along our Texas borders as we try to keep the drug cartel at bay as much as possible. For years,
Texas Monthly magazine, along with other Texas publications, have been reporting on the gang, drug cartel wars along the borders even before it became a huge issue of the recent immigration regulation issues.
Texans, generally, don't have a problem with people wanting to come here and share in the pursuit of the "Hortio Alger's American Dream", but when they become a part of threatening the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness of our own citizens, we have to put our foot down with a resounding thud.
This article I have posted below to share with you all was found online at
Texas Insider.
Happy reading. Be sure to let me know what you think........................................
Mexico Fights Drug Gangs, Sends Troops to Border
By DANE SCHILLER
Published: 02-19-07
MEXICO CITY — Ratcheting up its fight against drug cartels, the Mexican government announced Sunday that it is deploying about 3,300 troops and police to two besieged states bordering Texas.
Some 2,035 soldiers, 750 sailors and 518 federal police were being dispatched to the states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon, which hug the Texas border from the Gulf of Mexico to just west of Laredo.
Drug gangs have been fighting for months in the region, especially around Nuevo Laredo, for control of smuggling routes into the United States. Recently, Monterrey, Nuevo Leon's capital, has been plagued by drug violence, including the killings of as many as seven police officers.
The troops being sent to the two border states will focus on key points in the main trafficking routes, Defense Secretary Guillermo Galvan said. Soldiers on Sunday set up roadside checkpoints in and around Monterrey to stop vehicles and search for weapons and drugs.
Since taking office Dec. 1, President Felipe Calderon has ordered about 24,000 troops and federal police into Tijuana, Acapulco and Michoacan state to root out growing drug trafficking that is blamed for more than 2,000 killings last year.
Although the troops and police made dozens of arrests, burned drug crops, confiscated weapons and inspected tens of thousands of people, they have not made any major cocaine seizures or arrested major players.
Officials said the latest deployment was in response to requests from governors of the border states, who have been all but helpless.
The arrival of the troops "is a good thing," said Rosi Gallegos, 44, a civil servant in Monterrey. "You used to be able to sleep with the doors unlocked but not anymore. You did not used to see this kind of crime here before."
Last month, Calderon sent another type of warning to drug gangs by extraditing some of their imprisoned alleged leaders to the United States.
Among them were Osiel Cardenas Guillen, of the Gulf Cartel, and Hector "El Guero" Palma, of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Although he had been in a maximum-security prison in Mexico since 2003, Cardenas was believed to still be running his gang. Palma has been in prison much longer.
Long-running battle
The two cartels have been in a bloody and protracted turf war for several areas, including the Laredo-Nuevo Laredo corridor, which has seen a dramatic increase in the amount of commercial-truck traffic under the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The State Department has cautioned Americans to be careful traveling anywhere in Mexico, especially in states such as Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon.
The Mexican government periodically has sent reinforcements to Nuevo Laredo, with limited success.
Previous maneuvers
In June 2005, then-President Vicente Fox deployed hundreds of Mexican soldiers, as well as state and federal police, to the city after a wave of gangland violence in which more than 100 people were killed, including the city's chief of police.
In March 2006, the Mexican government sent as many as 800 anti-drug agents to Nuevo Laredo as part of a new attempt to get the drug violence under control.
Meanwhile, in the Pacific resort city of Acapulco, 500 people marched Sunday to demand an end to a wave of violent crimes and executions there, many blamed on turf battles between drug gangs. There have been at least 250 homicides in Acapulco over the past 14 months.
Mostly dressed in white, families, businesspeople and community activists marched through Acapulco's hotel zone, 10 days after gunmen burst into two local police stations and shot to death five police officers and two secretaries.
The Houston Chronicle and Associated Press contributed to this report.
Brought to you by the HoustonChronicle.com
