Fiery military-style battles between rival factions of a Mexican drug cartel have killed at least 15 people in the city of Tijuana, near the US border.
Tijuana police said the dead belonged to the Arellano Félix cartel drug gang, which is coming under more pressure than ever from rival gangs and the Mexican military. It was unclear if the deaths were the result of Mexican military action or if rival Mexican cartels were responsible.
More than 200 people have died so far this year in and around Tijuana.
Since taking office in late 2006, President Felipe Calderón has sent some 30,000 soldiers and federal police to fight drug cartels.
The Arellano Félix poster rose to fame in the 1980s.
According to government sources, the Arellano Félix cartel has paid millions of dollars in bribes to local law enforcement officers and other high-ranking officials, and is blamed for the increase in violence, including the murder of rival informants and traffickers.
Much of the group’s activities focus on smuggling Mexican marijuana, Colombian and Afghan cocaine, and other drugs along with illegal aliens through Mexico to California.
The lack of coordination in the battle against these Mexican cartels is considered by many to be one of the reasons why the Mexican president’s dispatch of troops to border areas has not been effective and has reduced violence. According to Raúl Benítez Manaut, from the Research Center of the National University of Mexico (UNAM), the agencies involved in the fight against drug trafficking in Mexico lack effective coordination. In addition, there are important tactical deficiencies in the development of the war against drug trafficking because an analysis of the operations is not made to determine whether they are winning or losing, but rather international cooperation is privileged to face the problem. “There is a lot of conflict between federal agencies,” he said, noting that in Mexico there is no bureaucratic tradition of presidential coordination or mechanism for joint operations. He explained that although President Felipe Calderón has tried to resolve the lack of coordination, building a strong presidency “different from Vicente Fox’s, which allowed everyone to do whatever it takes,” an explicit order of department coordination is required.
By calling the US ambassador to Mexico, Tony Garza, “a paranoid,” businessmen from Reynosa, Tamaulipas, denounced the border zone’s label as unsafe, resulting in an official US travel advisory for tourists. . In angry words, loosely using the term “gringo,” the merchants said their side of the border was no more unsafe than the US side. They also argue that the presence of army and police patrols should provide security for the “gringo tourist.”
Sources:
The National Association of Former Border Patrol Officers (NAFBPO)
Tijuana Police Department.
El Universal (Mexico City)
Tamaulipas surroundings
