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5th April 2010, 02:01 PM
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/040210dnintmexicoattacks.1b8b36a.html
Texas border towns fear violent spillover from Mexico
By ALFREDO CORCHADO / The Dallas Morning News
acorchado@dallasnews.com
EL PASO – Texas law enforcement officials are bracing for a bloody weekend along the border, advising farmers to arm themselves as signs across northern Mexico point to a new escalation of violence after coordinated drug cartel attacks against the military this week.
In the northern Mexican states of Nuevo León and Tamaulipas, both bordering Texas, drug cartel gunmen used trucks and buses Tuesday to block approaches to military bases in Reynosa and Matamoros, apparently in an attempt to trap the troops inside. In all, gunmen attacked military targets in a half-dozen towns in the two states.
At least 18 suspected attackers were reported killed. One soldier was reported wounded.
The unease across Mexico has analysts and political leaders questioning the Mexican government's long-term strategy, with at least one leading expert saying the approach is flawed because some "government elements" unwittingly favor one cartel over the other.
The result has been a "feeding frenzy" of violence, said Phil Williams, an expert on global security who spoke this week at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, southwest of Fort Worth.
Across West Texas, worries abound of possible Easter weekend massacres in tiny Mexican communities butting up against Texas. In Hudspeth County, near El Paso, Chief Deputy Mike Doyal said Thursday that his "deputies are on high alert, 24-7," for any sign of "a spillover of violence."
The alerts were prompted by street banners and online messages from alleged members of the Sinaloa cartel warning residents of Mexican towns to leave by Easter Sunday or face death and burned homes.
The Sinaloa cartel is battling members of the Juárez cartel for control of distribution routes into Texas. Cartels are also known to use the banners and online messages to spread fear and intimidate residents without following through on threats.
In recent days, according to residents with relatives on the Mexican side of the border, at least six homes and businesses have been burned. Hundreds of residents reportedly have either fled to nearby Ciudad Juárez or sought refuge with relatives in Texas.
Doyal said tensions over the past few weeks have reached a "boiling point."
"The word on the street is, 'You have to leave or pay with your blood,' " Doyal said. "This is supposed to be the weekend of weekends. So, yeah, we're on high alert."
He said he has four of his 15 deputies on duty in Fort Hancock, up from the lone deputy who normally patrols the community.
Earlier in the week, the Sheriff's Department held a community meeting in which authorities advised residents, "If you're out on the fields, arm yourself," Doyal said.
Border Patrol spokesman Doug Mosier issued a statement Thursday evening urging calm "amid unsubstantiated reports of violence, threats and intimidation."
Mosier said the agency has increased the number of agents on duty and is "determined to prevent violence from spilling over into the U.S."
Worries about IEDs
In Tamaulipas and Nuevo León, across the border from South Texas, the Gulf cartel is battling its former enforcers, the paramilitary group known as the Zetas.
In an alarming new development, the criminal groups are experimenting with improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, said Alex Posey, a Mexico security analyst with Austin-based Stratfor.
"The most worrisome thing about an IED is that it's not as targeted as a rifle round," Posey said. "There is a greater risk of collateral damage when IEDs are involved."
At a news conference in Mexico City, Gen. Edgar LuÃÂ*s Villegas called the attacks in northern Mexico "desperate acts" in reaction to "the advances made by federal authorities." Some residents and experts scoffed at the statement, saying that the situation is spiraling out of control.
A businessman in Reynosa, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation by criminal groups, said by telephone that the military "reacts like spectators at a bullring."
"They sit around and watch while hit men kill each other, and then they come in and clean up the mess, even the blood of innocent people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time," the businessman said.
The U.S. Consulate office in Monterrey issued a warning Thursday for Easter weekend: "Americans planning to travel by road from Monterrey to Texas should be especially vigilant and carefully monitor local news reports."
In Chihuahua state, across from El Paso, 4,500 federal agents were expected Thursday night to take over for the military, which will remain active but in a support role.
Favoritism allegations
Meanwhile, the accusation that the government was favoring some cartels – particularly the Sinaloa cartel and its leader, JoaquÃÂ*n "Chapo" Guzman – gained new credence from security experts.
"The best example of this favoritism is that Chapo Guzmán is the most wanted man in Mexico and yet he's still free," said drug trafficking expert Bruce Bagley of the University of Miami, also speaking Monday at Tarleton State. He said the leader of the Sinaloa cartel has better intelligence than the government. "There's no other rational explanation."
"There's tacit favoritism, it seems, for the Sinaloa cartel," added Williams, the expert on global security from the University of Pittsburgh.
The government counters that it has detained 72,000 criminals since President Felipe Calderón took office in December 2006 and that all the major groups were well represented according to their relative strength: 27 percent of detainees belong to the Gulf-Zetas organization, 24 percent to the Sinaloa cartel, 17 percent to the Juárez cartel, 14 percent to the Beltrán Leyva organization, 13 percent to the Arellano Félix cartel, and 5 percent to other groups, including La Familia and the Valencia-Milenio cartel.
"This government has attacked indiscriminately all the criminal groups in Mexico," Calderón said last month.
His strategy of sending the military after the cartels has led to steadily rising violence and almost 19,000 deaths in a little more than three years.
The biggest challenge with the Calderón strategy, said Jorge Chabat, a security expert in Mexico City, is "growing fatigue" among residents.
"I don't know that residents will tolerate this kind of violence much longer."
related:
In Arizona..
http://www.kgun9.com/Global/story.asp?S=12248228#
Ranchers speak out on lack of action
Reporter: Joel Waldman
Web producer: Danya Kline
TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - Ranchers across southern Arizona are rallying around their friend and neighbor Rob Krentz after his brutal murder. Krentz was shot to death on his ranch last Saturday.
Some are downright angry, blaming politicians for not backing them at the border. " Look at our government. It can't keep people from walking in, it's beyond belief," exclaimed rancher Art Thomasson.
That lack of protection ended in spilled blood that has now prompted Congresswoman Giffords to take decisive action.
Giffords said, " I wrote to the President and Janet Napolitano, requests to immediately deploy the guard to the border."
Giffords also wants more Border Patrol, and a forward operating base much closer to the actual border line. Ranchers are hoping that it happens, but they're filled with doubt after years of getting ignored.
" There is nothing new. The people out of Washington seem scared of it, scared of this border," says Thomasson.
But that same fear has not overwhelmed the cowboys we talked to.
One said he carries a firearm, and that even though he doesn't want to use it, he will if he has to.
Another one told us that he knows people who have been yanked off of horses. He asserted that if can help it, he won't let that happen to him.
Ranchers are demanding security first, DC politics can wait.
Without a remedy and without an answer, this land is forever changed by the murder of rancher Robert Krentz.
Texas border towns fear violent spillover from Mexico
By ALFREDO CORCHADO / The Dallas Morning News
acorchado@dallasnews.com
EL PASO – Texas law enforcement officials are bracing for a bloody weekend along the border, advising farmers to arm themselves as signs across northern Mexico point to a new escalation of violence after coordinated drug cartel attacks against the military this week.
In the northern Mexican states of Nuevo León and Tamaulipas, both bordering Texas, drug cartel gunmen used trucks and buses Tuesday to block approaches to military bases in Reynosa and Matamoros, apparently in an attempt to trap the troops inside. In all, gunmen attacked military targets in a half-dozen towns in the two states.
At least 18 suspected attackers were reported killed. One soldier was reported wounded.
The unease across Mexico has analysts and political leaders questioning the Mexican government's long-term strategy, with at least one leading expert saying the approach is flawed because some "government elements" unwittingly favor one cartel over the other.
The result has been a "feeding frenzy" of violence, said Phil Williams, an expert on global security who spoke this week at Tarleton State University in Stephenville, southwest of Fort Worth.
Across West Texas, worries abound of possible Easter weekend massacres in tiny Mexican communities butting up against Texas. In Hudspeth County, near El Paso, Chief Deputy Mike Doyal said Thursday that his "deputies are on high alert, 24-7," for any sign of "a spillover of violence."
The alerts were prompted by street banners and online messages from alleged members of the Sinaloa cartel warning residents of Mexican towns to leave by Easter Sunday or face death and burned homes.
The Sinaloa cartel is battling members of the Juárez cartel for control of distribution routes into Texas. Cartels are also known to use the banners and online messages to spread fear and intimidate residents without following through on threats.
In recent days, according to residents with relatives on the Mexican side of the border, at least six homes and businesses have been burned. Hundreds of residents reportedly have either fled to nearby Ciudad Juárez or sought refuge with relatives in Texas.
Doyal said tensions over the past few weeks have reached a "boiling point."
"The word on the street is, 'You have to leave or pay with your blood,' " Doyal said. "This is supposed to be the weekend of weekends. So, yeah, we're on high alert."
He said he has four of his 15 deputies on duty in Fort Hancock, up from the lone deputy who normally patrols the community.
Earlier in the week, the Sheriff's Department held a community meeting in which authorities advised residents, "If you're out on the fields, arm yourself," Doyal said.
Border Patrol spokesman Doug Mosier issued a statement Thursday evening urging calm "amid unsubstantiated reports of violence, threats and intimidation."
Mosier said the agency has increased the number of agents on duty and is "determined to prevent violence from spilling over into the U.S."
Worries about IEDs
In Tamaulipas and Nuevo León, across the border from South Texas, the Gulf cartel is battling its former enforcers, the paramilitary group known as the Zetas.
In an alarming new development, the criminal groups are experimenting with improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, said Alex Posey, a Mexico security analyst with Austin-based Stratfor.
"The most worrisome thing about an IED is that it's not as targeted as a rifle round," Posey said. "There is a greater risk of collateral damage when IEDs are involved."
At a news conference in Mexico City, Gen. Edgar LuÃÂ*s Villegas called the attacks in northern Mexico "desperate acts" in reaction to "the advances made by federal authorities." Some residents and experts scoffed at the statement, saying that the situation is spiraling out of control.
A businessman in Reynosa, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation by criminal groups, said by telephone that the military "reacts like spectators at a bullring."
"They sit around and watch while hit men kill each other, and then they come in and clean up the mess, even the blood of innocent people who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time," the businessman said.
The U.S. Consulate office in Monterrey issued a warning Thursday for Easter weekend: "Americans planning to travel by road from Monterrey to Texas should be especially vigilant and carefully monitor local news reports."
In Chihuahua state, across from El Paso, 4,500 federal agents were expected Thursday night to take over for the military, which will remain active but in a support role.
Favoritism allegations
Meanwhile, the accusation that the government was favoring some cartels – particularly the Sinaloa cartel and its leader, JoaquÃÂ*n "Chapo" Guzman – gained new credence from security experts.
"The best example of this favoritism is that Chapo Guzmán is the most wanted man in Mexico and yet he's still free," said drug trafficking expert Bruce Bagley of the University of Miami, also speaking Monday at Tarleton State. He said the leader of the Sinaloa cartel has better intelligence than the government. "There's no other rational explanation."
"There's tacit favoritism, it seems, for the Sinaloa cartel," added Williams, the expert on global security from the University of Pittsburgh.
The government counters that it has detained 72,000 criminals since President Felipe Calderón took office in December 2006 and that all the major groups were well represented according to their relative strength: 27 percent of detainees belong to the Gulf-Zetas organization, 24 percent to the Sinaloa cartel, 17 percent to the Juárez cartel, 14 percent to the Beltrán Leyva organization, 13 percent to the Arellano Félix cartel, and 5 percent to other groups, including La Familia and the Valencia-Milenio cartel.
"This government has attacked indiscriminately all the criminal groups in Mexico," Calderón said last month.
His strategy of sending the military after the cartels has led to steadily rising violence and almost 19,000 deaths in a little more than three years.
The biggest challenge with the Calderón strategy, said Jorge Chabat, a security expert in Mexico City, is "growing fatigue" among residents.
"I don't know that residents will tolerate this kind of violence much longer."
related:
In Arizona..
http://www.kgun9.com/Global/story.asp?S=12248228#
Ranchers speak out on lack of action
Reporter: Joel Waldman
Web producer: Danya Kline
TUCSON (KGUN9-TV) - Ranchers across southern Arizona are rallying around their friend and neighbor Rob Krentz after his brutal murder. Krentz was shot to death on his ranch last Saturday.
Some are downright angry, blaming politicians for not backing them at the border. " Look at our government. It can't keep people from walking in, it's beyond belief," exclaimed rancher Art Thomasson.
That lack of protection ended in spilled blood that has now prompted Congresswoman Giffords to take decisive action.
Giffords said, " I wrote to the President and Janet Napolitano, requests to immediately deploy the guard to the border."
Giffords also wants more Border Patrol, and a forward operating base much closer to the actual border line. Ranchers are hoping that it happens, but they're filled with doubt after years of getting ignored.
" There is nothing new. The people out of Washington seem scared of it, scared of this border," says Thomasson.
But that same fear has not overwhelmed the cowboys we talked to.
One said he carries a firearm, and that even though he doesn't want to use it, he will if he has to.
Another one told us that he knows people who have been yanked off of horses. He asserted that if can help it, he won't let that happen to him.
Ranchers are demanding security first, DC politics can wait.
Without a remedy and without an answer, this land is forever changed by the murder of rancher Robert Krentz.