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 News from Around the Americas | June 2005 
Garza: U.S. Willing to Help
 Natalia Gσmez Quintero - El Universal
| | Garza said he recognized the efforts of President Vicente Fox's government. |
In a letter to media, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza said that security along the two nation's borders is the shared responsibility of both countries.
In response to a wave of drugrelated killings in the north that has left an estimated 640 people dead this year alone, top Mexican officials in recent weeks have called on the United States to do more to help.
"I have assured Mexican officials that we are willing to share the responsibility for the region's security, whether it be through exchanges of intelligence or through assistance to Mexican agencies charged with upholding the law," Garza's letter read.
Garza said he recognized the efforts of President Vicente Fox's government: In the recently launched Operation Safe Mexico, thousands of federal agents have flooded hard hit areas such as Nuevo Laredo and Sinaloa. However, he warned that the eradication of corruption and violence fueled by organized crime will not disappear overnight. He recommended that the U.S. State Department keep a travel advisory warning of possible danger in the border region.
The massive deployment of police and military has failed to halt the killings.
In Nuevo Laredo Friday, authorities found the body of a man in a pile of garbage who had been burned and shot to death. No arrests have been made. Another dead body was found in Nuevo Laredo on Thursday.
Patricia Olamendi, an official with the Foreign Relations Secretariat, said Friday that the continued murders have hurt Mexico's image internationally.
She called on the nation's political parties to abandon partisan sparring on the security issue and work together to help find a solution. |
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