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 Technology News | July 2005 
U.S., Mexico Boost Their Data-Sharing to Ensnare Drug Cartels
 James Pinkerton - Houston Chronicle
Mexican and U.S. law enforcement agencies are sharing an "unprecedented" amount of intelligence on drug trafficking and other criminal activities that span the Texas-Mexico border, according to a veteran U.S. law enforcement agent.
The comments came after Mexico's top organized crime prosecutor told reporters in Mexico City of a planned joint effort with the United States code-named Operation Mirror aimed at disrupting Mexican drug cartels battling for control of Nuevo Laredo's trafficking routes into the United States.
U.S. officials contacted Wednesday said they had not heard about the operation. They did say however, that cooperation with Mexico has increased dramatically.
The veteran law enforcement agent, Alonzo Peña, who heads the San Antonio regional office of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau, said the working relationship with Mexican law agencies "is better than I've experienced in more than 20 years."
Exchanging Information
U.S. and Mexican authorities are exchanging information on drug-trafficking cartels, money-laundering operations and human smuggling rings, Peña said.
He said the cooperation has led to the apprehension of several suspects wanted by Mexico, as well as Mexican assistance in following leads developed by federal authorities in Texas.
In addition, he said Mexico has turned over lists of drug suspects and corrupt police, including a group of cartel enforcers known as the Zetas, who work for the Matamoros-based Gulf Cartel. Some of the members are former Mexican army commandos, who have taken their group's nickname from an army radio call sign.
"I never seen this kind of cooperation," said Peña, who heads criminal investigations along the Texas border from Brownsville to Del Rio for the immigration bureau. "There is real willingness in both countries to volunteer and share information. The frequency and timeliness of it is something I've never seen."
Peña thinks the escalating violence in Nuevo Laredo spurred Mexican officials to redouble efforts in the region. Nuevo Laredo has recorded more than 84 homicides, most of them drug-related, since the beginning of the year.
Federal Agents Brought It
On June 8, the new Nuevo Laredo police chief, Alejandro Dominguez Coello, was assassinated hours after he was sworn in, prompting the federal government to fly in additional agents to investigate the killing. Those federal agents were fired on by city police, and federal authorities disarmed the entire force and took it off the streets.
"They have realized the cartels have gotten very, very powerful, and I think there's a commitment on their part to rein them in," said Peña.
In Mexico City, an official with the U.S. Embassy declined to release any information about the joint operation, but said that the two countries had stepped up efforts to deal with a wave of drug-related violence along the Texas border.
"The U.S. is sharing information with its Mexican counterpart, and we have, in fact, increased our cooperation due to the violence in Nuevo Laredo," the official said.
Late Tuesday, Mexico's top drug prosecutor, Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, told of plans for a joint operation with U.S. agencies aimed at dismantling an alliance of two notorious cartels that are attempting to control Nuevo Laredo.
The prosecutor said the operation would target the head of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, and Juarez cartel leader Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, who have joined forces in an attempt to dislodge the Gulf Cartel from Nuevo Laredo.
Joint Strategy
In Houston on Tuesday, officials with the FBI, the immigration bureau, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Marshals Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco met to map out a strategy to disrupt the Mexican drug cartels.
"The meeting was to discuss our coordination of efforts on this border violence created by the Nuevo Laredo situation, and how we are going to focus our efforts and resources on the problem," said Peña, who attended the meeting. "There were commitments made to enhance an existing task force."
The key, Peña said, is to continue to develop close working relations with Mexican officials, an effort he said is working.
"Now we have direct points of contact we can reach out to for immediate response," he said. "If we call them and say, 'See if there's a vehicle at such-and-such an address.' ... They'll go check that address and call back."
"It helps us corroborate information much quicker, and in the past we haven't been able to to do that on the Mexican side." |
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