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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | December 2006 
Mexican Offensive on War on Drugs Raises Hopes, Cynicism
 Associated Press
| | Mexican federal police man a checkpoint in the city of Apatzingan, Mexico on Tuesday Dec. 12, 2006. Thousands of Mexican troops and law enforcement officers were sent into a key drug stronghold, sent by new President Felipe Calderon to restore order in a region where smugglers have defied authorities with beheadings and large-scale drug production. (AP/Dario Lopez-Mills) |
Apatzingan, Mexico - Mexican authorities said they had drug traffickers "on the run" in the western state of Michoacan, but some residents said they feared the arrival of thousands of soldiers would have little long-term effect on drug-fueled violence.
On Tuesday, more than 6,500 soldiers and federal police backed by helicopters and planes fanned out across Michoacan, following promises by President Felipe Calderon to crack down on organized crime.
Troops were ordered to set fire to marijuana and opium fields and round up traffickers, while navy ships were patrolling the state's Lazaro Cardenas port, a hub for drugs arriving from Central America and Colombia on their way to the United States.
By the end of the first day of the offensive, officials at Mexico's Public Safety Department said there had been several arrests but wouldn't give total figures, promising there would be a report later in the week.
Francisco Garciduenas, top federal prosecutor in Apatzingan, one of the towns worst hit by drug violence, confirmed the arrest of two alleged drug traffickers who were caught with pistols and rifle cartridges at a checkpoint.
Garciduenas said there were thousands of armed drug traffickers operating in the region, but believed many had gone into hiding after the incursion of the troops was widely publicized on Mexican television and in newspapers.
"They are on the run," he said.
The campaign follows earlier crackdowns by Mexican presidents who ordered mass firings of corrupt police, revamped courts, sent thousands of troops to battle traffickers and accelerated drug seizures — without making much of a dent on the quantity of narcotics crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.
In an interview Tuesday with the Televisa television network, Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora said the operation was aimed at "reconquering territory" controlled by drug gangs.
"It's not just a war against drug lords," he said. "It's a war against the entire criminal structure."
Medina Mora acknowledged that drug lords will likely just find another stronghold, saying: "It's a complicated war, but it is a war we can win."
In Michoacan's capital of Morelia, 22-year-old computer technician Hernan Hijano, said he was not as optimistic.
"When the soldiers leave, the problems will continue," he said. "This is just for the cameras."
Calderon took office on Dec. 1 promising to fight the execution-style killings, corrupt police and openly defiant gangs that plagued former President Vicente Fox's six years in office. Calderon has budgeted more funds for law enforcement and appointed a hard-line interior secretary, in charge of domestic security, Francisco Ramirez Acuna.
He brushed aside concerns the crackdown could lead to human rights violations and claim innocent victims.
"It's about recovering the calm, day-to-day life of Mexicans who live in the state," Calderon said at an event early Tuesday.
Warring cartels have killed at least 2,000 people this year and forced Fox to send troops into the bloody border city of Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, Texas, and the beach resort of Acapulco.
But those efforts failed to deter traffickers, who have left human heads outside government offices accompanied by written warnings. One recent message in Michoacan read: "See. Hear. Shut Up. If you want to stay alive."
During his term, Fox arrested several top drug lords, creating an underworld power vacuum in the country responsible for most of the marijuana, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines in the U.S.
Investigators say the Gulf cartel was encouraged to battle its way into Michoacan following the 2004 arrest of Valencia drug gang leader Armando Valencia and his lieutenant Carlos Alberto Rosales Mendoza, who are allied with Joaquin Guzman's Sinaloa cartel.
At one highway checkpoint staffed by more than a dozen federal police on Tuesday, officers frisked passengers and searched vehicles for drugs, weapons and drug leaders.
Across the street, 50-year-old Alejandro Arias watched. The owner of a small convenience store, he has had to pay local drug lords protection money.
"It's been a terrible year. It's gone from bad to worse," he said. "But you have to have hope. We don't have anything else." |
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