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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | January 2007 
Soldiers, Police in Tijuana Over Drugs
 Luis Perez - Associated Press
| | An unidentified Mexican soldier reviews weapons and their registry to make sure they are in order at a local police station in Tijuana, Mexico, Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2007. The review is part of Operation Tijuana, which will eventually involve more than 3000 army and police being sent to the city to fight organized crime and drug trafficking. (AP/David Maung) |
Soldiers and federal police poured into the violent border city of Tijuana Wednesday, manning checkpoints and inspecting local police stations as part of President Felipe Calderon's latest offensive against powerful drug gangs.
Backed by helicopters, planes and boats, the force descending on the city across the border from San Diego will eventually consist of 3,300 troops, Mexico's government has said. It was not clear exactly how many had entered Tijuana by Wednesday night.
Soldiers went into at least two local police stations and checked the papers and weapons of hundreds of officers.
Federal investigators allege there is a corrupt network of police in the city supporting traffickers who smuggle tons of cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana over the busy border crossing into the United States. There were no immediate reports of arrests by the soldiers.
Tijuana Mayor Jorge Hank Rhon has welcomed the troops but some residents complained about the military checkpoints in the city.
"It's good that they do these operations but this seems a bit over the top," said Raul Gonzales after soldiers ordered him out of his car and searched him from head to toe on Wednesday. "I'm just going out with my family."
Dubbed "Operation Tijuana," the mobilization is the second major military offensive against drug gangs by Calderon, who took office on Dec. 1 promising to crack down on organized crime.
Last month, he sent 7,000 troops to his native state of Michoacan in western Mexico, which has been plagued by execution-style killings and beheadings as rival gangs fight over marijuana plantations and smuggling routes.
Calderon made his first visit to these troops at a base in the Michoacan city of Apatzingan on Wednesday, donning a green army cap and jacket for a breakfast with 200 agents.
"This is not an easy task nor will it be fast," Calderon said. "It will take a long time, imply using enormous resources and even unfortunately the loss of human lives."
But, he added, "if we continue working as we have been until now, our cities and our land will not remain in the hands of criminals."
Drug gangs are blamed for more than 2,000 murders nationwide in 2006 and have left a particularly bloody trail in Michoacan and Tijuana, where more than 300 people were slain last year.
The gangs have decapitated some of their victims, leaving the heads in front of government buildings, on public beaches and even the floor of one nightclub.
Troops in Michoacan have arrested more than 80 people so far, including several suspected cartel leaders, and seized large quantities of gold, bulletproof vests, military equipment and shirts with police logos. They also have burned more than 1,300 acres of marijuana plantations.
But opposition politicians and some residents have expressed doubt that Calderon's highly publicized campaign will have much of an impact.
His predecessor, Vicente Fox, also sent thousand of agents to fight drug trafficking, arresting several alleged top kingpins during his six-year term. But those actions appeared to spark more violence, as other traffickers battled to take over the smuggling routes of those killed or detained. |
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