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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | February 2007 
Drug Turf War Advances into 'Safest City in Mexico'
 Alfredo Corchado - Dallas Morning News
| | Slayings of police shake affluent Monterrey and its tony suburbs. |
San Pedro Garza García, Mexico – From the shopping malls and the fashionable clothes of its residents, this could be any affluent U.S. suburb – University Park or Highland Park come to mind. Residents pride themselves on their American-style prosperity.
But in recent weeks, drug-related violence has shattered the tranquillity, and the main targets are police.
Seven police officers have been gunned down in Monterrey and its suburbs this year. Men with assault weapons killed two former officers last weekend.
Last year, 10 law enforcement officials were killed in the area, including five police chiefs. Among them was San Pedro's chief, Héctor Ayala Moreno. A top state investigator, Marcelo Garza y Garza, was shot and killed as he walked out of church in San Pedro.
"One day you wake up and realize that your neighbors are not who you thought they were," said Denise Colyer, 22, a waitress at a Chili's here. "We thought we were immune from the violence, but we're surrounded by fear and drug traffickers."
Law enforcement officials on both sides of the border say the killings represent an attempt on the part of the Gulf drug cartel and its enforcement arm, the Zetas, to gain control of police through intimidation and corruption.
Nuevo Gov. José Natividad González Paras, whose state is hosting a worldwide Cultural Forum in September, insisted in an interview that Monterrey and its suburbs remain safe.
"Monterrey is still – and we're working to keeping it – the safest city in Mexico," Mr. González said. "For us and for Mexico, organized crime is the number one problem we face."
About two hours by car from the Texas border, San Pedro Garza García, population 120,000, is one of Latin America's wealthiest suburbs – and one with strong economic and cultural ties to Texas. It is home to about 1,500 Dallas Cowboys season-ticket holders, and it is a sister city to Plano.
But the same opulence that attracts Mexico's elite families is also a magnet for the nation's warring drug lords, authorities say. Two U.S. officials said at least five small cells working for the Gulf cartel now exert substantial control in Monterrey and its affluent suburbs. The assassins number about 15 per cell, said a U.S. law enforcement official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
They are some of the same hired guns that for years have terrorized Nuevo Laredo and other border communities, the officials said. The mastermind is the Gulf cartel's alleged regional leader, or gatekeeper, Miguel Treviño Morales, the U.S. officials said. Last month, Laredo issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Treviño in connection with a 2006 double homicide in Texas.
Battle over Texas routes
The Gulf and Sinaloa cartels have been battling over control of routes into Texas, particularly Interstate 35, authorities say.
The killings in the Monterrey area are eerily similar to those Nuevo Laredo, which for the three years has been the center of a turf war that has left hundreds dead, including law enforcement officials and several U.S. citizens. In addition, about 140 Nuevo Laredo police officers have been fired for corruption.
In the face of police killings, law enforcement officials in the Monterrey area are resigning in waves, including more than 40 in recent days. Last week, Monterrey Mayor Adalberto Madero fired 52 police officers suspected of corruption and collusion with drug traffickers.
Some of the slain policemen were gunned down in San Pedro Garza García, which had had the reputation of the best and most honest and professional police force nationwide. But two dozen police officers have resigned this year out of fear for their lives, Mexican and U.S. officials said.
Carlos Castresana, a U.N. representative and expert on drug traffickers, compared the killing of law enforcement officials in the Monterrey area to the situation in Medellín, Colombia, where a wave of police killings in the 1980s sent shock waves through the city and intimidated the police force.
Law enforcement and government officials in Nuevo León downplay the Medellín comparison and deny that the Gulf cartel controls the city.
"We are working with the federal government [to develop] a new model, a more efficient model, to fight and win the war, which is as important to our country as it is to the state," said Mr. González, the governor.
He applauded President Felipe Calderón for sending federal troops to Nuevo León, including some manning checkpoints in San Pedro Garza García.
Since taking office Dec. 1, Mr. Calderón has taken strong measures against the traffickers, ordering 25,000 troops and federal police to the Mexican states where most of last year's 2,200 gangland-style killings occurred.
But a senior U.S. official said corruption among police agencies is widespread. The official blamed low pay as a reason many police officers end up working for cartels.
"If that isn't a crisis, I don't know what qualifies as a crisis," the official said. "The cops serve as paid security forces to provide protection for drug traffickers."
Over the weekend, Monterrey Archbishop Francisco Robles Ortega called on authorities to provide better pay for police.
Mr. González acknowledged that police corruption is the root of the problem, along with the American desire for illegal drugs. He said efforts were under way to make the police forces more professional and clean.
Raises business costs
"This is a binational problem, one that requires a binational solution," Mr. González said. "Pointing fingers will not help anyone."
Some business executives say privately that the violence has raised their costs because of added security. And that hurts Mexico's competitiveness when China has unseated Mexico as the United States' No. 2 trading partner.
"Visitors are urged to remain vigilant" while in Monterrey, said a report by the Overseas Security Advisory Council, an advisory body to the U.S. State Department. The region is home to more than 50,000 Americans, plus about 1,200 U.S. companies, many of them based in Texas.
"The escalation of violence in the Monterrey area is forcing companies to ask: 'How much more does it cost to protect my personnel and facilities?' " said Fred Burton, vice president for Austin-based Stratfor, a private intelligence gathering group. "Security costs are rising so that facilities and personnel are protected adequately."
Monterrey is a powerful economic engine, accounting for more than 4 percent of Mexico's gross domestic product.
Its relative prosperity has given Monterrey and especially its suburb of San Pedro Garza García a U.S. lifestyle like few Mexican cities. On weekends, residents flock to Texas malls, and some head to vacation homes on South Padre Island.
But residents say their sense of security is fraying.
"This was supposed to be the most honest police force, the safest place, and that just isn't so," said Gabriela Barragan, a 35-year-old mother of two sipping Starbucks coffee at an upscale shopping center. "Our tranquillity has been shattered."
acorchado@dallasnews.com |
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