| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico | February 2009 
Calderon Slams Anti-Army Street Protests
 Robin Emmott - Reuters
go to original
| | A soldier stands in front of a Mexican flag during Mexican Army Day in Tijuana, Mexico, Thursday, Feb. 19, 2009.(AP/Guillermo Arias) | |
Monterrey, Mexico Mexican President Felipe Calderon Thursday condemned this week's street protests against his army-backed drug war, saying they were cowardly acts orchestrated by drug traffickers.
Hundreds of Mexicans, some carrying small children, blocked roads and bridges on the border into the United States and marched in the northern city of Monterrey in a series of demonstrations that police say are funded by drug gangs.
The protests, also held in the Gulf of Mexico city of Veracruz, put fresh pressure on Calderon to defeat the cartels. Two years ago, he launched a military campaign to combat spiraling drug violence. About 6,000 people died in drug-related violence last year as drug gangs fought each other and state security forces.
Those who see ... their criminal structure weakened have tried to provoke the army's retreat, Calderon told soldiers at an army base in Monterrey.
True to form as cowards, they have even used women and children for their wretched goals, he said on Mexico's national military day.
Aides said Calderon chose to celebrate Thursday's event in Monterrey, rather than the capital, as a response to the demonstrations, where many marchers held up colored cloths to hide their faces.
Mexico's drug war is scaring investors and business leaders and has alarmed the United States, which has pledged $1.4 billion worth of drug-fighting equipment and training to Mexico and Central America.
Police and government officials in Monterrey say Mexico's most violent drug gang, the Gulf cartel, and its feared armed wing, the Zetas, is behind the protests.
The cartel is paying people to attend marches and has handed out backpacks full of schoolbooks, pens and paper to poor families who joined the demonstrations, police say.
The northern states of Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas, home to Monterrey and the border cities of Nuevo Laredo and Reynosa, are the trafficking routes into Texas for the Gulf Cartel.
Calderon has sent more than 45,000 troops and federal police across Mexico to fight drug gangs since late 2006, a move widely supported by many Mexicans angry with years of inaction and deep corruption in the country's police forces.
Despite warnings from rights groups about soldiers using excessive force in the drug fight, Calderon also has Washington's support for using the army, which has made historic drug seizures and is catching more gang leaders. |
|
| |
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us