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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | January 2007 
Mexican Military Convoy Rolls into Acapulco
 Natalia Parra - Associated Press
| | A column of army vehicles pass by downtown Coyuca de Benitez, January 10, 2006. (Stringer/Reuters) |
More than 1,000 Mexican army troops amassed in this Pacific resort town and two other cities in the western state of Guerrero on Wednesday in preparation for a crackdown on drugs and crime, state officials said.
The mobilization follows the movement of more than 10,000 troops to two other states since President Felipe Calderon took office on Dec. 1, promising a tough response to organized crime.
The troops began arriving Tuesday night and were on standby in Acapulco; the state capital, Chilpancingo; and the city of Iguala while military commanders were briefed on drug cartels and other criminal operations in the area, said a state official who confirmed the operation.
In contrast to an anti-drug operation in the border city of Tijuana, however, military officials as yet have no plans to strip local police officers of their weapons during the upcoming offensive in Acapulco and other violence-plagued cities including the resort city of Zihuatanejo, the official said.
Instead, the troops will maintain a visible presence patrolling the streets, setting up roadblocks and conducting random vehicle checks, said the official, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to provide information to the media.
Calderon sent 3,300 soldiers and federal police to Tijuana — across the border from San Diego — last week to hunt down drug gangs. The soldiers swept police stations and took officers' guns for inspection in response to allegations by federal investigators that a corrupt network of officers supports smugglers trafficking drugs into the United States.
The soldiers have not said when they will return the guns, and Tijuana police say they have received a wave of death threats since they were stripped of their weapons.
In Acapulco, Guerrero Gov. Zeferino Torreblanca has requested that troops refrain from patrolling the beachside avenue Costera Miguel Aleman, which runs past many luxury hotels, because business owners fear it will scare away tourists.
Calderon ordered the first federal operation last month, sending in 7,000 troops to his home state of Michoacan, which has been plagued by execution-style killings as rival gangs fight over marijuana plantations and smuggling routes.
On Monday, Gov. Natividad Gonzalez of the border state of Nuevo Leon, across from Texas, said he would undertake his own crackdown against drug traffickers, but without military help. The fight against organized crime in Nuevo Leon will involve better coordination between federal and state police agencies and rooting out corrupt law enforcement officials, he said.
Drug gangs were blamed for more than 2,000 murders nationwide in 2006 and left a particularly bloody trail in Michoacan and Tijuana, where more than 300 people were slain last year. Drug organizations also have fought bloody turf battles in Acapulco in recent years, and the city has seen a series of executions, gunbattles and beheadings. |
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