|
|
|
 Editorials | Issues | January 2008 
Border Insecurity: Mexico Sends Military to Guard Juárez Roads
 Louie Gilot - For the Sun-News
go to original
| | A Mexican soldier manned a high-caliber machine gun atop a Humvee parked Tuesday outside the Centro Medico de Especialidades. The commander of the Chihuahua state bureau of investigation was hospitalized there after being shot several times Monday night. (Victor Calzada/El Paso Times) | | |
Juarez — The Mexican government has cracked down on drug cartels along the Texas-Mexico border, sending soldiers to Juárez, Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros and Reynosa.
In Juárez, soldiers drove around Tuesday in Humvees equipped with gun turrets to help local police after two days of relentless attacks on high-ranking police officials.
But in Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros and Reynosa, soldiers in armored cars surrounded police stations to check whether the police officers' weapons, radios and phones were connected to crimes. No arrests were reported.
Soldiers blocked streets and checked cars in central Juárez, and they stood guard in front of the Centro Medico de Especialidades, a hospital on Americas Avenue where Fernando Lozano Sandoval, the commander of the Chihuahua state bureau of investigation, was being treated for severe gunshot wounds. Lozano was ambushed by several men in two vehicles Monday night.
Lozano was the third high-ranking police official to be attacked in two days and the only one to survive, although he is critical condition.
It wasn't clear Tuesday whether the relatively modest deployment in Juárez — about 50 soldiers from the military camp in South Juárez — would develop into an all-out assault on drug traffickers similar to what has taken place in other border cities.
Socorro Cordova, spokeswoman for the Mexican consulate in El Paso, acknowledged how images of military personnel on Juarez streets could deter visitors to the border city but added that it's all for a purpose.
"You can't say there isn't tension in a place where you see military tanks where you didn't see them before," she said. "But all of it is strictly to provide security not only for our own but for those coming from abroad."
Last week, Juárez Mayor José Reyes Ferris asked for help from the federal government and said then that local police were not equipped to deal with violent drug gangs.
On Tuesday, he was in a meeting about security with state officials in Chihuahua City, but his spokesman, Sergio Belmonte, confirmed that the soldiers' deployment was in response to the surging violence.
"We have asked for the federal government to turn its attention to combating drug trafficking in Juárez," he said.
Two city police officers were shot inside their vehicles in the previous two days. Sunday, Lt. Julián Cháirez Hernández was shot to death in his patrol car. Monday, Francisco Ledezma Salazar, operations coordinator for the municipal police, was shot to death outside his home.
The Associated Press and Sun-News reporter Jose Medina contributed to this report.
Louie Gilot writes for the El Paso Times, a member of the Texas-New Mexico Newspapers Partnership, and can be reached at lgilot(at)elpasotimes.com
Two days in Juárez
Sunday, 12:20 a.m., Plutarco El'as Calles and Hermanos Escobar avenues. Lt. Julián Cháirez Hernández, 37, of the municipal police, was found shot to death inside his patrol car.
Sunday, 7:30 a.m., 3520 Monte Rainer Street. Mirna Yeremia Muńoz Ledo Mar'n was found nude inside her house on Monte Rainer and Monte Colon streets, stabbed several times.
Monday, 7:50 a.m., Catzumala and Marcos Martinez streets. Francisco Ledezma Salazar, 35, operations coordinator for the municipal police, was shot inside his SUV by men traveling in a minivan.
Monday, 9:30 a.m., 620 Concepci-n Loera Street. Police found the body of Ericka Sonora Trejo, 38, and 8 months pregnant, in the bathroom of her house. Police said her father-in-law, Juan Manuel L-pez, 58, allegedly bludgeoned her with an ax.
Monday, 5 p.m., Casas Grandes Road. A skeleton, possibly of an adult man, was found in the desert. Forensic experts estimated it had been there for more than a year.
Monday, 8:40 p.m., Paseo del Triunfo de la República and Del Charro Avenue. Fernando Lozano Sandoval, 51, commander of the Chihuahua state bureau of investigations, was shot while driving his SUV. Police said the attackers where traveling in two vehicles, a red SUV and a gray car. Lozano survived and is in critical but stable condition at a Juárez hospital. |
| |
|
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us