Mexico-US border violence claims 4 more lives
Drug-related violence on the Mexico-US border claimed four more lives Monday to bring this year’s toll to 125, police reported.
The victims, including a US citizen, were killed in clashes between drug-trafficking groups.
Police found the scorched bodies in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. One of the slain apparently suffered a coup de grace before being sprayed with fuel and burned. It was typical of killings by drug pushers in gang fighting, according to Eduardo Anaya, an official of the regional attorney general’s office
To crack down on organized crime along the border with the United States, Mexico launched a “Safe Mexico” program in June.
In Nuevo Laredo, officials say the city is on the front-line of a battle between Mexico’s two main drug gangs, who are fighting tocontrol coveted smuggling routes into the United States.
The local government and business leaders, among others, have set aside 2 million US dollars to lure US tourists back to this Mexican border city.
The money, which comes from both public and private sources, will be used to improve Nuevo Laredo’s image after a wave of violence scared tourists away.
Source: news.xinhuanet.com
US Ambassador in Mexico Warns of Increasing Crime
The U.S. ambassador to Mexico is warning U.S. citizens traveling in Mexico to use caution because of increasing violence and criminal activity, especially along the 3000-kilometer border. The warning comes at a time when people in one border town are observing an especially painful anniversary related to cross-border crime.
In a statement, Ambassador Tony Garza says violence in the border region threatens both Mexicans and Americans and their way of life. He says violence related to narcotics smuggling has claimed 1,500 Mexican lives this year.
He says that, just last week, six young
In Mexico, women's advocates make slow but steady gains against violence
Sandra Garcia says her father beat her when she was a child. Now 18, she isn't afraid to talk about it, unlike her mother, who kept quiet even as the same man brutalized her and rarely let her leave the house, much less work.
"I'm getting therapy because I don't want to let what happened to me destroy my life the way it destroyed my mother's life," said the young woman, who receives counseling at a Mexico City clinic. "She never reported the violence she suffered because she didn't know how
Two police chiefs gunned down in Mexico
Two Mexican police chiefs were gunned down near the U.S. border in what authorities believed were drug-related killings, El Universal reported Tuesday.
The chiefs were killed in two separate incidents by unknown gunmen, said local authorities.
Violence along the U.S.-Mexican border has been on the rise in recent months, attributed to bad blood between rival drug gangs vying for control of the illegal shipping routes into the United States.
About a dozen Mexican police officers have been killed along the border in violence attributed to drugs in the past year.
More: news.monstersandcritics.com
Violence breaks out in parts of Mexico
Assailants lobbed a grenade at a hotel and a prison director and police chief barely survived separate attempts on their lives in an outbreak of violence in several parts of Mexico.
The grenade attack happened early Saturday in the resort city of Zihuatanejo, 240 kilometers (150 miles) north of Acapulco. The grenade exploded about 4 a.m. (1000 GMT) in the parking lot of the Hotel Posada Colonial, shattering windows and injuring a person who was hit in the leg by a fragment of the weapon, Preventive Police official Miguel Garcia said.
The incident marked the third
7 killed in new wave of violence in Mexico
Seven people were killed and 19 others arrested in a new wave of violence affecting several regions of Mexico over the past 24 hours, police said Sunday.
Among the victims were three guards of a prison near the city of Monterrey in the northeastern state of Nuevo Leon, police said.
The guards were thought to be killed in a revenge by drug-traffickers operating on the Mexican-US border.
So far this year, a total of 25 people have been killed in
Mexico wary of rights violations on U.S. border
Mexico says it will be keeping an eye out for human rights violations after Texas Gov. Rick Perry pledged $9.7 million to step up security along the Mexico-Texas border.
In a statement sent out late Wednesday, Mexico said it understood that the fight against crime and violence along the border must be fought on both sides.
But the statement also called on the United States to allow more legal migration and respect the rights of Mexicans north of the border.
"Without a doubt, the security of both countries, especially along the border, would benefit from the
Violence linked to drug trafficking no threat to Mexico's national security: spokesman
Violence linked to drug trafficking puts public security at risk in some cities and regions in Mexico, but it has never threatened national security, a spokesman for Mexican President Vicente Fox said Monday.
"There are red flags in some areas and cities, but not in the Mexican state as a whole," said Ruben Aguilar, the presidential spokesman.
Last July, 11 local governments launched the "Mexico Seguro" (Safe Mexico) operation in an effort to restore peace and security in the most
Mexico, U.S. joining to combat 'narco-violence' on the border
Mexican and U.S. law enforcement agents are combining strengths to place a "unified chokehold" on international drug traffickers who jeopardize public safety on both sides of the border, Mexico's attorney general said Thursday.
Daniel Cabeza de Vaca joined U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in announcing several initiatives — many conceived during bilateral talks in Houston last month — aimed at the kind of "narco-violence" that has terrorized Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.
The commitments include improved information and technology sharing; coordination of tactical responses to crime-gang warfare and joint training, the two officials said.
"Both attorney
Stop guns going to Mexico
Assault weapons purchased in the United States are flooding into high-violence areas along the Mexican border and contributing to the wave of crime across the border. A large amount of violence has been centered in and near Nuevo Laredo, where about 128 murders have been recorded this year.
Many of the slayings are believed to be related to the fierce battle between rival drug cartels fighting for control of drug trafficking routes into the United States. A unified effort by law enforcement agencies on both sides of the border is needed to reduce the flow of
Drug violence extends beyond Mexico's traditional smuggling routes
Until seven corpses turned up here a few weeks ago, residents of this hamlet nestled near the coffee-rich mountains of southern Mexico thought they were immune from the drug violence that's long plagued the gritty northern border with the United States.
Now they live in fear, as drug violence has arrived deep in the heart of Mexico.
The dead men were strangers, dressed in fashionable jeans and designer underwear. Each man's hands and feet were bound by duct tape. Their eyes and mouths were also taped over, leaving the victims looking like silver
