Vol. 73/No. 12      March 30, 2009

There are now some 8,500 troops in addition to about 4,000 cops patrolling the city. More than 300 cops accused of ties to drug traffickers have been fired.

The municipal police have been placed under control of the army. Julián David Rivera Bretón, a retired army general, replaced the previous chief, who quit February 20 after drug cartels reportedly threatened to kill a police officer every 48 hours until he resigned. Bretón was commander of a military unit in Chiapas during the conflict with the Zapatista movement guerrillas. He immediately asked residents of Ciudad Juárez to make "anonymous reports to guarantee public security."

The intensifying warfare between competing capitalist drug cartels has undermined government functioning in Mexico, which has the second-largest population and economy in Latin America. About 1,600 people were killed in Ciudad Juárez in 2008 and 250 in February alone this year.

The militarization of the border area takes place in the midst of growing unemployment, increased trade tensions with Washington, and the loss of more than 30 percent in the value of the Mexican peso since August. Ciudad Juárez has been especially hard hit as 80 percent of its industry is auto assembly, which has sharply declined worldwide.
 
 
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U.S. gov't weighs sending soldiers to Mexico border  
 
 
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