U.S. ambassador defends criticism of Mexican crime problem

Corpus Christi Caller-Times ^ | March 3, 2005

[FBD]

>"I'm sure the press isn't going to give us a fair shake when it comes to reporting events happening here that month."<

Yup. That's a foregone conclusion.

regards

[FBD]

It would be far better if Sec. of State Rice made these statements to Mexico...then they would have some real impact. Words from an ambassador don't carry much weight.

[raybbr]

Soon after, Garza sent an open letter to Mexican officials criticizing local law enforcement's progress against border crime and saying the lack of security along the border could have a "chilling" effect on trade and tourism.

How? In what way? What is the U.S. doing to create this "chilling" effect?

A paper tiger roar - nothing more.

[raybbr]

Mexico and the U.S. still have disagreements and differences, but we all recognize our futures are linked. The path to opportunity, to prosperity, on both sides of the border is through strengthened understanding and partnership. Our partnership on law enforcement and border safety is essential. It enables us to carry out our most important responsibility as public servants -- ensuring the safety and well being of all our citizens. As we face new global challenges, we need to build better communication, better methods of sharing information, better cooperation between our law enforcement entities. Criminals and terrorists are endlessly devious in their dark trade -- we need to be endlessly innovative to defeat them and bring them to justice.

Mexico and the United States agree that we need to assure safe, legal, orderly and humane movement of people and goods between our countries.

REMARKS BY U.S. AMBASSADOR TO MEXICO, TONY GARZA, AT THE CAMARA DE DIPUTADOS' "FRIENDS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" GROUP CEREMONY

Notice there is no mention of border security just safety. In the above article or in his remarks.

So what's the big deal? It's the same old stuff. He's just throwing the U.S. citizens a bone - the meat goes to mexico as usual.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

Immigration reform is more likely to occur when "Mexico is doing everything it can to create economic opportunities" for Mexicans, Garza said. "Reliance on remittances from the U.S. is not a viable economic policy. This only increases dependence on the United States and delays Mexico's full participation in the global economy."

A little googling for info about his wife reveals that those views are similar to her's.

Good thing she is wealthy. With those views Amb. Garza won't be holding down a job in the Bush Administration much longer.

"Cheap" labor, Amb Garza. "Cheap" labor!

[JustAnotherSavage]

Here's some of Mexico's "crime prevention":

AP
27 Cancun Policemen Face Drug Charges

Tue Mar 1, 1:32 AM ET


By MARK STEVENSON, Associated Press Writer

CANCUN, Mexico - Prosecutors charged 27 state, federal and local police in Cancun with running a drug ring or aiding in the murder of their fellow officers, busting one of Mexico's largest police-protection rackets and solving the mystery behind the killing of three federal agents in November.



The charges announced Monday illustrate how traffickers continued to infiltrate the area around the Caribbean resort, despite a crackdown following the 2001 arrest of the state's former governor on drug charges.

Most of those charged "took advantage of their position as public servants to form a criminal organization whose main function was to tolerate and allow third parties to continue drug trafficking activities," the Attorney General's Office said in a press statement.

Of the 27 suspects, eight were charged with homicide or being accessories to homicide for apparently identifying and giving drug gunmen information about the three federal agents whose bullet-ridden bodies, along with two civilians believed to be informants, were found on the outskirts of Cancun on Nov. 25.

A total of 25 suspects — including some of those charged with homicide — were facing organized crime and drug trafficking charges.

They included federal police agents assigned to the Cancun area; state police officials assigned in the same area, and municipal police employed directly by the Cancun city government.

The charges went to the top of the local police structure.

Among those facing drug charges was Miguel Angel Hernandez, who head the federal attorney general's headquarters in Cancun; Armando Villalobos, who once headed the elite Federal Agency of Investigation units in Quintana Roo and the neighboring states; and Felipe de Jesus Arguelles, who oversaw Cancun's police, traffic and emergency departments.

All those charged Monday had previously been held under house arrest.

The arrest relate to Nov. 25, when the five bullet-ridden bodies were found near Cancun, and another four charred bodies were found hours later in the trunk of a burned-out car near the Cancun airport. On Nov. 26, two members of the Federal Agency of Investigation were found wounded but alive outside this beach resort.

The dead agents, who were members of the elite Federal Agency of Investigation, the Mexican equivalent of the FBI (news - web sites), did not appear to have been working with drug gangs; they may have been honest cops targeted by their corrupt colleagues, who tipped off drug hitmen as to their whereabouts.

The charges suggest that Cancun continues to be a popular shipment point for Colombian cocaine, just as it was in the 1990s, when former governor Mario Villanueva allegedly helped traffickers from the statehouse.

The drugs appear destined for the United States, not the millions of Americans who visit Cancun annually. U.S. officials say there have been no reports so far of U.S. tourists caught up in the violence.

The Cancun area is attractive to traffickers because it's easy for them to work and live there. It's a transportation hub, with many opportunities to move drugs and money, as well as lots of businesses to launder that money.

Villanueva was captured in 2001 and is on trial on drug charges, but official corruption apparently once again allowed the drug trade to flourish.

"Remember that the coasts of Quintana Roo were for many years an ideal shipping point for drug shipments," Mexico's top drug and organized crime prosecutor, Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, said in December. "We can't allow that to happen again."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20050301/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/mexico_resort_drugs