Posted on 05/09/2008 12:46:05 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
MEXICO CITY (AFP) — Gunmen assassinated a commander of Mexico City's anti-kidnapping police Friday, the fourth top police authority slain in 10 days here as the toll from a rising organized crime wave hits top brass.
One day after acting federal police chief Edgar Millan was brutally murdered, four gunmen in a truck shot and killed anti-kidnapping commander Esteban Robles, authorities said.
Robles was rushed to hospital after the attack Friday but did not survive.
The violence, believed to be mostly related to the government's stepped up fight against drug trafficking, saw a new grim chapter Thursday in Mexico City as gunmen ambushed Millan, 41, and assassinated him in his home.
"Mexico has lost one of its most valuable men, a security professional at the service of the nation," a statement from the Public Safety office read. A suspect was detained hours later.
The office of Mexico's president noted that Millan had played a key role in the anti-organized crime crackdown involving more than 36,000 military troops.
Since December 2006, President Felipe Calderon's federal government has deployed 36,000 military troops and thousands of police around the country in an operation aimed at clamping down on organized crime.
Officials claimed the rising death toll showed that criminals were panicking about the clampdown, and trying to cling to control of their narcotics distribution networks especially in northern states which border the United States.
Robles and Millan's killings were not the first of a senior anti-crime authority. Top federal organized crime investigator Roberto Velasco was gunned down at his home in the capital May 6. He died in hospital shortly thereafter.
Federal authorities have not said how many police have been killed in the operation. On May 6, the police commander for the sex crimes unit in Ciudad Juarez, Berenice Garcia, 32, was shot dead at her home by a group of gunmen. Hundreds of women have been killed since the 1990s in mostly still-unsolved cases in the northern city.
Last weekend at least 34 people were murdered, bringing the figure to more than 1,100 for this year, according to local media reports. In just one incident in Guerrero state 60 gunmen stormed a ranch, killing 10 people.
Is this country in any better shape than Iraq?
Someone got too close to a drug cartel...or didn’t do their bidding.
Open Borders for all!
Impossible.
Guns are strictly regulated in Mexico.(sarc)
“Hundreds of women have been killed since the 1990s in mostly still-unsolved cases in the northern city.”
Juarez City has about 1.3 million population. Can you imagine the resources that would have been spent investigating the murder of hundreds of women in the a city of the same size in the US?
The difference is government corruption. Corruption we are inviting into this country with open arms.
Hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys in Mexico.
Policía ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
This is actually a good sign — the Narcos haven’t killed police before because the police have always been on their side. Not any more.
Here's a hint:
Narcotrafficking organied crime outfits = bad.
Federal police = good.
Proof: The narcotrafficking organized crime outfits are assasinating top police officials.
This will be the same headline in the southwest united states in 15 years.
How could this have happened?? Owning guns in Mexico is a Federal offense.
“Is this country in any better shape than Iraq?”’
The military or private agencies provide a lot of the security in Iraq.
Police Chiefs in Mexico are sacrificial lambs.
Where does “crime wave” segue into “civil war” or “revolution?”
All your police is belong to us. Gracias a Dios, los carteles.
I don’t think you are correctly interpreting the message that is being sent to the Mexican police.
The message is ‘Plata o Plomo’ (Silver or lead) and don’t think the message is lost on the other Mexican police who haven’t been assasinated yet.
When the cartels show their willingness to go after high profile police, they are demonstrating to the rest that their reach is long and no one is safe.
Mexico is very close to being a narco-state.
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