The Border, Drugs And Violence

Cross posted from The Amboy Times

Strategy Page tells us about the growing problem of violence on the border.

Drug violence has harmed the city of Nuevo Laredo. Long known as an up and coming Mexican “port city,” and perhaps infamous as a party town (with its prostitute district, Boys Town), the rampant drug-related violence has closed a number of Mexican businesses in Nuevo Laredo and sent the economy into a tailspin. At least 40 Nuevo Laredo companies have shut down due to the violence. Many of the firms have moved across the border to Laredo, Texas — where the cops are clean and the streets are comparatively safe. The breakdown in law and order in Mexican border towns is creating a warlike atmosphere, as gunmen openly move about, and open fire in the streets.

Some border governors are demanding help from the army, to man checkpoints and help control the movements of heavily armed groups of drug gang members. The army already supplies troops to accompany federal agents making arrests or conducting raids.

A Texas sheriff told a government committee looking into border security issues that “border violence” (ie, drug-related
violence along the Texas-Mexican border) is a threat to Texas Zapata County Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzales said that the weapons used by Texas law enforcement agencies are “water guns” in comparison to the firepower possessed by narco-trafficantes. Texas is trying to funnel more security money to counties along the border.

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