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Monday, September 27, 2010

Threats from Narcos Force Mexican Mayors to Live in U.S.

15 mayors have been killed since President Felipe Calderon declared war on Mexico’s drug cartels shortly after taking office in December 2006 including the murder of the mayor of Santiago, Nuevo Leon, Edelmiro Cavazos.

Several Mexican mayors have been forced to move to the United States for reasons of personal and family safety in the face of threats from drug traffickers and the killings of 10 mayors this year in Mexico.

Mayors from the northern border states of Tamaulipas, Chihuahua and Nuevo Leon have moved to the United States, with some taking up residence in that country permanently and others splitting their time between U.S. and Mexican residences, municipal officials said.

The mayors of at least six border cities in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas have been forced to move to neighboring Texas.

“The advantage for them is that they cross the Rio Bravo (Rio Grande) and they are in their city hall or their home,” an official of the ruling National Action Party, or PAN, said on condition of anonymity.

Most of the mayors use nondescript vehicles to avoid drawing attention to themselves and do not drive long distances, the official said.

Another large group of mayors from Tamaulipas decided to abandon their cities in the last year of their terms and hide out in other places in Mexico, where drug-related violence has surged since the start of this year.

Two of them left their communities and govern “with the telephone in their hand,” the PAN official said.

“The case of the mayors is not restricted to the PAN. Mayors from the PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party) have also had to take measures to protect their security,” the official said.

The PAN refused to run candidates in the last municipal elections in some cities where organized crime groups have extensive control.

The threats are continuous in some cases, while the criminals go beyond threats in other cases.

A mayor in Nuevo Leon state was murdered last week and another was seriously wounded in Chihuahua state.

Five mayors have been murdered in the past six weeks, with a total of 10 killed this year.

About 15 mayors have been killed since President Felipe Calderon declared war on Mexico’s drug cartels shortly after taking office in December 2006.

Chihuahua, one of the country’s most dangerous states, is home to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico’s murder capital.

Some mayors from Chihuahua have decided to live in El Paso, Texas, which is just across the border from Juarez, crossing daily to work, municipal officials said.

The situation has also worsened in Nuevo Leon, where Doctor Gonzalez Mayor Prisciliano Rodriguez was murdered last Thursday, a month after Santiago Mayor Edelmiro Cavazos was killed.

Crime has surged in some cities in Nuevo Leon and people are moving to other parts of Mexico and the United States, a state legislator said on condition of anonymity.

Drug cartels threaten officials to keep them from interfering with their criminal activities.

Many of the cities have only between two and five patrol cars for the average of 30 police officers on the payroll, and officers have few firearms to take on criminals, officials said.

Some high-level officials and their families have also been forced to flee to the United States.

Baja California state’s public safety secretary and the director of the Tijuana police department, as well as some officers, were forced to send their families away for their own safety.

Tijuana Mayor Jorge Ramos said the goal was to allow the officials to fight criminals during their terms in office, which end in late November.

8 comments:

  1. Security is weak to none at all, the public is held hostage by criminal gangs in league with local police,everybody knows who the criminals are but they are untouchable because of the long standing arrangments of immunity with local govt and law enforcment,what to do?In the US the fed implemented conspiracy laws tax evasion making it easier to convict then started target prosecution. In Mexico cilil liberty suspension prevent the appelate judges from "throwing out cases" Create a Federal super court for handling prosecution of organized crime build a super max prison in the middle of nowhere military security.Allow the public to create a Militia almost a vigalante group run the bastards out of town,whats to loose?? The criminals are winning elected officials and business people are seeking shelter in the US DRASTIC MEASURES are in order,Human rights my ass.

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  2. Heres for starters: Abolish the anti-gun laws--notice the criminals have no problem getting them. Reinstitute the death penalty and start executing these criminals. I can think of no better crime that deserves execution than the ones who slaughter and execute others at will and by the numbers.

    Offer real protection to governors, mayors, journalists, and businessmen. They are the foundation of your democracy and without them you will fall. Offer well respected and well-paid jobs to military and police officers. Surely you can find enough people who genuinely want to protect your country from collapse. Screen them carefully. Equip them with all the cars, high tech equipment they need to do their job. The cartels should live in fear not the other way around. How do they know who was investigator on what case and go execute those individuals? Has to be inside sources! Get to the truth.

    Ascencion incident was indication the people are willing to fight back--get started. We're with you! Good luck, amigos.

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  3. Wow, they're "forced", at least they have the means to move out of harms way, as opposed to what the simple people must do, stay and try to make it through the day, or try to cross illegally and face God knows what...condolences to those who have lost a loved one, whether from a prestigious family or not, but mostly by those who have no choice but to stay....

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  4. Just curious and not faulting these people for living in the US but how do they live there legally? Green card or say a work visa or ?

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  5. We don't want them. Send their ass back to their bullshit country. They ruined it, let them fix it. Don't come into ours thinking you're going to crap all over it and get away with it. These people think that just because they got money that they can easily assimilate into ours? Please, us hispanics who worked hard to build this American country do not want these rich Mexican assholes coming over here acting like they're the boss all of a sudden. We did fine without them before and we'll do fine without them now. Let's push their asses back into the line of fire where they belong.

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  6. good to see other AMERICANS of MEXICAN DESCENT realize the difference between MEXICANS and AMERICANS...we may have a common ancestry ...but it ends there ...we are AMERICANS ...NOT MEXICANS, and as beautiful as mexico is , and as much as i love mexico, i am glad that i am an american ...and i agree about rich, arrogant mexicans coming here , they will bring their outlook here , and that is not good, part of the problem in mexico is the inequality between the classes, the rich have for so long ignored the plight of the lower economic class, and now that is coming back in a suv ,wearing a big hat , and carrying a gun , to bite them in the ass...why do they get preferential treatment, can the poor people who are threatened get asylum so easy... to the rich , i say , go home, face the results of your failure to the mexican people...our country is not perfect, but at least we try to have an equal society, ...look at the results of the grandees, now they want to run...viva mexico, i hope they solve their problems, but it will not help mexico to run away and bring it here

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  7. Pussies all of them, they bought into the sad state of corruption and mayhem that runs in the streets. Now they want to get up and run, bullshit. I, along with many of my countrymen are fed up with these arrogant pricks who ran to the U.S. and expect everyone to kiss their ass just the same. Take your ass's back to Mexico and stay there.

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  8. Como pueden mantener una casa en cada pais con un sueldo de $300-$500 dolares por la semana?

    Pobrecitos! Ahora hasta los gringos ven la corupcion que mata Mexico.

    Los alcaldes son sucios igual como los narcos.

    ReplyDelete

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