Mexico will deploy extra troops and federal police to Ciudad Juarez, a city across the border from Texas where the police chief recently bowed to crime gang demands that he resign, the government said on Wednesday.
Mexican Interior Secretary Fernando Gomez-Mont did not say how many more soldiers and police would be sent to Ciudad Juarez but promised that the reinforcements “would be visible to the residents.” Gomez-Mont said the agents would be deployed in the coming weeks.
His comments came after a meeting with officials in Ciudad Juarez, a city of 1.3 million inhabitants across the border from El Paso that has been battered by a wave of drug cartel-related violence.
More than 2,000 soldiers and 425 federal police are already operating in Chihuahua state, where Ciudad Juarez is located. The deployment is part of a nationwide crackdown on drug cartels that has grown to include more than 45,000 troops since Mexican President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006.
Drug violence has surged since the government launched the offensive, claiming 6,000 lives last year. Some 1,600 of those killings were in Ciudad Juarez.
Victor Valencia de los Santos, the state government representative to Ciudad Juarez, said he expected the federal government to send 5,000 more troops and 2,000 extra police to Chihuahua.
Last week, Ciudad Juarez police chief Roberto Orduna resigned after crime gangs threatened to kill at least one of his officers every 48 hours if he stayed on the job. Two days later, gunmen opened fire on a convoy carrying Chihuahua Governor Jose Reyes Baeza, killing one of his bodyguards.
Signs have appeared in Ciudad Juarez applauding Orduna’s resignation and threatening to behead the mayor and his family.
City and state police across Mexico complain of being outgunned by ruthless criminal gangs.
On Wednesday, gunmen wielding AK-47 rifles opened fire and hurled grenades at a patrol car in Pacific resort town of Zihuatanejo, killing four officers.
The car caught fire, and the bodies of the officers were found burned inside, the Guerrero state Public Safety office said in a statement.
An hour later, gunmen shot at a police station near the Zihuatanejo airport, but nobody was hurt. It was unclear if the same assailants were behind both attacks.
In a sign that Mexico’s violence is reaching across the border, US federal agents rounded up more than 750 suspects in a wide-ranging crackdown on Mexican drug cartels operating inside the US.
At a press conference announcing the arrests, US Attorney General Eric Holder also suggested that re-instituting a US ban on the sale of assault weapons would help reduce the bloodshed in Mexico.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
RSS