The Mexican army took control of customs on Sunday on the busy US border, as federal authorities pulled agents off the job in a massive anti-corruption shakeup, officials said.
An Interior Ministry official said the dismissals were being carried out at all Mexican border facilities, and that the customs agents were being replaced.
Customs agents were sacked after some were found to be linked to contraband operations, ministry sources said.
PHOTO: AFP
The inspectors at all 49 of Mexico’s customs points were replaced with 1,400 better-educated agents who have undergone background checks and months of training, Tax Administration Service spokesman Pedro Canabal said on Sunday.
He said the inspectors were not fired. Instead, government did not rehire them when their contracts expired, Canabal said.
Canabal said the government hopes to improve its tax collection with the new system, adding that more than 40 percent of Mexico’s value-added tax is collected at customs. However, he said the main benefit will be stopping the flood of pirated and cheap goods that he said undermine Mexican industries.
Agents in Nuevo Laredo, on the border with the southern US state of Texas, were called in on Saturday to be told they were fired, and to hand in their badges and weapons. A total of 1,100 agents were sacked, Mexican media said.
Army troops took over customs border posts temporarily on Sunday. Mexico and the US share a border that stretches across some 3,220km and are partners with Canada in the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Mexico is in the midst of a raging war on organized crime, and has expressed serious concern about US weapons crossing into the country. During a visit to Mexico last week, US President Barack Obama praised Mexican President Felipe Calderon for his controversial military crackdown on the country’s drug gangs, which involves more than 36,000 troops.
Custom inspectors turned over their weapons to soldiers before leaving their posts at airports and border crossings across the country on Saturday night. Enrique Torres, a spokesman for the military and federal police in the northern city of Ciudad Juarez, said soldiers were at the border crossing with El Paso, Texas, to help avoid violence during the transition.
The new agents, more than 70 percent of whom are university educated, were chosen in a “strict selection process that included psychological and toxicological checks, as well as the necessary investigations to ensure they have no criminal record,” the Tax Administration said in a statement.
Canabal said the 700 who were replaced would not be banned from reapplying for their jobs, but would have to meet the new, stricter requirements. He said less than 10 percent of the ousted staffers have university degrees.
The new agents were trained in legal aspects of foreign trade and taught to use new equipment installed at border crossings, including X-ray and gamma ray machines to scan for hidden contraband. More dogs trained to sniff out drugs and other banned goods are also being added.
“We need more than just a body with a weapon,” Canabal said.
The US has pledged about US$1.6 billion to tackle drug trafficking in Mexico and Central America under the Merida Initiative, which also includes funds for training and equipment to boost security on the Mexican side of the border.
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