Mexican troops surprise local police with inspection

Valley Morning Star:

Soldiers from the Mexican military surprised local police officers in cities along their country’s northern border Tuesday, executing searches and interviews in an effort to weed out officials with ties to drug cartels.

Dozens of military men and armored vehicles surrounded and blocked the Reynosa police headquarters situated along Morelos Boulevard.

Other troops clad in black masks escorted police officers to their patrol cars and personal vehicles for inspection.

The soldiers also checked information about police officers’ weapons, radios and phones.

No arrests were reported and municipal police were allowed back on the streets by Tuesday afternoon.

Soldiers arrived at the police station about 8 a.m. Tuesday to begin the inspections, Reynosa Mayor Oscar Luebbert said as he stood before the municipal police headquarters.

“These kinds of operations bring more trust between the police and the city,” he said in Spanish.

Mexican media reported their country’s military simultaneously undertook similar operations in Nuevo Laredo, Rio Bravo, Miguel Alemán, Valle Hermoso and Matamoros.

In Matamoros, three municipal police officers were taken into military custody, and officials seized a semiautomatic rifle reportedly not registered to the police department.

The raids come after weeks of violence as the country’s military and federal police battled powerful drug cartels in cities along Mexico’s northern border.

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U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, met with the Mexican president and his cabinet in Mexico City on Monday to talk about the anti-cartel efforts.

Calderon told him he would continue to spend whatever it takes to regain control of the country, even if it means some federal agents could lose their lives, Cuellar said.

“(Mexican police) have lost lives, not only last year but in the last three weeks,” Cuellar said.

“(Calderon) understands there will be other sacrifices. The cartels are not just going to give up, but he feels that (Mexican authorities) can win.”

Calderon offered Cuellar no timeline for how much longer the recent military surge would last.

Tuesday’s inspections come after three bodies were discovered at the bottom of a canal Saturday in Reynosa.

Tamaulipas state police determined the people were beaten to death with a blunt object, and are investigating a link between drug gangs and those deaths.

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Calderon is probably the best Mexican President in my lifetime and maybe in history. What he is doing will benefit the country for generations to come if he is successful. The sacrifices that the Mexican authorities are having to make are necessary and if they were not being made other Mexicans would be paying the price with the loss of their lives and their freedom to the drug thugs. Mexico deserves the support of the US in this effort, because we are also beneficiaries of the clean up. We need to continue helping Mexico by prosecuting the cartel members who break US law and helping cut the flow of weapons into the hands of the drug gangs.