Mexico's Juarez surge is working so far

CBS:

Driving down a dusty road separating Mexico from El Paso, Texas, U.S. border agent Jose Romero stops to question two teenage Mexican boys. They're standing underneath a low-hanging bridge over the Rio Grande. They tell Romero they're fishing. He doubts their story, but continues on.

More of a concern to border agents these days is the violence in Juarez, just down the road.

"A year ago, six months ago, it was almost shocking to hear of all the violence — to see it," he said. "We could see the bodies. We had individuals bound, ready to be executed, and they managed to get away and cross the river and ask our agents for protection. This is a very real war."

A shelter for U.S. border guards is riddled with bullet holes from Juarez gang members, taking aim from across the border.

The town itself was seeing as many as eight murders every day, and increasing concern the violence would spread. Then, weeks ago, Mexican troops surged into Juarez under the orders of President Felipe Calderon.

Romero stops at one spot along the Rio Grande and points out soldiers just across the river. They are well-armed and manning police vehicles, perhaps to re-instill confidence in the Mexican population in the nation's security forces. The police in Juarez were notoriously corrupt, paid-off by drug cartels. Now they've been disarmed by Mexican soldiers.

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But, for now, the Mexican surge appears to be working. There are fewer murders in Juarez, and U.S. agents are seizing fewer drugs crossing the border.

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There are some interesting photos accompanying the story. What I would like to reinforce is that increasing the force to space ratio has a positive effect in controlling insurgencies such as the criminal one underway now in Mexico. To be effective in the long run, the force has to reinforce local law enforcement.

In places like Juarez, that is a problem because the most of the force had been compromised by corruption. The Military will have to train and support a new local force that can protect the people rather than the criminals.