Dan Glaister in Los Angeles
Guardian, Friday 9 January 2009
Spiralling drug violence in Mexico has prompted US authorities to plan a "surge" of civilian and military action should the mayhem spill across the border between the two countries
The outgoing US homeland security chief, Michael Chertoff, said on Wednesday that plans had been drawn up to deploy aircraft, armoured vehicles and special teams, including military personnel, to trouble spots if civilian agencies were overwhelmed.
"We completed a contingency plan for border violence, so if we did get a significant spillover, we have a surge - if I may use that word - capability to bring in not only our own assets, but even to work with [the defence department]," Chertoff told the New York Times.
A total of 5,500 people have died in Mexico this year in confrontations between rival cartels fighting for control of lucrative smuggling routes into the US. In 2007, 2,300 people were killed in drug-related violence.
As Chertoff was speaking, it was reported from Tijuana, across the US border from San Diego, that the bodies of four decapitated teenagers had been found in a suburb of the city, their heads in black plastic bags. Two further bodies were found wrapped in blankets in the city, and a 22-year-old man was shot and killed as he stood outside his house. Another man was shot by several assailants as he drove through an area of central Tijuana.
The US ambassador to Mexico, Tony Garza, said on Wednesday that a further $99m (£65m) in US aid would be given to the Mexican military to buy planes and inspection equipment to fight the drug cartels. Garza said that he expected the violence to get worse this year.
Guardian, Friday 9 January 2009
Spiralling drug violence in Mexico has prompted US authorities to plan a "surge" of civilian and military action should the mayhem spill across the border between the two countries
The outgoing US homeland security chief, Michael Chertoff, said on Wednesday that plans had been drawn up to deploy aircraft, armoured vehicles and special teams, including military personnel, to trouble spots if civilian agencies were overwhelmed.
"We completed a contingency plan for border violence, so if we did get a significant spillover, we have a surge - if I may use that word - capability to bring in not only our own assets, but even to work with [the defence department]," Chertoff told the New York Times.
A total of 5,500 people have died in Mexico this year in confrontations between rival cartels fighting for control of lucrative smuggling routes into the US. In 2007, 2,300 people were killed in drug-related violence.
As Chertoff was speaking, it was reported from Tijuana, across the US border from San Diego, that the bodies of four decapitated teenagers had been found in a suburb of the city, their heads in black plastic bags. Two further bodies were found wrapped in blankets in the city, and a 22-year-old man was shot and killed as he stood outside his house. Another man was shot by several assailants as he drove through an area of central Tijuana.
The US ambassador to Mexico, Tony Garza, said on Wednesday that a further $99m (£65m) in US aid would be given to the Mexican military to buy planes and inspection equipment to fight the drug cartels. Garza said that he expected the violence to get worse this year.
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