MEXICO: President Felipe Calderon says army will continue to fight drug trafficking

Record ID: 303492

  • Title: MEXICO: President Felipe Calderon says army will continue to fight drug trafficking
  • Date: 21st February 2009
  • Summary: REYNOSA, TAMAULIPAS, MEXICO (RECENT) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS CONFRONTING DRUG TRAFFICKERS
  • Embargoed: 8th March 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA5OE9LP1CVG4MWKJM388VOD9BB
  • Story Text: Mexican President Felipe Calderon said on Thursday (February 19) the army would continue fighting drug cartels after a two year military campaign and spiraling drug violence that killed 6,000 people last year.
    Calderon said, during a ceremony to mark Mexico's military day, it was essential to close ranks in the army's fight against the common enemy.
    During a ceremony attended by soldiers who were awarded fro their work and bravery, Calderon congratulated the armed forces on being an "army of brave men" in the face of the challenges Mexico is currently facing.
    He added the army would return to other activities once law and order was established to crime-ridden areas.

    "Once the effort to provide Mexicans with professional and reliable police institutions, once the rule of law and order returns and authorities are able to fully combat vulnerable and crime-ridden areas and rid them of this evil, the army would have met with their mission to protect Mexicans in defense of national security and will be able to dedicate time to less important missions," Calderon told soldiers at an army base in Monterrey.
    Calderon also condemned this week's street protests against his army-backed drug war that saw stones thrown at police as cowardly acts by narco traffickers.
    Hundreds of Mexicans, some carrying small children, blocked roads and bridges on the border into the United States this week and marched in the northern city of Monterrey in a series of demonstrations that police say are funded by drug gangs. The protests were also held in the Gulf of Mexico city of Veracruz.
    Aides said Calderon chose to celebrate Thursday's event in Monterrey, rather than the capital, as a response to the demonstrations, where many marchers held up colored cloths to hide their faces.
    A shootout between army troops and drug hitmen also alarmed local residents in the northern Mexican border city of Reynosa this week. Several people died in the gun battle.

    "During the last two years, in this fight, 78 valuable soldiers have lost lost their lives. To these true heroes I pronounce the words of President Benito Juarez who spoke about fallen soldiers during the French intervention," Calderon said.
    Mexico's drug war is scaring investors and business leaders and has alarmed the United States, which has pledged $1.4 billion worth of drug-fighting equipment and training to Mexico and Central America.
    Police and government officials in Monterrey say Mexico's most violent drug gang, the Gulf cartel, and its feared armed wing, the Zetas, is behind the protests.
    The northern states of Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas, home to Monterrey and the border cities of Nuevo Laredo and Reynosa, are the trafficking routes into Texas for the Gulf Cartel.
    Calderon has sent more than 45,000 troops and federal police across Mexico to fight drug gangs since late 2006, a move widely supported by many Mexicans angry with years of inaction and deep corruption in the country's police forces.
    Despite warnings from rights groups about soldiers using excessive force in the drug fight, Calderon also has Washington's support for using the army, which has made historic drug seizures and is catching more gang leaders.
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