I remember when I was stationed in California hearing about the various crime bosses who really ran the city. One of whom had a 7 million dollar bounty on his head and no one had dared attempt to collect for over 10 years.TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) -- Mexico is sending more than 3,000 soldiers and federal police officers to fight drug gangs in the violent border city of Tijuana, the latest offensive by President Felipe Calderon to crack down on organized crime.
The force, backed by 28 boats, 21 planes and nine helicopters, will hunt suspected traffickers, patrol the coast and set up checkpoints in Tijuana.
The city is a popular smuggling route for cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana entering the United States, Interior Secretary Francisco Ramirez Acuna said in a news conference Tuesday in Mexico City.
"We will carry out all the necessary actions to retake every region of national territory," Ramirez Acuna said. "We will not allow any state to be a hostage of drug traffickers or organized crime."
Several hundred body armor-clad federal police were seen driving in convoys into the city on Tuesday. The rest of the force was expected to arrive in the coming days.
Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, California, is one of the world's busiest border crossings and has been plagued by fighting between rival drug gangs.
Last year, there were more than 300 killings in the city. In one of the most gruesome crimes, assailants in June abducted three policemen and a civilian in the nearby town of Rosarito, killing them and dumping their severed heads on a Tijuana beach. (Full story)
Tijuana Mayor Jorge Hank Rhon welcomed the soldiers, saying he would like them to work in partnership with city police who are establishing random security checkpoints.
"I hope this will make Tijuana a safer place," he said.
However, he said the deployment did not mean the city was being militarized.
Calderon took office in December after winning a close election on a law-and-order platform.
Last month, he sent 7,000 soldiers and federal police to his native state of Michoacan, which has been plagued by execution-style killings and beheadings as rival drug gangs fight over marijuana plantations and smuggling routes.
The troops have arrested more than 50 people, including several suspected leaders of the feuding cartels, and seized large quantities of gold, bulletproof vests, military equipment and shirts with federal and municipal police logos.
Calderon is scheduled to make his first visit to the troops on Wednesday at a military base.
"The operations will allow us to re-establish the minimal security conditions in different points of Mexico so we can recover little by little our streets, our parks and our schools," Calderon said in a New Year's message on Tuesday.
Calderon's predecessor, Vicente Fox, promised the "mother of all battles" against organized crime, sending in thousands of soldiers and federal police to some drug-embattled towns and arresting several major drug kingpins.
But the arrests appeared to spark more violence as gangsters battled to take over the smuggling routes of those killed or arrested.
Sometimes you have to go to desprate measures to clean house.
