Mexico updates border infrastructure

In a move to slow the flow of weapons and drug money to cartel gangs, the Mexican government is updating their border entry points with new infrastructure. The improvements include newer gates, vehicle scales and cameras that will be used to prevent and detect illegal items from getting into Mexico.

One port that will see a significant change in border security will be in the Tijuana region. The Los Angeles Times reports that, "license-plate photographs will be run against a criminal database in Mexico City; a scale and vehicle-scanning system will determine if the car may be overloaded with contraband; and canine units will roam the area.”

In a separate move to combat cartel activity, Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, is set to test an anonymous international crime tip system. The system’s purpose is to allow people in Mexico to report crimes without having to worry about corrupt police officers intercepting the call and retaliating. The program will begin in December.

Credit: post image: http://www.welt.de/multimedia/archive/1237976118000/00779/eng_mexico_teaser_B_779148g.jpg

U.S. assistance to Mexico to continue

The Merida Initiative established under the Bush administration to help combat drug cartels in Mexico is set to end next year. Recent announcements from the Obama administration, however, detail continued support toward Mexico’s drug battle by means of funding and training.

An article by the Dallas Morning News quoted a senior Obama administration official saying that the U.S. and Mexico are going to employ tactics different from those under the Merida Initiative. “U.S. and Mexican officials are looking for ways to gradually move the focus of their efforts from dismantling and disrupting cartels to strengthening Mexico's weak democratic institutions and weeding out corruption.”

One way that the U.S. hopes to help improve Mexico’s military and police operations is by assisting in the development of Platform Mexico, a computer network used to connect Mexican Authorities with U.S. law enforcement databases. An article in the Washington Post quoted the director of Platform Mexico, José Francisco Niembro González: "This is one of our most important reforms because if you don't have the intelligence, the information, you are just reacting. This will make us proactive."

In addition to Platform Mexico, the U.S. has funded a training academy for Mexican police officers in San Luis Potosi which plans to have more that 10,000 graduates by Spring 2010. The cadets must participate in an intensive 7-week training course in basic detective work taught by instructors from Canada, the United States and Columbia, working together with Mexican agents.

Image Credit

Mexico Flag: http://www.flickr.com/photos/esparta/367002402/sizes/s/

U.S. Flag: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nostri-imago/3415734920/sizes/s/

Texas Tribune Reports on Border issues

Surrounded by a lot of hype, the online non-profit news start-up The Texas Tribune launched today. There is much to be said about the website's fresh approach to the news, but for the sake of this blog I will discuss the attention that the site has paid to U.S. - Mexico issues.

Perhaps the first thing I noticed on the site was the topics page. Here, you have Tribune coverage organized by topic sections. In the leader to the topics page there were three issues that jumped out at me: border cameras, immigration, and the Texas-Mexico border.

When you click on each topic you will be directed to a page that gives some history and recent developments regarding the topic. I was really impressed by the use of links in the descriptions because each link was extremely relevant and very useful in understanding the topic at hand. Underneath each description you will find a list of relevant stories written by Tribune staffers. So far there aren't many stories, but the site was just launched today and expect to see many more in the future.

I was happy to come to this site today and find that the Tribune has a devoted an area to U.S. - Mexico relations. It will be interesting to see how well the Tribune reports on the issue, and to observe how much coverage they devote to this extremely critical topic.

Ban on Automatic Weapons Urged

According to the AP news, The Bi national Task Force on the United States-Mexico Border has recommended that the U.S. should immediately instate an assault weapons ban in order to improve the security of both the U.S. and Mexico.

One co-chairman of the Task Force, Robert Bonner, was quoted in the AP saying, “Improving our efforts ... will weaken the drug cartels and disrupt their illegal activities, and make it easier ultimately to dismantle and destroy them.”

In 1994 President Clinton instated an assault weapons ban. According to a Newsweek article, that ban lapsed five years ago and since then the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has “lifted virtually all restrictions on imports of foreign-made assault weapons, permitting a flood of cheap Romanian, Bulgarian and other Eastern European AK-47s to enter the country, according to gun-control groups.”

At the end of the 1994 assault weapons ban, the NRA put out a press release titled “Finally, the end of a sad era – Clinton Gun Ban stricken from the books!” The release argued that the gun ban was a “misguided law, which had no effect on the actions of criminals, but penalized law-abiding citizens, [and] was built on a campaign of lies. It was ended through a campaign of education, facts, and grassroots activism. The sunset of this ban was only made possible through the tireless efforts of millions of NRA members and tens of millions of American gun owners over the past 10 years.”

In February of 2009 Attorney General Eric Holder told the press that the Obama administration planned to reinstate the assault weapons ban. However, the Obama administration has since put the assault weapons ban on the back burner, claiming that Congress is too tied up with economic recovery and health care to deal with the ban at this time.