Federal Officers in Mexico Under Attack

[Willowdared]

Gunmen open fire on Tijuana federal police building

By Anna Cearley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
12:04 p.m. September 25, 2007
TIJUANA – Several hours after a state preventive police officer was ambushed and killed Monday night, gunmen opened fire on a building used by federal police.

The agent killed in the first attack, which took place around 8:30 p.m., was identified as Ricardo Rosas Alvarado, 30.

Mexican media reported that at least one person was killed, several were wounded and some suspects were detained in the second attack, which lasted about 10 minutes. Two of the wounded are believed to be federal preventive police agents.

It's unclear whether the two incidents were related, or had a connection to the Saturday morning killing of Carlos Horacio Morales Mendez, also a state preventive officer. Morales was gunned down in front of his Tijuana house.

In this latest round of violence, Rosas was found dead inside a bullet-riddled car in the parking lot of the Plaza Monarca shopping mall, according to state authorities.

As of this morning, Mexican authorities hadn't yet released detailed information on the second attack.

Drug trafficking groups are often blamed for violence like this. The region's Arellano Felix drug cartel, whose top leaders have been arrested and killed in recent years, is facing serious challenges from rival groups as well as internal splits. Some police are targeted for their crime-fighting efforts against drug traffickers, and others because they have colluded with gangs.

[Tuff]

Its ruff all over down there.....prayers.....

[lewisipso]

I pray they get the opportunity to shoot first.

[Willowdared]

Feds answer attacks with police surge

By Anna Cearley
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
September 26, 2007

TIJUANA – One hundred fifty federal preventive police officers were sent to Tijuana yesterday in reaction to two separate attacks Monday night against state and federal law enforcement officials that left an officer and a civilian dead.

Rodolfo Cruz López, who oversees Mexico's federal preventive police force, flew in from Mexico City to announce the arrival of the additional officers. He said 350 more officers will arrive in the coming days.

He said they will coordinate investigations with state law enforcement groups, and suggested the violence may be in reaction to the detention this month of kidnappers suspected of being linked to the region's Arellano Félix drug cartel.

“For every action, there is a corresponding reaction,” Cruz said. “These people don't just stand with their arms crossed.”

Monday's attacks were notable for their level of violence within a short time.

The agent killed in the first attack, which occurred about 8:30 p.m., was identified as Ricardo Rosas Alvarado, 30. He was found dead inside a bullet-riddled car in the parking lot of the Plaza Monarca shopping mall, state authorities said.

The second attack happened two hours later in another part of the city, in the neighborhood of Francisco Villa. Two federal preventive police officers and one civilian were wounded, and another bystander was killed, Cruz said.

That attack took place in front of a building used by the state civil protection agency, which coordinates responses during floods and other natural disasters.

Arturo Aragon, a civil protection worker, said the federal preventive police use a portion of the building as a dormitory.
Ramón López, who lives nearby, said four or five cars pulled up to the building and gunmen started shooting. Those vehicles left, but more cars arrived and the people in them also opened fire, López said. He estimated that about 200 shots were fired.

The attack lasted about 20 minutes, López said, though other versions put it at 10 minutes.

Juan Pérez, a local businessman, said the shootout between officers and gangsters continued at nearby locations, including where he was, in front of a supermarket several blocks away. He said he ran to his car and climbed inside for cover as other bystanders tried to escape.

It's unclear whether the shooting and the killing of Rosas were related. The attacks came just days after the slaying of state preventive officer Carlos Horacio Morales Méndez, gunned down Saturday morning in front of his house in Tijuana.

[SaraJ]

Sounds great, sending in the troops, but . . . they did the same thing here when--in one night--4 cops were killed in two incidents about 2 hours apart. Two days later 200 Feds were sent here from Mexico City. They arrived in a caravan of army vehicles looking like they were ready to go to Iraq, came roaring through the middle of town and no one's seen them since.

The Mexico City newspaper "Reforma" came out with some statistics:
59 officers of rank, 160 regular patrol officers and 22 soldiers have been killed in the drug war here in 10 months. The soldiers were all colonels and generals so there are 3 possible reasons they got dead. 1) They were corrupt; 2) They weren't corrupt and had no intention of changing that status so were taken out, or; 3) They were killed as a message, like they participated in the arrests of some Sicarios, or raided a drug distribution house or something like that. The same goes for the officers of rank.

Very early this morning 40 Sicarios in a convoy of 12 vehicles abducted 6 men in a town north of here. They also stole a lot of gold jewelry and several thousand dollars. Then they rode off into the sunrise. The Sicarios don't bother with the police any more. They just go about their narco business and ignore the cops. (Before you waste any sympathy on the guys that got snatched let me tell you that they were drug dealers. No great loss.)

Why, you might ask? Because, unfortunately, the Sicarios are better trained, better gunned and better prepared psychologically than the Mexican cops. When they killed the Commander here it was a beautiful job. From the moment the Sicarios car stopped in front of the patrol car, the bad guys got out, emptied 2 banana clips from AK-47s into the head of the officer, got back into their car and drove away, total elapsed time--10 seconds.

What we need are about 100 US cops, equiped as you folks usually are and ready, willing and eager to kick ass. Then you take a couple of Mexican cops with you and show 'em how it's done.

[MonsterMash]

What ya'll need 1st is the 3rd Infantry and the First Armored Divisions rolling into Mexico to clean out the dopers. Willingness to police is great, but without stopping the problem, all you're doing is sending more officers to their deaths. When they start dropping 1000 pounders on the drug cartel leaders haciendas, THEN we'll start seeing a change. Till then, we're stuck.

[Virginian]

When they start dropping 1000 pounders on the drug cartel leaders haciendas, THEN we'll start seeing a change.

They did! Ah crap, nevermind. That was Clear and Present Danger.

[SaraJ]

What ya'll need 1st is the 3rd Infantry and the First Armored Divisions rolling into Mexico to clean out the dopers. Willingness to police is great, but without stopping the problem, all you're doing is sending more officers to their deaths. When they start dropping 1000 pounders on the drug cartel leaders haciendas, THEN we'll start seeing a change. Till then, we're stuck.

YES!!! This is not something that the police can do anything about except get killed. And the politicians can only talk, and talk, and talk. There are exactly TWO people behind all of this, the heads of two cartels, or drug families. Take them out, and a few of their higher-ups and the problem is solved. It worked with the Arellano-Felix cartel. It's finished.

If only it could be done.