Friday, January 18, 2013 |
Borderland Beat
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon is stepping up aid for Mexico's bloody drug war with a new U.S.-based special operations headquarters to teach Mexican security forces how to hunt drug cartels the same way special operations teams hunt al-Qaida, according to documents and interviews with multiple U.S. officials.
By Kimberly Dozier
Such assistance could help newly elected Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto establish a military force to focus on drug criminal networks that have terrorized Mexico's northern states and threatened the Southwest U.S. border.
Mexican officials say warring drug gangs killed at least 70,000 people between 2006 and 2012.
U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke, D-El Paso, said he worries that the planned aid to Mexico would continue a drug war he believes has been a failure and might have unintended consequences.
U.S. Rep. Filemon Vela, D-Brownsville, said such a program will make both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border safe and could possibly give Mexicans who have fled their country for safety concerns a chance to return home.
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