IN NUEVO, DEATH IS WAY OF LIFE

Thinning Police Ranks Can't Contain Cartels; 'The
Killers Seem Bolder'

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico -- The funeral didn't make much news; funerals
here rarely do. Instead, a quiet resignation suffused La Paz funeral
home, where a few relatives and friends paid final respects to Rodolfo
Alejandro Equia Guerrero, a law enforcement official gunned down a
week ago.

"The killers seem bolder, without any fear," said Brenda Equia, 24,
the deceased man's niece, as she bounced her 1-year-old daughter,
Briana, on her lap. "So much death leaves you numb, even when your own
relative is the victim."

Already this year, at least 114 people have been killed, compared with
45 this time a year ago. The reason, authorities say, is continued
fighting between rival drug organizations, with the Sinaloa cartel
solidifying its presence on Interstate 35, a vital cocaine and
marijuana smuggling route into Texas.

The cartel is expanding its reach along the Texas border, officials
say, even as it presses its battle with the rival Gulf cartel for
control of the I-35 corridor and establishes itself deep inside Nuevo
Laredo -- to which it has been transferring some of its operations
from Monterrey, Mexico, and Laredo, Texas.

The Sinaloa cartel is "feeling quite comfortable," said a U.S.
investigator, speaking on condition of anonymity. "They have the upper
hand, and they're moving towards Matamoros.

"Again, Chapo's goal is to control the U.S.-Mexico border, and he's
determined to achieve his goal, no matter the cost," the official
said, referring to reputed Sinaloa kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

Mr. Guzman's hit squad, known as Los Negros or Los Pelones, is
battling enforcers for the Gulf Cartel, called Los Zetas. Their
weapons of choice in carrying out executions are high-powered
automatic rifles and grenades.

Attacks against police officers are on the rise. This month, masked
gunmen walked into a popular seafood restaurant and fired at six
officers eating lunch. At least one policeman returned fire. The
officers survived the attack.

Days before that incident, two police officers were killed. And weeks
before that, four Mexican federal agents were gunned down on a busy
downtown street.

"They're cleaning house, picking rival cops at random," the U.S.
investigator said, referring to the cartels. "That's what they do.
It's part of their operational strategy. If you want to control a
city, you first control the police department."

Officials noted that the number of kidnappings has declined in Nuevo
Laredo -- not because organized criminals have fewer targets or have
lost interest, but because they are openly killing people rather than
bothering to make them "disappear."

So far this year, 35 people have been reported missing, according to
human rights organizations, compared with 80 for all of 2005.

Over the last two years, as many as 40 Americans were kidnapped in
Nuevo Laredo. Some were released after a ransom was paid. Others
remain missing, although U.S. authorities won't disclose specifics.

The decline in kidnappings also is attributable to the fact that there
are far fewer municipal officers now than there were a year ago,
officials said, noting that corrupt local officers were considered to
be behind many abductions.

For years, local police -- poorly trained and poorly paid -- often
were at the beck and call of cartels, which compensated them for
levantones -- abductions of rival cartel members, authorities said.
Those rivals usually were killed, their bodies disposed of by the
police themselves.

Last year, more than 700 municipal officers patrolled the streets of
Nuevo Laredo. Most of them were fired when President Vicente Fox sent
in federal officers and troops to take over law enforcement duties in
the city. Fewer than half of the positions have been filled since then.

"Obviously you can't say that police were responsible for all the
kidnappings in Nuevo Laredo," said Raymundo Ramos, president of the
Nuevo Laredo Human Rights Committee. "That would be an exaggeration.
But you can't ignore or underestimate their role, either."

Nowadays, however, more dead bodies are being found than ever before,
authorities said.

Who wants to be chief?

"When you have so much presence from the federal government, it's
harder for criminals to kidnap and quietly 'disappear' people," Mr.
Ramos said. "It disrupts their operations."

Meanwhile, despite the spike in slayings, this city of about a
half-million people remains without a police chief since the
resignation of Omar Pimentel in March.

Given the "crisis among policemen throughout the state, we haven't
been able to fill jobs here, and that includes the job of police
chief," said Marco Antonio Martinez, a city spokesman.

He added, however, that the city hopes to name a police chief by June
or July.

"We have several applications from willing candidates," he said. "I
can affirm that without a doubt."

But other city officials and officers said no one seems to want the
job, including the interim chief, Guillermo Landa, who keeps a low
profile. He declined to comment for this story.

Said Mr. Ramos: "Why would anyone want to be a cop,
when no one can guarantee their safety, less so their life?"

And the cartels' deadly activities have affected more than just the
city's murder and crime rates.

At least 200 business owners did not apply for liquor licenses this
year, according to state officials, an indication that the violence is
having a financial impact on the city. Furthermore, Nuevo Laredo was
left out of the state's strategic tourism promotion plan, a move that
infuriated many business leaders and residents.

What's in vogue in Nuevo Laredo, some residents say, are
funerals.

"We have them almost daily now," local cab driver Hilario Salas said
in a grim attempt at humor.