MEXICO STEELS ITSELF FOR MORE CORPSES

There are fears that the mass graves of victims of Mexican drug
cartels uncovered in the north of the country last week may be the
first of many.

Jaime Hervella, the director of the Association of Relatives and
Friends of Missing Persons in El Paso and Juarez, said that he had
received many calls from people throughout Mexico telling him about
missing family members.

He said that people had been too scared to speak out previously
because of police corruption but that the arrival of the American FBI
had encouraged them to come forward. Mr Hervella said: "I am terrified
about what could happen. I have received calls from other northern
Mexican cities where they say things are just as bad as Juarez and
that they need our help. This is just the beginning.

"Mexicali and Tijuana are suffering badly. One woman in Mexicali told
me that five mothers in her apartment block had sons who have gone
missing and she knew of many others. If that is indicative of what is
happening I don't even want to think of the scale of possible death
caused by the drugs cartels and corrupt police system in Mexico."

Mr Hervella, whose association has compiled a list of 196 missing
local people, has informed the FBI. Residents of El Paso and Juarez
have known about the large numbers of missing people for several years
but until last week the United States authorities have been reluctant
to take any action, as they could not trust the Mexican police.

Earlier this year, after months of research into police files, the
Mexican government's chief investigator, Enrique Martinez, selected a
team of "straight" Mexican officers to begin investigating the
disappearances.

Mr Hervella said: "Martinez was able to get the respect of the FBI.
That is why they came down to Juarez to begin searching for bodies.
Prior to that the FBI didn't know who to trust in Mexico. The
situation in Juarez has now been bought to the attention of the entire
world. The FBI have to stay and complete the job. If that means
digging up graves in other cities then so be it.

"This will be the beginning of the end of corruption in Mexico. I pray
that they will only find six bodies, but there is a part of me that
hopes they will find 200 because we all know that somewhere out there
these missing people are probably dead and buried. The world will soon
realise that we have another Kosovo here in El Paso, Texas and the
Mexican government will really be able to make a dent in organised
crime. The cartels are carrying out their own "cleansing" on a massive
scale."

Organised crime in Mexico does not just involve drugs. Stolen cars
worth millions of dollars are smuggled into the country every week.
The problem is so severe that there is now an $800 (pounds 500)
returnable deposit to be paid on all new cars crossing the border.

Mr Hervella is one of the few people willing to talk openly about
Mexican corruption and has received many death threats for doing so.
He said: "My name is on a list compiled by the Juarez police. I was
once invited by the police to a meeting with television crews. The
police said there should be more people like me and it was good that I
was taking a stand.

"But when I said I would bring a freelance journalist they called it
off. I never heard from them again. I can well imagine what was
waiting for me. They would probably not beat me up, but they would put
me in front of a lot of money and have someone jump out and take a
photograph to discredit me.

"The cartel and the police corruption are one and the same thing in
Mexico. There is no difference at all. My godson, who is missing, is
an engineer who developed a device for detecting smuggled cocaine. The
cartels saw the device as a threat so they took my godson and his
wife. The cartels do not just kill their own, they control
everything."

In Quintana Roo, Cancun, the governor disappeared because he asked too
many questions about missing persons. Mr Hervella believes that police
salaries have to be addressed before the corruption can stop. He said:
"The honest policemen who are killed by the drugs cartels are so
poorly paid that their families cannot afford proper funeral
arrangements for them. Hopefully the discovery of the bodies in Juarez
will make Mexican society look at itself and realise that the
situation of corruption just simply cannot go on any longer."