200 AGENTS SENT TO EL PASO AFTER CONSULATE SLAYINGS; US, MEXICO FORM
PILOT PROGRAM

The slayings of three people connected to the U.S. Consulate in
Juarez prompted the U.S. government to deploy 200 law enforcement
agents to El Paso earlier this year, according to a federal report
obtained by the El Paso Times.

Those agents played a part in a pilot program designed to help Mexico
fight the cartel war in Juarez that has claimed more than 6,700 lives
since 2008, said the report published by the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.

The report, issued in May, outlines a variety of ways of expanding
intelligence systems along the border.

The pilot program was successful in establishing daily coordination
procedures and information exchanges among intelligence specialists
at the El Paso Intelligence Center and their Mexican counterparts in
Juarez, according to the report.

The agencies trade information on organized crime organizations,
cartels and gangs.

It's not known if that information exchange resulted in the arrest of
Jesus Ernesto Chavez Castillo, who was accused by Mexican and U.S.
law enforcement agencies of planning the shooting deaths in March of
U.S. Consulate worker Leslie Enriquez Redelfs; her husband, El Paso
County Detention Officer Arthur Redelfs; and Jorge Salcido Ceniceros,
a maquiladora supervisor and husband of a consulate employee.

According to the report, the pilot program also was used to send five
sets of biometric data collection equipment to Mexican law
enforcement agencies in Juarez for the collection of digital
fingerprints and photographs.

And more intelligence initiatives are in store for the borderland.

The report also details future intelligence protocols, investigations
and public security operations that may used.

It outlines a plan to develop an encrypted communications system for
law enforcement agencies stationed in Juarez. The system would
include 1,000 secure and encrypted GPS-equipped radios for Mexican
federal and local police. The plan is to install 500 of those radios
in vehicles and distribute 500 more among the foot patrols, according
to the report.

In addition, the report said, Mexico will develop standards for
police officers and will train specialists in major crimes and
provide advanced training for mid- and senior-level state and
municipal officers.

The report said that Mexico will improve intelligence capabilities
and surveillance and that Mexican authorities are considering the use
of unmanned aircraft systems.

The U.S. will provide 10 to 15 Mexican investigators an office in El
Paso so they can work and keep investigative files. The investigators
will be trained by U.S. experts, the report said. U.S. advisers will
help Mexican investigators with DNA and hair-strand analysis and
evidence preservation.

Other help the U.S. will provide will be 60 dogs trained in the
detection of drugs, cash and weapons, along with 32 vehicles to
transport the dog teams.

How much the program will cost is not mentioned in the report. It
also does not say whether the 200 agents sent to El Paso have
remained or have been reassigned. What they did to help in the
consulate slayings also is not mentioned.

Overall, the program aims to strengthen the Mexican government's
ability to gather intelligence on narco-trafficking, extortion,
kidnapping and other organized criminal activities in Juarez and
solidify the relationship between Mexican and U.S. agencies.

Special Agent Bill Weiss, a spokesman for the FBI, declined to
comment on the report.

Jose Ramon Salinas, spokesman for Mexican federal police, also
declined to comment.

Vince Perez, press secretary for U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas,
said the Merida Initiative, a security cooperation between the two
countries from which the pilot program stems, is beneficial to both
Mexico and the U.S.

"Through the Merida Initiative, the U.S. has been working
cooperatively with Mexico to help combat drug-related violence. The
sharing of intelligence, training, expertise and equipment has been
critical to this binational effort to combat organized crime," he said.

But in Juarez, where most murders often go unsolved and many
criminals go unpunished despite the assistance of U.S. intelligence,
the initiatives outlined in the pilot program might not have an
immediate effect on the chaos and violence.

This year, more than 2,470 people have died in gunbattles,
carjackings, executions and other forms of violence. More than 6,700
have been killed since the battle between the Sinaloa and Juarez drug
cartels for the lucrative Juarez drug corridor began.

More than 30 U.S. citizens are among the victims of the war,
including Pfc. Jose Gil Hernandez Ramirez, 22, who was gunned down
Wednesday in a quiet South Central Juarez neighborhood.