FEDERAL AGENTS FAIL TO HALT VIOLENCE IN BORDER TOWN

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico -- The weary residents of this border city at
the center of an escalating drug war had hoped that hundreds of
federal agents would end the violence that killed 181 people last year.

But drug-related crime has not let up since the federales arrived,
and 31 people have been killed this year, more than during the
corresponding period last year.

Eight months after President Vicente Fox sent soldiers and federal
agents to take back the city from drug traffickers, the killings in
Nuevo Laredo continue, and brazen attacks remain commonplace. Plans
to gradually withdraw federal agents have been put on hold, and
police are having trouble recruiting officers.

In the latest attacks, heavily armed men forced their way into a
hospital last week and killed a teenager being treated after
surviving an earlier attempt on his life.

A week before, two men wearing ski masks tossed grenades and opened
fire inside the office of the El Manana newspaper, seriously wounding
a reporter. Editor Ramon Cantu quickly announced that his paper would
do even fewer stories on drug traffickers in an effort to protect its
reporters.

The drug war heated up with the capture of the region's suspected
drug lord, Osiel Cardenas, who was arrested in 2003 during a shootout
in Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas.

Investigators say another reputed drug lord, Joaquin "El Chapo"
Guzman, has been fighting smugglers loyal to Cardenas since then to
gain access to Nuevo Laredo, the busiest commercial crossing along
the 2,000-mile border and a popular drug route.

Government officials say they are making inroads against organized
crime, but the relentless violence has intensified fears in this city
of 300,000 across the Rio Grande from Laredo, Texas.

Few U.S. tourists visit, and many businesses have closed along
Guerrero Street, a thoroughfare once bustling with visitors. Few
people venture out after dark.

Trying to bring back tourists, the city has held a three-day
celebration that ended this weekend, including bands, folk dances and
parades. But it attracted few visitors.

Tourists are not all the city needs. After firing about half of its
700 police officers to weed out corruption and links to organized
crime, the city is having a hard time finding 275 replacements. The
police academy is training 34 recruits.

Among them is Violeta Tobias, a 22-year-old mother of four who said
she has grown tired of the violence in her hometown.

"When you hear about the killings, I do feel fear," Tobias said. "But
here we lack authorities to uphold the law. I'm joining because I
want there to be justice."

Federal agents armed with automatic weapons patrol most of the city
in pickups and are responsible for going after drug traffickers, and
officials want to train local police to replace them.

The local, state and federal police forces in Nuevo Laredo are led by
Mexican Army Gen. Alvaro Moreno, who says the drug traffickers' grip
is slowly loosening.

"Before, you would see gunmen toting their weapons and driving around
in caravans of up to five cars. But that has ended," Moreno said.

The violence soared to previously unseen levels last year after the
city's police chief, Alejandro Dominguez, was gunned down hours after
taking office. Two months later, in a daylight attack outside city
hall, gunmen killed the city councilman who oversaw public security.

This year's deaths are on pace to exceed last year's record toll.

"The violence hasn't stopped," said Jose Ramirez, who spends his
afternoons waiting for the rare tourist to hire his horse-drawn
buggy. "There's always news of people getting killed or burned bodies
being dumped on dirt roads."