2,000 Mexican soldiers hit Juarez streets to fight drug cartels

If this doesn't show how bad the border drug wars have gotten, then I don't know what will.

More than 2,000 Mexican soldiers have been deployed to patrol the streets of Juarez and take its streets back from feuding drug lords who have turned the Mexican border city into the scene of bloodbaths, buried bodies and fear among its residents.

The El Paso Times reports today that the soldiers will patrol in 180 heavily armed military vehicles and the newspaper ran a sensational (as in really good) photograph by veteran staff photographer Rudy Gutierrez of a soldier manning a belt-fed grenade launcher on top of a military Hummer parked outside a prominent Juarez hotel.

That should make hotel guests feel welcome!

Officials said the deployment may spark even more violence from the drug cartels, but that the military is prepared to meet any threat or attack from the drug gangs.

You can read more of reporter Louie Gilot's outstanding report here.

To read more about the level of violence in Juarez, we offer this previous Crime Time posting.

-- Lance Murray

Comments

[Andy Kemp]

That is a picture of a MK19 belt-fed grenade launcher, not an M2 .50 cal. Its is very easy to distinguish between the two as the barrel is larger, the hole is larger, and the ammo crate is larger. a M2 typically doesnt carry a flash supressor but when it does, its conical and solid.