THE BORDER REPORT

HERMOSILLO, SONORA – Had a drink with a good friend the other night, a Mexican federal cop; one of those guys, who, in spite of my demons, makes me believe in a Mexican justice system. He poured out another two glasses of Bacanora, the old Sonoran liquor from the desert mountains of the Sierra Madre, not far from this city, filling the two caballitos just shy of the rim. An acquired taste but decent stuff after a few years. “Your problem is that you have no faith,” he says, lighting a Marlboro and releasing a plume of smoke. “You think that the president isn’t serious in taking the fight to all the narcos. Now, that’s not your fault, all these cobardes have taken sides in the past.” It’s true, I won’t deny it. The Gulf Cartel and its Special Forces hitmen scared the hell out of the Fox Administration when they conquered Tamaulipas. The Arellanos in Tijuana terrorized that city for most of the 1990s. Meanwhile, the Sinaloans, who controlled most of northwestern Mexico, from Chihuahua and Durango to Sinaloa and Sonora, were left in peace. But times are changing – maybe. Last week, a Mexican Army general in nearby Baja California caused a ruckus in Sonora when he declared that the narcos have been so successful here because of the complicity of the local government. The accusation was fairly astounding because such things are never said aloud. What I didn’t realize at the time was that the general had transferred to Baja California from the military base in Hermosillo. Now, free from the constraints of regional politicking, he’s speaking out, mocking them really. This as his compatriots from Mexico City uncovered a near-virus of local traffickers in northwestern Sonora, scattering the narquitos like roaches caught by the light. At a military checkpoint on the way to Arizona, soldiers seized ten tons of dope from a semi-truck, a pretty decent size seizure even by American standards. The violence continues to move around this country like a wolf unleashed. Two years ago, we talked about Nuevo Laredo and Acapulco. Then the cities of Michoacán exploded, then Hermosillo. Now Tijuana simmers while Ciudád Juárez slowly explodes. A cryptic hit list was sent to the media a few days ago; naming the next 17 cops marked for death in that city, titled, “Para los que siguen sin creér.” It’s topped off with the four already dead who “did not believe.” The battles are moving fast, but so is the justice system. High level traffickers are dropping all over the country, extraditions are being prepared. A British law firm is already preparing to move in when Sandra Avila Beltrán’s extradition comes, I’m told. It was a year ago that Felipe Calderón donned a military uniform and promised that public security would be at the forefront of his administration. Unlike Vicente Fox, he wasn’t counting on friendship with George Bush to drive the pacts home. Instead, he started with the extraditions of guys like Osiel Cardenas Guillen, all the while working on a $1.4 billion security assistance package from the Americans who seemed hungry to help. “Have faith, hermano,” my guy says. "There’s movement everywhere and this time it’s against everybody.” We’ve heard such talk in the past, a notable example being Gen. Jesús Gutierrez Rebollo, Pres. Ernesto Zedillo’s drug czar. He was briefed on some of the Americans’ most valued intel, yet he was working for the Sinaloan, Amado Carrillo Fuentes, the whole time. Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán set the gold standard for presidential mockeries when he was scooted out of a maximum security prison weeks after Fox took office. So much for the opening of Mexican democracy. When this country disappoints, it does so in ways that leave one cold when the rot is uncovered. Is it different now? Can the Mexicans hold the line? You want to believe, at least I do, but we’ve been disappointed in the past.

-- Michel Marizco