THE BORDER REPORT

Critics enjoy saying that the U.S. is militarizing its border with Mexico, but the reality is that Mexico is quietly building up its military presence on the border with some hard, hard names, old military men who have battled the cartels for decades. It'll be interesting to see what the U.S. government's reaction will be when the build-up is completed.

In Ciudad Juarez, across from El Paso, Texas, retired Artillery Major Roberto Orduña took over as police chief this morning, with the ominous declaration, "We'll do whatever we have to do to ensure the effectiveness of this office."

In the state of Sinaloa, Mexican Army officers took over the entire police force, both branches of the state police and the city of Culiacan's police department. The daily paper, El Debate, noted that the media was blocked from being present at the swearing-in ceremony, Monday.

The government has had some good reason for appointing Army officers to its civilian police forces. In Juarez, the last police chief, a Yale graduate, resigned after his top commander was gunned down two weeks ago. And in Sinaloa, more than 20 officers have been murdered in the past three weeks amidst a month of rocket launcher and grenade attacks throughout the state as the warring cartels bleed each other out like feudal lords. The state police commanders resigned after receiving death threats.

Army or no Army, the cop killings haven't stopped. Two more state investigators were gunned down yesterday in Guasave, up on the border with Sonora. These killings warrant their own exploring. Patrol officers are rarely being killed. The cartels are almost exclusively gunning down detectives and investigators. They're going for the head, incapacitating the intellectual infrastructure of the State.

These two cities, Juarez and Culiacan, particularly, have born the brunt of gangland executions, kidnappings and sheer terror since the new year began. In Villa Ahumada, between Juarez and Chihuahua City, the cops abandoned the city Sunday night after three officers were gunned down, El Diario de Juarez reports. That night, more than 40 trucks belonging to the thugs raced throughout the city, looking for more cops to kill. The Diario reporter makes an interesting observation. Sometime before the police force fled the city, one of the officers tacked a note to the department entrance: "The keys are at the mayor's office." Even inmates of the local jail were abandoned.

Meanwhile, to the west of me, in Baja California, Mexican Army Gen. Sergio Aponte Polito has not backed down from his accusations against state, local and federal government officials who he slammed last month for their ties to the Arellano Felix cocaine cartel. I count four officials who so far have resigned amidst investigation after the general publicly outed them.

I've noticed that thus far, the U.S. has had no criticism of Mexico's gauntleted fist against the cartels. Two weeks ago, U.S. Defense Sec. Robert Gates visited Mexico City to discuss the failing Merida Initiative he's supported and had nothing but praise for the administration's efforts.

I wonder what else they discussed. Because if the U.S. is backing Pres. Felipe Calderon's militarization of the country's law enforcement, we're going to be seeing some really interesting developments when the pendulum swings the other way and the military grows too powerful.

Stay tuned. Summer's nearly here and it's already hot, hot, hot.

-- Michel Marizco