January 27, 2005
Yahoo News
WASHINGTON (AP) - Twenty-seven Americans have been abducted in Mexico's northern border region over the past six months and two have been killed, the State Department said Thursday.
Spokesman Richard Boucher cited those numbers in defending an alert to American citizens about the risks of traveling in the area.
Mexican Foreign Secretary Luis Ernesto Derbez had said the State Department public announcement, issued Wednesday, exaggerated the danger.
Boucher said he was aware of the Mexican objections but added that the administration believes it is important to inform Americans about security along the border.
"We're aware of 27 incidents involving abductions of Americans, and that we know two of those Americans were killed and 11 remain missing and 14 were eventually released," he said.
In addition to the State Department public announcement, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Tony Garza, sent a letter to top Mexican officials saying he was concerned that growing drug-related violence and kidnappings in northern Mexico would have a chilling effect on cross-border trade and tourism.
Mexico recently sent federal police officers to patrol the streets of Matamoros, Nuevo Laredo and Reynosa, all located along the border with Texas. The officers were dispatched at the request of local authorities who said crime had spun out of control.
Derbez told the Televisa network that the U.S. position seems "in large measure, exaggerated, and outside the scope of reality, because the Mexican government has taken concrete actions" to curb crime along the border. He said Mexico will provide a "concrete response" to the U.S. statements.
Interior Secretary Santiago Creel said Wednesday that Mexico "is determined to wage a head-on battle" against drug traffickers and organized crime in the area.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20050128/D87SR6100.html