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March 3, 2009

Mexico to Send 7,000 Troops to Border City
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Mexico has announced it will send a total of 7,000 soldiers and federal
police officers into the border city of Ciudad Juarez, where 1,600
people died last year in drug-related violence. Ciudad Juarez is located
across the US border from El Paso, Texas. The city’s police chief
resigned almost two weeks ago, after several of his officers were shot
to death and anonymous signs appeared warning that an officer would be
killed every forty-eight hours unless he stepped down. On Sunday, during
an interview on Meet the Press, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the
US military will increase its support of Mexico.

Robert Gates: “I think we are beginning to be in a position to help the
Mexicans more than we have in the past. Some of the old biases against
cooperation with our—between our militaries and so on I think are being
set aside.”

David Gregory: “You mean providing military support?”

Robert Gates: “Providing them with—with training, with resources, with
reconnaissance and surveillance kinds of capabilities, but just
cooperation, including in intelligence.”



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