Testing the waters??? Lets see how well those border boys are trained...how they react..?

Chasing an officer for a whole mile?

---------------------- Incident on the Border

0004 GMT, 000322

In a little-noticed incident last week, Mexican soldiers crossed over

the border with the United States, shot at U.S. Border Patrol agents

and returned to Mexico. Overall, cooperation between Washington and

Mexico City in combating drugs is breaking down. More importantly, it

appears that lower-ranking elements of the Mexican military may be

corrupted by the drug trade.

At 10:30 p.m. on the night of March 14, two Humvees carrying

Mexican soldiers rolled on to U.S. soil just west of El Paso, Texas.

According to official reports of the Border Patrol, U.S. agents

approached the vehicles, identified themselves in Spanish and told the

soldiers they were in U.S. territory.

Previously undisclosed details indicate that the incident was not

accidental. Soldiers in one vehicle opened fire but returned to Mexico.

Troops in a second vehicle chased a U.S. officer – who was on

horseback – for a mile, eventually surrendering but insisting that they

did not mean to cross the border. The Mexican government insists

that the soldiers were an anti-narcotics patrol that merely got lost; the

desert in that area shows no clear demarcation between the two

countries.

Despite occasional incidents of border personnel straying across the

2,000-mile border this was the first such incident involving the

Mexican military. It appears that this is part of a larger pattern, in

which the Mexican government’s highest levels have steadily backed

away from military cooperation with the United States in

counter-narcotics efforts. In November, the Mexican military ended

much of its cooperation with the Pentagon.

Increasingly, Mexico has relied on its army to stem drug trafficking, in

both heroin and marijuana. In turn, the Mexican Army has become

increasingly exposed to the corruption of the drug cartels. As army

units are transferred from other tasks to counter-narcotics, they are

immediately thrown into close contact with the powerful drug cartels,

and become vulnerable to threats, bribes and violence.

To date, the drug-related corruption has infiltrated the highest ranks of

the military. In mid-February 1997, Mexico’s drug czar, Army Gen.

Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, was arrested for collaborating with the leader

of the Juarez drug cartel. And, in recent years, six army generals have

been arrested for links to the drug cartels. In the last six months, at

least 12 army officials have reportedly been arrested for alleged links

with drug traffickers. Defense Secretary Enrique Cervantes has said

that the army feels "beleaguered and embarrassed by cases of

military personnel maintaining links with drug mafias," according to a

recent report by Interpress.

The border incident strongly suggests that corruption is seeping into

the lower ranks of the military. If, in fact, military units are protecting

drug trafficking operations along the border, further incursions seem

likely. Washington will likely have to consider further increasing the

force of 8,000 officers already stationed on the border.