Manos al Cielo

Esta noche me puse a pensar que peligrosa es la frontera entre Mexico y Estados Unidos. La violencia ha llegado a tal extremo que ambos paises estan con las manos al cielo, exigiendo que la violencia en Nuevo Laredo termine.

Es increible que yo cruze la frontera de Mexico a Estados Unidos en ese mismo pueblo. Debajo incluyo la noticia que vi en CNN en donde se explica mas sobre la violencia que esta sucediendo.

La foto fue tomada en Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca cuando estaba visitando las playas de Mexico en Marzo del 2005 con mi hermano Daniel.

Mientras escribo esto, estoy escuchando La Malaguena interpretada por Lila Downs.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) -- The top law enforcement officials from the United States and Mexico on Thursday vowed to boost police presence and cooperation along their shared border to combat a surge in violence fueled by the drug trade.

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said he would send a "Violent Crime Impact Team" to Laredo, Texas, that would double the federal law enforcement presence in the border city.

"These rapid response teams target hot zones for violent activity, and identify a community's worst offenders," Gonzales said at a press conference.

"They will work with our international partners to investigate and prosecute violent crimes."

Hundreds of people have been killed in the past 18 months in northern Mexico as organized crime gangs battle for control of the lucrative drug trade into the United States.

That violence, which has paralyzed the northern Mexican cities of Nuevo Laredo, Matamoros, Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana, is increasingly spilling across the border.

"Mexico and the United States will act as a single unified chokehold whose efforts will overwhelm organized crime that threatens the border area, a sensitive region of shared interest to both countries," Mexican Attorney General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca said.

Among the victims of the crime wave have been a Mexican police chief killed after less than a day on the job and 23 Americans who have been kidnapped and are still missing.

The U.S. team heading to Laredo will include agents from the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, U.S. Marshals Service and Department of Homeland Security.

Gonzales said the strike forces have been successful in curbing violence in Miami, Baltimore and elsewhere.

Cabeza de Vaca and Gonzales also agreed to establish several partnership programs to improve security in the border cities.

The United States will help train Mexican customs officials, the FBI will provide advanced forensic testing of evidence and will provide equipment to Mexican officials, and the U.S. Bureau of Prisons will offer new technologies to reduce contraband in Mexico's notoriously corrupt prison system.

U.S. victim and witness protection programs will be expanded to help Mexican officials secure the testimony needed to prosecute drug criminal in Mexico.

Cabeza de Vaca acknowledged reports that former Mexican Army Special Forces troops, known as "Zetas," had worked as hired killers for drug cartels, but denied they were currently operating in the area or were responsible for murders in the United States.

"We do not today have reports of Zeta operatives acting within the United States territory, and as regards their operations within Mexican territory, it is either notably reduced or eliminated," Cabeza de Vaca said."