Advertising

The Seattle Times Company

NWjobs | NWautos | NWhomes | NWsource | Free Classifieds | seattletimes.com

The Seattle Times

Business / Technology


Our network sites seattletimes.com | Advanced

Originally published Thursday, November 27, 2008 at 12:25 PM

Comments (0)     E-mail article     Print view

Peru invites Mexican police to fight cartels

Mexican traffickers are invading Peru's cocaine trade, so President Alan Garcia said Thursday he is inviting Mexican police to come and help battle them.

Associated Press Writer

LIMA, Peru —

Mexican traffickers are invading Peru's cocaine trade, so President Alan Garcia said Thursday he is inviting Mexican police to come and help battle them.

"Mexican cartels have captured or are trying to capture the Peruvian market," Garcia told a gathering of foreign reporters. He said it resulted from a "strategic shift" away from Colombian cartels that are now producing the raw material for cocaine in their own country.

Garcia said he suggested that Mexican President Felipe Calderon send police when the two leaders met at weekend summit in Lima.

"We have a growing influence by those cartels," Garcia said, "and what we want is to help Mexico and help ourselves with this direct cooperation, the direct presence of police from other countries that have this problem."

He did not elaborate on what Mexican police might do in Peru and he did not say how Calderon responded, though the leaders agreed in principle to collaborate against the cartels.

Drug-trafficking experts say Mexican cartels have developed ties with remnants of the Maoist Shining Path rebel movement, long-dormant after nearly bringing Peru's government to its knees in the 1990s but now flush with cash from ties to the drug trade.

At least 80 soldiers or police officers have been killed in Peru's coca-producing valleys since 2004, including four officers who died in an ambush by suspected Shining Path rebels on Wednesday, Congressman Luis Gonzalez Posada told Peru's legislature Thursday.

Colombia and Peru also collaborate in the war on drugs, but Colombian police do not work directly in Peru, police spokesman Col. Carlos Galvez told the Associated Press.

A Peruvian expert on drug trafficking, Roger Rumrill, told said that Garcia's proposal is "mind-boggling" and "absurd" given the "complete failure of the militarization of the war on drugs and the high levels of violence and corruption in Mexico."

Mexico has repeatedly tried to rid its police and law enforcement agencies of officials corrupted by drug cartels, which are often heavily stocked with fired former police and soldiers. Recent arrests include the country's former top anti-drug prosecutor and its chief police liaison with Interpol.

Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company

More Business & Technology headlines...

E-mail article Print view      Share:    Digg     Newsvine

Comments
No comments have been posted to this article. Start the conversation.

advertising

Nintendo re-enlists Mario, savior of video-game industry

Verizon-Frontier deal stirs concern among consumers

Brier Dudley: 'Guitar Hero' founder excited about future

Gaps for consumers in Democrat health care bills

Hutch gets $10M from Bezos family for immunotherapy research

Advertising

Video

Real Salt Lake wins MLS Cup
Real Salt Lake defeated the Los Angeles Galaxy with penalty kicks after 120 minutes of play at Qwest Field in Seattle.

Raw Video | Real Salt Lake receives the MLS Cup trophy
Raw Video | Real Salt Lake fans celebrate
Real Salt Lake fans enter Qwest Field
Raw Video | MLS Cup Opening Ceremony
LA Galaxy's David Beckham
Real Salt Lake's Kyle Beckerman
MLS trophy arrives in Seattle
Chittenden Locks Inspection
Full interview with New Moon actors

Marketplace

Advertising