As violence grips neighbor, Laredo revels in renewal
Posted: Mon Mar 13, 2006 11:14 am
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent ... 61e47.html
"As violence grips neighbor, Laredo revels in renewal
Nuevo Laredo residents, businesses chase safety, prosperity across border
10:58 AM CST on Thursday, March 9, 2006
By DAVID McLEMORE / The Dallas Morning News
LAREDO – This border city and its neighbor just across the Rio Grande in Mexico have long been dependent on each other – bound by language, culture and geography for 250 years.
But the almost daily outburst of drug-fueled violence in Nuevo Laredo has begun to change that relationship.
Laredo's economy is booming. Unemployment is at historic lows. Businesses are opening in record numbers and the housing market is rapidly expanding. At the same time, pedestrian traffic is down in both directions, and many of those new businesses and new residents pouring into Laredo are coming from Nuevo Laredo, seeking the safety and sanity of the U.S. side.
JUAN GARCIA / DMN
While Maria Lopez hoses down the driveway of her new Laredo home, a symbol of the city's fast-growing housing market takes shape nearby. Reluctantly, Laredo accepts that the good news comes at the expense of its neighbor, confident that the violence stops at the river. This U.S. city works to keep itself from being identified with the violence across the river. Last month, the city launched a $100,000 public relations campaign to boast its good news to potential visitors from all over the state.
"It's very frustrating what's happening in Nuevo Laredo. We are connected – without the one, the other doesn't survive," said Laredo Mayor Betty Flores. "But ...we have to keep reminding the rest of the nation that we are in the United States and that the violence is in Mexico. This is a very safe city."
So it seems.
With a population of about 250,000, Laredo reported 21 homicides in 2005, compared with more than 170 in the same period in Nuevo Laredo, a city more than twice its size. Eleven police officers were shot down in Nuevo Laredo last year, including the daylight assassination of the new chief of police. A Laredo officer hasn't died in the line of duty since 1984.
But some Laredo leaders see evidence that Mexico's drug battles have already spilled across the border. You just have to look at the signs, said Webb County Sheriff Rick Flores.
"We've had our deputies fired on, and we've had instances of home invasions where the suspects used AK-47s and hand grenades, a technique used in Nuevo Laredo," said Sheriff Flores, who recently equipped his deputies with body armor and automatic rifles.
"In January, Laredo police raided two homes where they found more than 30 homemade bombs. It's the same people, the same weapons and the same methods as in Nuevo Laredo. And it's happening on our side."
JUAN GARCIA / DMN
The job of Deputy Sheriff Adelaida Moreno and others is getting more challenging, some say, because of drug battles spilling into Laredo. The sheriff points to other troubling signs. There's the double-homicide in Laredo last summer that has been linked to members of the Zetas, a gang of former Mexican army soldiers who now work for the drug cartels. There are the more than 40 people from Laredo who have been kidnapped in Nuevo Laredo.
Recently, the sheriff said, his department learned that the two Mexican drug trafficking organizations engaged in Nuevo Laredo's turf war have hired members of Texas prison gangs, the Texas Mexican Mafia and Los Hermanos Pistoleros Latinos, as hit men and enforcers for work on the U.S. side.
"They are known as Zetillas – little Zetas," he said. The Zetillas are 18- to 20-year-olds out to make a name for themselves by performing hits and related chores under Zeta direction, according to a report that the Webb County sheriff provided Congress during a recent hearing in Washington.
'They are testing us'
On Jan. 3 in El Cenizo, about 25 miles south, deputies encountered a group of men loading duffel bags in a van on the U.S. side. As the van drove back across the river, the men on the Mexican side pulled AK-47s on the deputies and taunted them in English to fight.
"They are testing us, pushing at us all the time to see what we'll do," Sheriff Flores said. "No one wants to talk about the situation we're in, and I know it's bad for business. But we can't hide our heads."
Sheriff Flores' comments are not always well-received by other Laredo leaders.
Mayor Flores, no relation to the sheriff, said she doesn't "turn a blind eye to the crime."
"But I'm not going to react hysterically," she added. "I detest the fact that people come here to see the border violence. It's been sensationalized by the media. Events that on their own are horrible are blown out of proportion, and it has paralyzed Nuevo Laredo's tourism."
The mayor stressed that she still frequently goes to Nuevo Laredo.
"I'm not afraid to go there because I don't go to the places where trouble breaks out," she said. "Most areas of the city are where people feel safe and their kids can play in their yards. There are two Nuevo Laredos, and only one is being reported."
The mayor repeats a line she delivered during an interview on the Lou Dobbs television show on CNN: Good people aren't being kidnapped.
"I've taken heat for that," she said, "but I said it because it's true and because I didn't want people to be afraid to come down to the border."
Trade and growth
Nuevo Laredo's problems have not slowed the volume of international trade that has made Laredo the biggest inland port in the U.S. – and one of the nation's busiest trade centers.
More than 10,000 commercial trucks and 2,000 rail cars pass through this city each day. Nearly $94 billion in goods was shipped via Laredo last year. In the last five years, 78 new companies moved to Laredo, adding 13,653 jobs, ranking the city No. 1 in growth in Texas by the Milken Institute.
A number of Nuevo Laredo businesses, including the venerable El Rancho Restaurant, have opted to move to Laredo and its perception of safety. Meanwhile, tourism in Nuevo Laredo has essentially melted away. Shops in the popular tourist section along Guerrero Street have reported that business has fallen by 80 to 90 percent.
"We've trended well for the past decade, and we show no signs of slowing down because of the violence in Nuevo Laredo," said Guillermo "Memo" Trevino, chairman of the Laredo Chamber of Commerce. "But we can't sugarcoat what's going on across the river. In Nuevo Laredo, the violence has had a terrible impact on their lives. Sadly, that has benefited us."
There has been another effect, Mr. Trevino said. In Laredo, going across the river was like going across the street in other U.S. cities. You went over to visit friends and relax.
"Now, we're aware of the violence. It hasn't stopped us from going across. But now ... you watch over your shoulder a little more than before," he said. "Before, day or night, you wouldn't be worried. Now, you're just more careful."
Bridge traffic slips
The violence in Nuevo Laredo has raised the fear factor. Southbound pedestrian traffic across Laredo's international bridges fell by nearly 162,000 in 2005 and northbound traffic dropped by nearly a million.
"The publicity over the explosion of violence in Nuevo Laredo has had an effect," said Patricia Taylor, executive director of the Laredo Convention and Visitors Bureau. "The group tour market – those who come to Laredo for shopping and tourism in Mexico – has essentially dried up. It's not the largest sector of our visitor market, but it has had an impact on some Laredo hotels."
State tourism data show that hotel occupancy in Laredo remains a healthy 70 percent.
"We have consciously decided to develop new tourism markets – for example, focusing on the Hispanic market, something we haven't done before," Ms. Taylor said. "Nuevo Laredo is devastated. Much of its business is hurting, while we're experiencing a healthy renewal."
One of the first questions visitors ask, Ms. Taylor said, is how safe it is across the river. She answers with commonsense advice on where to go and when, she says. But concern for violence is always in the back of the conversation.
"There's no way we can separate the two sides – if Nuevo Laredo hurts, we hurt," she said. "We know what unites us and what divides us but we now have a chance to show what Laredo really is. On the border, life is always about making adjustments."
But Ms. Taylor, like Mayor Flores and virtually anyone you talk to in Laredo, stresses that Laredo will not abandon Nuevo Laredo to its fate.
"We really are two cities with one heart," she said. "The violence will one day go away. But we will still be standing with Nuevo Laredo."
An unbreakable link
The linkage between the cities is perhaps best symbolized by the $24 million El Portal project. Roughly half finished, it will create a revitalized crossing point adjacent to Bridge No. 1, the oldest crossing point in Laredo.
The complex is conceived as a new pedestrian crossing point consisting of retail shops, fountains and sun-drenched plazas that feed into the bridge and a covered walkway into Mexico. El Portal will also use smart-card technology, much like that used in the New York subway system, to speed the cross-border traffic for both nations.
"This is not only a catalyst to revitalize downtown, but it brings the river into focus as a connection to Nuevo Laredo, not a barrier," said Laredo Assistant City Manager Rafael Garcia. "For generations, we've taken it for granted. Now, we've brought the river crossing back into our lives and it will be beautiful."
Discussions of Laredo's future are often clouded by the drug battles just across the river. But opposing camps agree on one thing: The U.S. government must step up efforts to improve border security.
"Is Laredo safe? Yes. But we can't ignore that the violence is here and it's here now," Sheriff Flores said. "We work hard to keep it down, but we can't do it alone."
Sheriff Flores recently joined other members of the Border Sheriffs Coalition to testify before a congressional hearing in Washington in an appeal for increased federal spending for border security.
The coalition has already received about $9 million from Gov. Rick Perry as part of a border initiative. About a third was spent to improve radio communications among the 16 Texas border counties. The remainder was divided evenly among the member sheriffs. Sheriff Flores used his $370,000 to outfit his deputies with body armor and automatic rifles.
Mr. Trevino of the Chamber of Commerce stresses that a balanced approach between economic development and public safety will benefit both cities.
"If there is a positive spin, it will bring more awareness about Mexico's importance to the United States. It will, I hope, let us find ways to help Mexico deal with its problems," he said. "If a neighbor's house is burning, it's in your best interest to help them put out the fire." "
"As violence grips neighbor, Laredo revels in renewal
Nuevo Laredo residents, businesses chase safety, prosperity across border
10:58 AM CST on Thursday, March 9, 2006
By DAVID McLEMORE / The Dallas Morning News
LAREDO – This border city and its neighbor just across the Rio Grande in Mexico have long been dependent on each other – bound by language, culture and geography for 250 years.
But the almost daily outburst of drug-fueled violence in Nuevo Laredo has begun to change that relationship.
Laredo's economy is booming. Unemployment is at historic lows. Businesses are opening in record numbers and the housing market is rapidly expanding. At the same time, pedestrian traffic is down in both directions, and many of those new businesses and new residents pouring into Laredo are coming from Nuevo Laredo, seeking the safety and sanity of the U.S. side.
JUAN GARCIA / DMN
While Maria Lopez hoses down the driveway of her new Laredo home, a symbol of the city's fast-growing housing market takes shape nearby. Reluctantly, Laredo accepts that the good news comes at the expense of its neighbor, confident that the violence stops at the river. This U.S. city works to keep itself from being identified with the violence across the river. Last month, the city launched a $100,000 public relations campaign to boast its good news to potential visitors from all over the state.
"It's very frustrating what's happening in Nuevo Laredo. We are connected – without the one, the other doesn't survive," said Laredo Mayor Betty Flores. "But ...we have to keep reminding the rest of the nation that we are in the United States and that the violence is in Mexico. This is a very safe city."
So it seems.
With a population of about 250,000, Laredo reported 21 homicides in 2005, compared with more than 170 in the same period in Nuevo Laredo, a city more than twice its size. Eleven police officers were shot down in Nuevo Laredo last year, including the daylight assassination of the new chief of police. A Laredo officer hasn't died in the line of duty since 1984.
But some Laredo leaders see evidence that Mexico's drug battles have already spilled across the border. You just have to look at the signs, said Webb County Sheriff Rick Flores.
"We've had our deputies fired on, and we've had instances of home invasions where the suspects used AK-47s and hand grenades, a technique used in Nuevo Laredo," said Sheriff Flores, who recently equipped his deputies with body armor and automatic rifles.
"In January, Laredo police raided two homes where they found more than 30 homemade bombs. It's the same people, the same weapons and the same methods as in Nuevo Laredo. And it's happening on our side."
JUAN GARCIA / DMN
The job of Deputy Sheriff Adelaida Moreno and others is getting more challenging, some say, because of drug battles spilling into Laredo. The sheriff points to other troubling signs. There's the double-homicide in Laredo last summer that has been linked to members of the Zetas, a gang of former Mexican army soldiers who now work for the drug cartels. There are the more than 40 people from Laredo who have been kidnapped in Nuevo Laredo.
Recently, the sheriff said, his department learned that the two Mexican drug trafficking organizations engaged in Nuevo Laredo's turf war have hired members of Texas prison gangs, the Texas Mexican Mafia and Los Hermanos Pistoleros Latinos, as hit men and enforcers for work on the U.S. side.
"They are known as Zetillas – little Zetas," he said. The Zetillas are 18- to 20-year-olds out to make a name for themselves by performing hits and related chores under Zeta direction, according to a report that the Webb County sheriff provided Congress during a recent hearing in Washington.
'They are testing us'
On Jan. 3 in El Cenizo, about 25 miles south, deputies encountered a group of men loading duffel bags in a van on the U.S. side. As the van drove back across the river, the men on the Mexican side pulled AK-47s on the deputies and taunted them in English to fight.
"They are testing us, pushing at us all the time to see what we'll do," Sheriff Flores said. "No one wants to talk about the situation we're in, and I know it's bad for business. But we can't hide our heads."
Sheriff Flores' comments are not always well-received by other Laredo leaders.
Mayor Flores, no relation to the sheriff, said she doesn't "turn a blind eye to the crime."
"But I'm not going to react hysterically," she added. "I detest the fact that people come here to see the border violence. It's been sensationalized by the media. Events that on their own are horrible are blown out of proportion, and it has paralyzed Nuevo Laredo's tourism."
The mayor stressed that she still frequently goes to Nuevo Laredo.
"I'm not afraid to go there because I don't go to the places where trouble breaks out," she said. "Most areas of the city are where people feel safe and their kids can play in their yards. There are two Nuevo Laredos, and only one is being reported."
The mayor repeats a line she delivered during an interview on the Lou Dobbs television show on CNN: Good people aren't being kidnapped.
"I've taken heat for that," she said, "but I said it because it's true and because I didn't want people to be afraid to come down to the border."
Trade and growth
Nuevo Laredo's problems have not slowed the volume of international trade that has made Laredo the biggest inland port in the U.S. – and one of the nation's busiest trade centers.
More than 10,000 commercial trucks and 2,000 rail cars pass through this city each day. Nearly $94 billion in goods was shipped via Laredo last year. In the last five years, 78 new companies moved to Laredo, adding 13,653 jobs, ranking the city No. 1 in growth in Texas by the Milken Institute.
A number of Nuevo Laredo businesses, including the venerable El Rancho Restaurant, have opted to move to Laredo and its perception of safety. Meanwhile, tourism in Nuevo Laredo has essentially melted away. Shops in the popular tourist section along Guerrero Street have reported that business has fallen by 80 to 90 percent.
"We've trended well for the past decade, and we show no signs of slowing down because of the violence in Nuevo Laredo," said Guillermo "Memo" Trevino, chairman of the Laredo Chamber of Commerce. "But we can't sugarcoat what's going on across the river. In Nuevo Laredo, the violence has had a terrible impact on their lives. Sadly, that has benefited us."
There has been another effect, Mr. Trevino said. In Laredo, going across the river was like going across the street in other U.S. cities. You went over to visit friends and relax.
"Now, we're aware of the violence. It hasn't stopped us from going across. But now ... you watch over your shoulder a little more than before," he said. "Before, day or night, you wouldn't be worried. Now, you're just more careful."
Bridge traffic slips
The violence in Nuevo Laredo has raised the fear factor. Southbound pedestrian traffic across Laredo's international bridges fell by nearly 162,000 in 2005 and northbound traffic dropped by nearly a million.
"The publicity over the explosion of violence in Nuevo Laredo has had an effect," said Patricia Taylor, executive director of the Laredo Convention and Visitors Bureau. "The group tour market – those who come to Laredo for shopping and tourism in Mexico – has essentially dried up. It's not the largest sector of our visitor market, but it has had an impact on some Laredo hotels."
State tourism data show that hotel occupancy in Laredo remains a healthy 70 percent.
"We have consciously decided to develop new tourism markets – for example, focusing on the Hispanic market, something we haven't done before," Ms. Taylor said. "Nuevo Laredo is devastated. Much of its business is hurting, while we're experiencing a healthy renewal."
One of the first questions visitors ask, Ms. Taylor said, is how safe it is across the river. She answers with commonsense advice on where to go and when, she says. But concern for violence is always in the back of the conversation.
"There's no way we can separate the two sides – if Nuevo Laredo hurts, we hurt," she said. "We know what unites us and what divides us but we now have a chance to show what Laredo really is. On the border, life is always about making adjustments."
But Ms. Taylor, like Mayor Flores and virtually anyone you talk to in Laredo, stresses that Laredo will not abandon Nuevo Laredo to its fate.
"We really are two cities with one heart," she said. "The violence will one day go away. But we will still be standing with Nuevo Laredo."
An unbreakable link
The linkage between the cities is perhaps best symbolized by the $24 million El Portal project. Roughly half finished, it will create a revitalized crossing point adjacent to Bridge No. 1, the oldest crossing point in Laredo.
The complex is conceived as a new pedestrian crossing point consisting of retail shops, fountains and sun-drenched plazas that feed into the bridge and a covered walkway into Mexico. El Portal will also use smart-card technology, much like that used in the New York subway system, to speed the cross-border traffic for both nations.
"This is not only a catalyst to revitalize downtown, but it brings the river into focus as a connection to Nuevo Laredo, not a barrier," said Laredo Assistant City Manager Rafael Garcia. "For generations, we've taken it for granted. Now, we've brought the river crossing back into our lives and it will be beautiful."
Discussions of Laredo's future are often clouded by the drug battles just across the river. But opposing camps agree on one thing: The U.S. government must step up efforts to improve border security.
"Is Laredo safe? Yes. But we can't ignore that the violence is here and it's here now," Sheriff Flores said. "We work hard to keep it down, but we can't do it alone."
Sheriff Flores recently joined other members of the Border Sheriffs Coalition to testify before a congressional hearing in Washington in an appeal for increased federal spending for border security.
The coalition has already received about $9 million from Gov. Rick Perry as part of a border initiative. About a third was spent to improve radio communications among the 16 Texas border counties. The remainder was divided evenly among the member sheriffs. Sheriff Flores used his $370,000 to outfit his deputies with body armor and automatic rifles.
Mr. Trevino of the Chamber of Commerce stresses that a balanced approach between economic development and public safety will benefit both cities.
"If there is a positive spin, it will bring more awareness about Mexico's importance to the United States. It will, I hope, let us find ways to help Mexico deal with its problems," he said. "If a neighbor's house is burning, it's in your best interest to help them put out the fire." "