That's right...the entire (surviving) police department resigned last week in the Mexican city of Ascension, just south and west of Cuidad Juarez, which is just across the Rio Bravo from El Paso, Texas, in the Mexican state of Chihuahua. This action, not the first of its kind, occurred just days after an attack on three police officers by two or more carloads of armed criminals belonging to one or other of the drug cartels that are active in the area. The three police officers were shot numerous times and were killed. Deadly ambush attacks against the Ascension police are not new. In fact, the police chief and two officers were kidnapped at gunpoint in mid-May. The Chief, Manuel Martinez, had been brought into Ascension only seven months before due to the widespread belief that many of the municipal officers were corrupt and were working for one or other of the drug cartels. Chief Martinez apparently found good reason to believe that some of his officers were corrupt. He fired most of the officers and brought in new officers. He rebuilt the police department and earned some degree of faith from the local population. Of course, death threats to the Chief and to the honest members of his police force were common, and were frequently carried out. Chief Martinez and two his officers were found dead in the back seat of a stolen automobile. All three officers were riddled with bullets.
It may be easy to sit in your safe home and criticize, at least silently, these officers for resigning their commissions, and for abandoning their fellow citizens. But the truth is that the drug cartels could approach the officers or their families at any time, could make threatening phone calls or follow the officers' loved ones at any time, and, obviously, could attack and kill police officers at will. How much more the officers' unarmed loved ones? Police officers, being human, have the same basic feelings of love for their families, and fear for their loved ones' safety when threatened, as you or I have. The bravery and pride that these officers had in working in an understaffed, outgunned local police agency was admirable. To me, their decision to leave the municipal department, which could expect little or no help from outside agencies, was very understandable, as well. How many officers here in the United States would keep working for their various agencies if it meant that their children, their spouses, and even their own lives were at stake, and policemen were being killed daily by large groups of armed criminals (this in addition to the daily life and death situations police officers face)? Couple this situation with the fact that officers in Ascension literally could not trust each other, and you have what many people would call an "untenable situation."
We should pay little heed to US Government statements and statistics showing that the "War On Drugs" in Mexico is going in the Mexican Government's favor, and that Government forces are finally gaining the upper hand and stabilizing the nation. The situation in Ascension speaks much louder than figures on pieces of paper. Statistics aside, the War On Drugs in Mexico is not going in that Government's favor. We need only consult with another set of statistics, that being the number of slain police officers and political leaders in Mexico. Another set of statistics is probably not being fully published, that being the number of innocent civilians killed and the legitimate businesses disrupted by the power and violence of the drug cartels. For those still living in Ascension, the outlook is bleak. Ascension sits astride one of the most violently contested drug (and other stuff - including sex slaves and illegal aliens) smuggling routes in Mexico. No doubt the violence will go on for some time. Government forces have now moved into the area to replace the local police; however, there is little consolation in this action. After a few days or weeks, the federal forces will leave, and the city, devoid of local police, will immediately fall back into the hands of whichever cartel gets there (or comes out of hiding) first. My prayers go out to the people of Ascension and to all the other people caught up in the nightmare that is the Mexican "War On Drugs."
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