Frontera NorteSur
July  2003

July 28, 2003
Federal Water Authorities Enforce Well Regulations in Tamaulipas

The head of Mexico's National Water Commission for the Northern Gulf region, Rafael Renero Amparán, announced that his office has begun a "hunt for private water wells" that have not been registered with the National Water Commission (Comisión Nacional del Agua, CNA). Renero also added that people or communities with unregistered wells should bring them into compliance with the law. 

The CNA will fine owners of unregistered well regardless regardless of their income, according to Renero. Communities that are using unregistered wells will also be fined, Renero stated. 

The CNA is enforcing well regulations because it wants to ensure that water is not being wasted and that registered well owners are not being affected by illegal pumping. Water quality is also a CNA concern. 

The CNA's efforts will begin in Tamaulipas' rural areas. However, Renero noted that well enforcement will soon begin around the state capital, Ciudad Victoria. 

Source: El Mañana (Reynosa), July 28, 2003.

July 9, 2003
Number of Murders Hits Three-Year High in Nuevo Laredo with Killing of Law Enforcement Chief

With the Monday, July 7 murders of Adolfo Ruiz Ibarra, the Nuevo Laredo director of the Federal Investigation Agency, and his brother, Edmundo Ruiz Ibarra, the number of murders in 2003 in Nuevo Laredo reached 34. This is a three-year high for the city which saw 31 murders by this point in 2002 and 25 by this time in 2001. According to the Nuevo Laredo newspaper El Mañana, 2002's tally was one of the bloodiest in the city's history although no specific figures were provided. 

Not only is murder on the rise but disappearances are too. Between January and May of this year, 16 abductions were reported in Nuevo Laredo. In June, 2003 alone there were 16 more reported disappearances and others that were not made known to officials. 

El Mañana attributes this year's increased violence to fights to control the flow of drugs across the US-Mexico border. Arrests of major Gulf Cartel figures in late 2002 and early 2003 have destabilized the area's previous narco-trafficking arrangements. 

Adolfo Ruiz Ibarra, his brother Edmundo and Adolfo's wife Ericka Fonseca were returning from Laredo, Texas in their blue Suburban when they were attacked by three men firing automatic weapons and other guns. Ibarra himself was shot 18 times and he died from his wounds. His brother was shot and died and his wife was shot in the leg but survived. Their attackers were reportedly traveling in a green Suburban. 

One man caught in Nuevo Laredo with a weapon similar to that used in the assault has been detained in the case but officials are not commenting on him. 

Although the investigation of the slayings was initially handled by the Tamaulipas state police, the state stepped aside and let the federal Attorney General's Office (PGR) take over the investigation. Reynosa's El Mañana newspaper reported that the PGR has asked the Army and other federal law enforcement authorities to become involved in the case. 

An article in the Reynosa newspaper speculated that the killing of Ibarra was in retaliation for the presence of approximately 150 agents of the Federal Investigation Agency (Agencia Federal de Investigaciones, AFI) in Nuevo Laredo. Ruiz arrived in Nuevo Laredo on May 26, 2003. During his time in the city he made numerous arrests and drug seizures. 

El Mañana also reported rumors that the PGR is sending a special unit of 300 to 500 agents to the city to arrest suspected drug traffickers, dismantle narco safe-houses and arrest other criminal gangs that are operating as cartel enforcers. 

Source: El Mañana (Nuevo Laredo), July 9, 2003. El Mañana (Reynosa), July 9, 2003.