The recent assassination of popular Mexican gubernatorial candidate Rodolfo Torre has proven the northeast Mexican state of Tamaulipas is not just a flash point in Mexico’s drug war, but of great concern in the ongoing battle for U.S. border security. According to Reuters, Torre – an opposition candidate representing the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) – was slain along with four of his aides within the border town of Valle Hermoso. The responsible party of 16 hooded gunmen is believed to represent the notorious Los Zetas gang.
Rodolfo Torre’s killing has border security agents and investors worried
Mexico’s drug war has claimed a lot more than 25,000 lives since 2006, when violent gun battles began spilling into the streets, but Rodolfo Torre’s death is allegedly the largest-scale example to date of a drug cartel attempting to influence Mexico’s politics. Tourists are reportedly avoiding Tamaulipas and foreign investors have bailed on the peso in very big numbers. Reuters says that its recent position at 12.71 per $ 1 U.S. was .46 percent weaker. Televised images of Rodolfo Torre’s body in the media have done nothing to reverse this trend. In addition, local stocks remained flat as news out of the recent G-20 summit point toward an end to fiscal stimulus in the region.
Mexico has a credit picture influenced by border security
The Wall Street Journal reports that Credit Suisse has had some good things to say about Mexico’s financial condition. Particularly, Credit Suisse praised the nation’s “record or near-record low yields on government debt,” and pointed out to many that Mexico’s central bank is enjoying a nice level of inflation that rests within what experts consider to be a comfort zone. The inflation level has ranged from 2 to 4 percent of late. Also, Credit Suisse believes that Mexico’s recovering growth is, “as good as it gets.”
Mexico’s ongoing drug war violence has given creditors pause. ”The violence problem has worsened notably in 2010, with the number of drug-related killings making new highs, and with organized crime defying the state more openly than ever before,” Credit Suisse explained. “We aren’t certain this is as bad as it gets on the security front, sadly.”
Watching closely is Washington
The United States appears to be noticing. The death of Rodolfo Torre is apparently just a stone’s throw from American soil has the U.S. on alert. Border security against bold drug cartels is no small measure in American politics, from the president’s funding of additional forces to the ongoing immigration debates. When Los Zetas may not represent any of the illegal traffic that crosses the U.S. border, their actions do little to dissuade states like Arizona from abandoning their own bold stance against the risks of illegal immigration.
Discover a lot more about this topic here:
Reuters
reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN28512369
Wall Street Journal
online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100628-709931.html
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Zetas
Rodolfo Torre campaign video (en Español):
youtube.com/watch?v=FqAtnZ6B5BE
