Mexican Army Takes Control of Major Port in Effort to Combat Drug Cartel Joshua Partlow - The Washington Post
go to original December 2, 2013

Dock workers unload a cargo ship at Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico. Over the past decade, cargo business to Lazaro Cardenas, the deepest port in Mexico, has more than doubled to an estimated 36 million tons this year, putting it in the top 10 of Latin American ports. Dominic Bracco II/The Washington Post)

LAZARO CARDENAS, Mexico — This strategic port has been a major moneymaker for the powerful Knights Templar drug gang, which extorts millions from the city’s businesses and smuggles in meth-making chemicals from Asia.

But President Enrique Peña Nieto’s decision this month to deploy troops to Lazaro Cardenas marks a new attempt to sever the cartel’s economic lifeline by putting a stop to its criminal activities here.

By replacing hundreds of local police and customs officials, many suspected of collaborating with drug cartels, and installing soldiers in top port positions and at highway checkpoints, the government hopes to improve the international image of a port that in recent years has become a key transit point for Asian goods heading to the United States.

But some port officials and residents in this Pacific seaside city worry that the presence of the troops, patrolling roads and waterways in camouflage, could scare off trade and investors in the short term, at a time when port business is booming.

Read the rest at The Washington Post

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