Nuevo Laredo, Mexico – Mexicans dismiss U.S. plans to send National Guard troops to the border as a futile effort that will only fuel the booming drug- and migrant-smuggling industry.
And with heavily armed Mexican soldiers in this violent border city, some worry the U.S. troop buildup could spark confrontations in an area where it is often difficult to tell where Mexico ends and the U.S. begins.
Gilberto Areola, who lives about 20 feet from the Arizona border in the Mexican city of Nogales, said he will feel uneasy with the soldiers patrolling the other side.
“It makes me a little scared,” said Areola, 54. “A stray bullet could affect us since we live so close to the line. I think this could cause more violence.”
Tensions in both countries have been rising over increased violence spawned by drug battles, the human-smuggling industry and recent border scuffles.
Blanca Estela Aguilar, a 24- year-old saleswoman in Nuevo Laredo, said that with the introduction of National Guard troops, clashes between the two sides are likely.
“We are going to see a confrontation between troops over there and police here,” she predicted. “It could be in the long or short term, but it will happen. And many people are likely to die.”
While Mexico has stepped up efforts against drug, weapons and people smugglers, it leaves migrants alone; its citizens have the right to walk up to the border, and once they cross they are out of Mexican territory.
Nuevo Laredo City Council member Jose Francisco Chavira said he’s considering organizing a boycott of U.S. goods to protest the Bush plan.
“I see it as an act of intimidation, an act that is part of a plan to build a giant wall along the border, like Bush wants,” he said.
