US to help Mexican marines against drug Cartels

The Washington Post reported that the United States is supplying crucial training and intelligence to elite units of Mexican marines who are engaged in an operation against drug Cartels. The Cartels are targeting law enforcement officials and unnamed diplomats,the effort includes more training and information sharing previously used.

Based in the US embassy in Mexico City and in consulates along the US-Mexican border, for example in Matamoros, agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration deliver “intelligence packages” about the location of  drug bosses to the Mexican marines, The Post said.

According to official figures,a lot  of suspected drug related violence has left more than 28,000 dead across Mexico since 2006.In a city of some 1.3 million, more than 2,700 people have been killed this year alone in Ciudad Juarez. At least 50 of the killings in the border city have been US citizens.

The report said,The US assistance has allowed the Mexican marines to carry out the kind of rapid  strike operations used  by US forces against Taliban leaders in Afghanistan.The Pentagon declines to discuss the training and Mexican officials deny that the US military is training Mexican marines but US officials have leaked  diplomatic cables that confirm that the US military is conducting urban combat and counter insurgency instruction in Mexico and The marines then go into action sometimes capturing and sometimes killing their targets in spectacular urban firefights often within hours, the paper noted.