Mayor doubts police chief killed by drug gangs

 

A La Habra resident was among two dozen men arrested Wednesday by federal authorities in raids targeting violent Latino street and prison gangs in Orange County..

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico - Two days after the police chief was gunned down hours after taking office, Mayor Daniel Pena said Friday he does not believe the region's battling drug gangs were responsible.

Alejandro Dominguez, 54, was killed late Wednesday, shortly after he took over as the city's police chief. Officials have no suspects in his death.

"It may have been a case of mistaken identity," Pena told reporters. "It also could be that [the killers] were saying that [Dominguez] was an example of someone they didn't want" as police chief.

Dominguez was shot with the same type of guns as those assigned to city police, but Pena wouldn't speculate on whether the city's officers, many of whom have been drawn into drug trafficking, might have been responsible.

Pena said the city has little rule of law. Of the more than 60 homicides in Nuevo Laredo since January, officials have arrested only one person: a 27-year-old mother who confessed to drowning her two children on Thursday.

"This is another factor that hurts us," he said. "It hurts us to know that anyone can kill and no one will go looking" for the killer.

Pena said he was meeting with Gov. Eugenio Enriquez later Friday.

Enriquez has said he will ask the federal government to send a special prosecutor and a team of investigators to deal with the region's growing drug violence.

Speaking to reporters in Mexico City, President Vicente Fox's spokesman, Ruben Aguilar, said the federal government "recognizes the violence in the northern region. It can't be ignored."

"This is a problem in which the United States also shares responsibility, and that can be solved only through the mutual action of both countries," Aguilar said.

On Thursday, U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Tony Garza issued a statement decrying "the rapidly degenerating situation along the border and the near-lawlessness in some parts."

Nuevo Laredo, across from Laredo, is the front line in a bloody turf battle between Mexico's two main drug gangs, and Fox sent hundreds of soldiers and federal agents to the border city in March to restore order.

Pena said that he is looking for someone to replace Dominguez and that several people have expressed interest -- even though many believe taking the job is a death sentence. Pena wouldn't offer specific names.

He said Dominguez was a good friend, and never mentioned receiving death threats.

Pena himself acknowledged being nervous, but said "you have to fight fear with firm actions."

Earlier Friday, mourners gathered at a wake for Dominguez. Most refused to speak to reporters, saying they were afraid.

Two of his grown children asked that their names not be published, saying they didn't even include their identities in his obituary.

One son told The Associated Press that the family was against Dominguez taking the police chief job but that his father believed he could help the city.

He refused to discuss who might have killed his father.

Flowers surrounded Dominguez's closed casket, and a handful of people quietly prayed while his children received guests.

A Mass was scheduled for later Friday, and then the body was to be cremated.