Border feud

last updated 8 January 2015

Matamoros, Mexico

Mexico is furious over a U.S. State Department advisory warning tourists about a rash of abductions in Mexican border towns. In the last six months, 27 Americans have been kidnapped; two were killed and 11 remain missing. U.S. Ambassador Tony Garza blamed drug traffickers, and said local authorities were incapable of “coming to grips” with the problem. But Mexican President Vicente Fox said his country “does not accept judgment” from any foreign government, while a top Fox aide said it was American demand for narcotics that was driving the trade. “I wish there were more capos in U.S. prisons,” said Interior Minister Santiago Creel, “and that they’d do something about the problem of consumption.”