Mexican army on duty at San Luis, Son., port

SAN LUIS RIO COLORADO, Son. - The Mexican army is on temporary security duty at the port of entry into this and other Mexican border cities until new customs officers get settled into the job of inspecting traffic passing through crossings.

The 21 new officers in San Luis have not yet been issued their duty weapons, and the soldiers will be providing security at both pedestrian and vehicle lanes leading into Mexico, said Juan Pedro Villamar Romo de Vivar, Mexican customs administrator at San Luis Rio Colorado.

The soldiers have been stationed at all ports along the border since the weekend.

The soldiers' assignment comes on the heels of the Mexican government's announcement that it was swapping out customs inspectors at all the ports on the U.S.-Mexican border with better-trained, more-professional officers.

Villamar made an appeal to area residents to be accepting of the military presence, which he described as nothing more than a safety measure.

"One way or another, the presence of the soldiers is as much for the safety of the people who work (at the port) as the people who are returning to (Mexico), as for the pedestrians and for the motorists," he said.

The Mexican government said the new inspectors are newly trained to detect such contraband coming into Mexico as weapons, drugs and big-ticket appliances, and Villamar said the soldiers' presence is intended to prevent any threats against them in the course of doing their duty.

He said soldiers will strictly enforce an existing restriction against pedestrians venturing into areas of the port where vehicles are stopped and inspected on the way into Mexico.

The Mexican government decided earlier this year to renew the contracts of previous customs inspectors after determining they did not meet minimum qualifications or performance standards.

Aside from meeting minimum education standards, the new officers have been trained in firearm use by the Mexican army.

The size of Mexico's customs inspection force was doubled in the shake-up, which is part of a broader effort to root out corruption and improve vigilance at Mexican ports with new technology.

The main focus is to combat tax evasion, the government said, although Mexico is also trying to seize more smuggled guns that end up in the hands of Mexican drug cartels.

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Bajo El Sol staff writer Cesar Neyoy and The Associated Press contributed to this report.