Drug violence hurts border communities

  A number of border communities in Mexico, large and small, have been feeling the impact of increasing drug violence in the past year, but so far our area has been fortunate to escape this ugly development.

  Drug groups have become brazen in their attacks on each other as they struggle for control of drug trafficking. The battle has been marked by hundreds of killings and kidnappings, mostly on the Mexican side of the border. But it has spilled over into America at times.

  The Mexican police, supported by the military, at times seem powerless to take control. Those authorities who stand up to the drug cartels become targets of violence themselves.

  In Ciudad Juarez - across from El Paso, Texas - more than 700 have been killed in drug violence this year alone. It was reported that total deaths related to drug trafficking disputes total more than 2,500 along the border since 2007. Obviously, this is a serious problem.

  But the violence is not simply limited to large cities like Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana.

  The other day, The Associated Press reported that some residents of Nogales, Ariz., have abandoned visits to their sister city of Nogales, Son., because of fears of random drug violence that can erupt without any notice in restaurants and elsewhere there. Even families with close cross-border ties have reduced their visits with relatives.

  The two sides of Nogales were once like one city, but now they are divided by more than the border.

  Although the situation has not gotten that bad in our area, we have been told by some local residents who used to visit Mexico frequently for recreation or to visit family that they are now more cautious. It just doesn't seem as safe as it was in the past.

  It is sad that criminals can disrupt the lives of law-abiding people who simply want to cross the border to Mexico to relax  or to maintain ties with families and to live normal lives. But that will be the reality unless Mexican authorities can find a way to put down this drug violence.

  Let us hope a better day is coming for the border communities feeling this violence - and that it does not spread to our part of the border.