While recent Mexican drug violence has caused scary headlines, increased Mexican military presence at the border has helped to contain the fight for the Juarez drug corridor.

Written by John Davis

While recent Mexican drug violence has caused scary headlines, travel warnings and some in government to consider sending U.S. military to the southern border, a Texas Tech University expert on border history says that an increased Mexican military presence at the border has helped to contain the fight for the Juarez drug corridor.

Miguel Levario, an assistant professor of history, says that the violence has created a media feeding frenzy in the United States, but Mexico is far from becoming a failed nation. As tragic and unnerving as the deaths are, he said that the violence is not seeping across the borders as some stories and pundits may imply.

A recent story by the Associated Press said drug violence dropped by 26 percent in the first quarter of 2009. About 1,960 people were killed in drug-related violence between January and March of 2009 compared to 2,655 deaths during the same period in 2008.

“It’s interesting to see the level of sensational reporting coming out from this,” Levario said. “You hear that violence has spilled over into the United States, and it hasn’t. Border cities like El Paso, Yuma and San Diego have not experienced significantly increased violence to draw a connection. As a matter of fact, El Paso is still rated as the third safest city in the country. And that’s just across the river from Ciudad de Juarez, which is arguably the epicenter of the Mexican violence.”

The full story is available at http://today.ttu.edu/2009/04/debunking-drug-violence/

BONUS FEATURES:

To download broadcast-quality interviews with Levario or high-resolution photos:

Windows:

1. Go to My Computer

2. At the address bar at the top, copy and paste the ftp address ftp://129.118.56.46

3. Type in username: media, password: matador23

4. The files should show up now and you can drag and drop to your desktop as needed.

Mac:

1. When you are at your desktop, click on Go at the top and then Connect to Server…

2. Copy and paste ftp://129.118.56.46

3. Type in username: media, password: matador23

4. The files should show up now and you can drag and drop to your desktop as needed.

Find Texas Tech news, experts and story ideas at www.media.ttu.edu.

CONTACT: Miguel A. Levario, assistant professor of history, Texas Tech

University, (806) 742-1004 ext. 263, miguel.levario@ttu.edu.