Durbin said some of the blame lies here in the United States.

Army soldiers guard a police station in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Monday, March 16, 2009. As retired and active-duty soldiers largely took over security in the violence-wracked city of 1.3 million, a retired Army officer took over as head of police Monday, whose last law enforcement chief resigned after receiving threats.
STR / AP Photo

Retired general takes over Ciudad Juarez security (click here)

By MARINA MONTEMAYOR
Associated Press Writer
CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico -- A retired Mexican army general took over as head of public safety in the violence-plagued border city of Ciudad Juarez on Monday and a retired colonel was sworn in as police chief, as part of a militarization that includes 7,000 soldiers dispatched to keep the peace in the city of 1.3 million.
Gen. Julian Rivera Breton was sworn in as city public safety secretary to replace a man who resigned after criminals threatened to kill a policeman every other day until he left. Two such signs appeared on the bodies of a dead officer and a jail guard....

Texas, El Paso health workers kept out of Mexico (click here)
By ALICIA A. CALDWELL

Associated Press Writer © 2009 The Associated Press

EL PASO, Texas — State and local health officials have barred their workers from business travel in Mexico, citing the ongoing drug cartel war that has killed thousands of people since last year.
Texas Health and Human Services Commission employees were officially told Feb. 25 to stay out of Mexico.
Stephanie Goodman, a commission spokeswoman, said this week the decision was made based primarily on a lengthy U.S. State Department travel alert that warned of widespread violence in Mexico, including confrontations between the military and police and violent drug cartels that resemble "small-unit combat."...
March 17, 2009, 3:42PM