Tijuana chief demands answers

UNION-TRIBUNE
January 18, 2007

TIJUANA – Frustrated after two weeks without weapons, hundreds of municipal officers took time off from patrolling the city late yesterday, gathering outside a federal building while their chief demanded answers from federal authorities.

Afterward, lines of white police pickups, their lights ablaze, proceeded slowly through the city's Rio Zone, while officers marched in groups, and police motorcycles cleared the way to the department's headquarters.

The march followed a meeting at the federal Attorney General's Office, known as the PGR. Police officials had received a summons that “urgently” required the officers to testify – but it was unclear about what. The vaguely worded order, dated Jan. 14, said those who didn't comply faced fines.

“They've called upon all of us, and all of us are here,” police Chief Victor Manuel Zatarain said defiantly.