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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Mexico replaces customs staff, revamps borders |
| 2009-08-17 |
| Mexico has replaced all 700 of its customs inspectors with agents newly trained to detect contraband, from guns and drugs to TVs and other big-ticket appliances smuggled to avoid import duties. The shake-up — part of a broader effort to root out corruption and improve vigilance at Mexican ports with new technology — doubled the size of Mexico's customs inspection force. The inspectors at all 49 of Mexico's customs points were replaced with 1,400 better-educated agents who have undergone background checks and months of training, Tax Administration Service spokesman Pedro Canabal said Sunday. He said the inspectors were not fired. Instead, government did not rehire them when their contracts expired, Canabal said. The main focus of the overhaul is to combat tax evasion, although Mexico is also trying to seize more guns smuggled in from the United States and elsewhere that end up in the hands of ruthless drug gangs. Mexican cartels are responsible for the majority of cocaine smuggled from South America to the United States. Canabal said the government hopes to improve its tax collection with the new system, noting that more than 40 percent of Mexico's value-added tax is collected at customs. However, he said the main benefit will be stopping the flood of pirated and cheap goods that he said undermine Mexican industries. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #5 I noticed the article pointedly states they're looking hard at INCOMING smuggling, an has no mention of OUTGOING goods and people. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2009-08-17 13:00 |
| #4 They have to sell it to their citizens, Besoeker, and their citizens consider the drugs an American problem. So long as we benefit from the result, I don't care what rationale they state. I'd be just as happy if they called it a jobs training program, with the graduates getting certificates and interviews in the private sector. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2009-08-17 08:54 |
| #3 The main focus of the overhaul is to combat tax evasion,.... illegal guns I see. Drug smuggling is only a tertiary concern. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2009-08-17 08:10 |
| #2 New broom sweeps clean. |
| Posted by: mojo 2009-08-17 02:00 |
| #1 A good move, and I don't care if he is a Canabal. |
| Posted by: Grunter 2009-08-17 01:14 |