The recent assassination of popular Mexican gubernatorial candidate Rodolfo Torre has proven once a lot more that the northeast Mexican state of Tamaulipas is not only a flash point in Mexico's drug war, but of great concern in the ongoing battle for U.S. border security. It was reported by Reuters that Torre – an opposition candidate representing the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) – was slain along with four of his aides in the border town of Valle Hermoso. The responsible group of 16 hooded gunmen is believed to represent the notorious Los Zetas gang.

Article resource: Rodolfo Torre slaying puts spotlight on peso, border security by Personal Money Store

Border security agents and investors worried about Rodolfo Torre’s killing

Since it began in 2006, Mexico's drug war has claimed more than 25,000 lives, when violent gun battles started spilling to the streets, but Rodolfo Torre's death is allegedly the largest-scale example to date of a drug cartel attempting to influence Mexico's politics. Tourists are reportedly avoiding Tamaulipas and many of the foreign investors have bailed on the peso in large numbers. Reuters indicates that its recent position at 12.71 per $ 1 U.S. was .46 percent weaker. Televised images of Rodolfo Torre's body in the media aren’t helping this trend. In addition, local stocks remained flat as news out of the recent G-20 summit point toward an end to all of the fiscal stimulus within the region.

Mexico has a credit picture influenced by border security

The Wall Street Journal reports that Credit Suisse has had some positive things to say about Mexico's financial condition. Particularly, Credit Suisse praised the nation's "record or near-record low yields on government debt," and pointed out that Mexico's central bank is enjoying a level of inflation that rests within what experts consider to be a comfort zone. Lately the inflation level has ranged from 2 to 4 percent. Also, Credit Suisse believes that Mexico's recovering growth is, "as good as it gets."

On the down side, Mexico's ongoing drug war violence has given creditors pause. "The violence problem seems to have worsened notably in 2010, with the number of drug-related killings making new highs, and with organized crime defying the state more openly than ever before," said Credit Suisse. "We aren't sure this is as bad as it gets on the security front, sadly."

Closely watching is Washington

The US is noticing this. The death of Rodolfo Torre just a stone's throw from American soil has the U.S. on alert. Border security against bold drug cartels is no small measure in American politics, from the president's funding of additional forces to the huge immigration debates. When Los Zetas may not represent all illegal traffic that crosses the U.S. border, their actions do very little to dissuade some of the states like Arizona from abandoning their own bold stance against the hazards of illegal immigration.

Discover more data:

Reuters

reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN28512369

Wall Street Journal

online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100628-709931.html

Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Zetas