Mexico has announced it will send a total of 7,000 soldiers and federal police officers into the border city of Ciudad Juarez, where 1,600 people died last year in drug-related violence. Ciudad Juarez is located across the US border from El Paso, Texas. The city’s police chief resigned almost two weeks ago, after several of his officers were shot to death and anonymous signs appeared warning that an officer would be killed every forty-eight hours unless he stepped down. On Sunday, during an interview on Meet the Press, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the US military will increase its support of Mexico.

Robert Gates: “I think we are beginning to be in a position to help the Mexicans more than we have in the past. Some of the old biases against cooperation with our — between our militaries and so on I think are being set aside.”

David Gregory: “You mean providing military support?”

Robert Gates: “Providing them with — with training, with resources, with reconnaissance and surveillance kinds of capabilities, but just cooperation, including in intelligence.”