AP: Texas

10/07/2004

Associated Press

The police chief in the Mexican border city of Reynosa has resigned amid a U.S. consulate warning that police had been robbing American visitors.

Carlos Hernandez Chaires resigned Wednesday. The head of police operations, Jose Garcia Rangel, quit earlier in the day after barricading himself in his office for several hours with supporters outside.

Eduardo Hinojosa Salinas, the department's administrative head, also resigned. He told The (McAllen) Monitor for Thursday's editions that the department had no director.

John Naland, the U.S. consul for the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, last month issued an advisory citing reports of police harassment and cash machine robberies in Reynosa.

According to several reports, police forced U.S. drivers to go to dark, remote places or took them to ATMs and told them to hand over cash "fines" or face jail time.

Naland said Thursday that the advisory would likely stand until after Mexico's Nov. 14 election.

"I think we're going to need to watch the change of government," he said.

He said there had been no new reports of violence since the advisory, though several people called to report old instances after seeing news reports about it.

About 750,000 people live in Reynosa, which is across the Rio Grande from Hidalgo, about eight miles south of McAllen.