TIJUANA -- In an escalation of clashes between U.S. Border Patrol agents and
rock-throwing smugglers, agents have begun launching pepper spray and tear
gas into densely populated Mexican border neighborhoods, according to
witnesses, Mexican authorities and human rights groups.

The more aggressive approach reflects the tense climate in this city's most
notorious smuggling neighborhood, Colonia Libertad, where U.S. agents say
they have had to counter human traffickers'
increasingly aggressive tactics by ramping up their own use of force.




Agents have used pepper spray in the past, but usually aimed directly at the
smugglers. The new tactics, which saturate large areas, have forced dozens
of temporary evacuations and sent some residents to hospitals, according to
witnesses.

Border Patrol officials say tear gas and pepper spray rarely cause serious
injury or damage. They say that they use them against assailants trying to
divert attention from border crossers by pelting agents, and that residents
are not targeted.

Since Oct. 1, the Border Patrol has counted 90 assaults against agents in
the San Diego area, five times as many as during the same period a year ago.
Agents have suffered serious head injuries, officials say.

The acting Mexican consul general in San Diego, Ricardo Pineda, has met with
Border Patrol officials to protest the aggressive use of tear gas and pepper
spray, said Alberto Lozano, the consular spokesman.

"We told them the Mexican government cannot tolerate having Mexican
nationals hit with these kind of devices on Mexican soil by U.S.
authorities, regardless of the reason," Lozano said.

Residents of the area's hillside shanties and muddy streets say the Border
Patrol's measures neglect their welfare. Some agents, they say, show
compassion, even apologizing for the tactics. But others are defiant and
continue saturating areas despite their pleas.

"I said to the agent, 'Put yourself in my place. I have two children,' "
said Robis Guadalupe Argumeo, who added that her home has been gassed three
times since August, most recently after a verbal exchange with an agent
Saturday. "He said, 'I'm the policeman of the world. No one can touch me.' "

The agent, Argumeo said, was peering over the border fence pointing his
pepper-spray launcher at her house. She said that she told him, "But this
isn't Iraq, this is Mexico" but that he continued firing into the
neighborhood.
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