MEXICO CITY — After cartels unleashed a wave of violence across Mexico last week, killing civilians, blocking roads with burning vehicles and setting dozens of stores on fire, the government here responded as it often does to an outbreak of lawlessness: It sent in the troops.
The thousands of soldiers and National Guard members who arrived in the cities of Tijuana, Juarez and Guadalajara in recent days appeared ready for combat with helmets, camouflage and assault rifles strapped across their ballistic vests.
It was a reminder of not only the ongoing security crisis gripping this nation but also President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's failed promise to pull soldiers off the streets.
