South of the border, down Mejico way

A 20-year-old woman who made international headlines when she accepted the job as police chief in a violent Mexican border town was fired yesterday for apparently abandoning her post after receiving death threats.

Marisol Valles Garcia was granted a leave of absence from Wednesday through yesterday to travel to the United States for personal matters, but she failed to return to Praxedis G. Guerrero as agreed, city officials said.

"In the absence of [Valles Garcia's] presence on the agreed-upon day, and since there was no notification of a need to extend the period of her absence, the mayor has decided to remove her from office," a city statement read.

Local news media have since reported that Valles Garcia was seeking asylum in the United States, but there has been no confirmation of that and her precise whereabouts were not clear.

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/yr_old_mex_cop_chief_fired_OusWSbubx8mUpUZ9oFd6kI

This is like the scene in "Blazing Saddles", in which everyone's afraid to volunteer to be sheriff. Of course, "Blazing Saddles" is a movie, and a comedy. This is real life, and a tragedy for the Mexican people . . . and the Americans on the other side of the largely unprotected and unsecured border.