XAVIER ZARAGOZA/The Daily Dispatch

Agua Prieta Mayor Antonio Cuadras

Six months after Antonio Cuadras was elected mayor in Agua Prieta, Sonora, his appointed chief of police was murdered on a calm Monday evening as he stepped out of the police department.

The gunman fired 40 rounds at Ramón Tacho Verdugo. Five of those rounds connected, one of which fatally pierced his right lung.

Several days later three of Tacho's men from the police force resigned, signaling a rising fear and apprehension among law enforcement and the community.

News of the murder ripped through both sides of the border here, provoking a wave of uncertainty about the personal safety of tourists and border shoppers and about the civic well-being of Agua Prieta.

To ally the fear, Cuadras launched a campaign aimed at reassuring the Mexican community that they were safe from the seemingly random violence.

"The violence is targeted at very specific people." Cuadras said. "People who are honest don't have anything to worry about."

Yet for some residents of both communities, one's honesty was beside the point, especially if one was caught in the middle of a drug lord's cross fire.

So in response to the murder, local, state and federal law enforcement patrolled the community within the city limits while the military guarded the perimeter. For Cuadras, every law enforcement agency in Agua Prieta has the responsibility of safeguarding the city.

"Although we are divided by an international boundary, Douglas and Agua Prieta are one community," he said. "What affects us, or happens here in Agua Prieta, will have a big effect in Douglas---whether it's violence, a natural disaster or a drop in the peso,"

With such close ties between the two cities, and hoping to dispel any fear among Douglas residents, Cuadras reached out to Douglas Mayor Ray Borane to help spread the reassurance.

"For our part, we will do anything we can to ensure the safety of people coming to and from Agua Prieta," Borane said.

Gov. Janet Napolitano also reacted to the violence and offered to lend her support.

"We will help Mayor Borane and the Douglas Police Department with support from the Department of Public Safety in combating crime on the border," said Marcos Lopez, senior advisor to the governor.

A pressing issue now for both mayors is to restore a sense of tranquility, especially one that encourages people to cross the border north and south and support the economy.

"It's a fact that our cities are intertwined with history and family and that our economies are dependent on one another," Borane said.

The delicate balance of economy dependency between the two cities was put to a test in 2004 when a group in Agua Prieta organized an economic boycott in protest of the Minutemen, an anti-immigration group that claimed a non-violent watch for illegal immigrants crossing the border.

Sitting on lawn chairs and peering through binoculars, the Minutemen patrolled a thin slice of the Arizona-Sonora border 15 miles west of Douglas. The group never once came within five miles of the city, yet their presence was strong enough to spark Agua Prieta citizens to boycott the Douglas economy and demonstrate the power and value of the Mexican shopper in the United States.

Yet Douglas merchants had long been aware of the importance of cross border trade.

On the day of the protest, sales for many businesses had dropped 30 to 70 percent in that one day, causing city officials on both sides to frowned at anything that impeded legitimate cross border traffic and commerce.

In the wake of Tacho Verdugo's murder, city officials again worried about cross border trade.

This time, the merchants on the Mexican side were the ones affected. Long accustomed to Americans shoppers spending dollars in Agua Prieta, shop keepers quickly saw a decline in sales.

Borane, who had spoken with the merchants, said he was told the murder had cast a pall over the city. On the day of Tacho Verdugo's funeral and on the days that followed, the city streets and businesses in Agua Prieta-normally loud and rowdy with music and the anticipation of the coming weekend-were unusually still, reminiscent of people ducking indoors to avoid the thunder storm overhead.

As a way of encouraging public safety in the future, Cuadras said he is working toward creating more jobs for his city. More jobs means money in people's pockets, which in turn may dissuade people from the lure of easy money.

But for now public safety in the eyes of both communities is a little shaky. As of yet, he has not appointed a new chief of police nor has Tacho's shooter been found.

"Do I feel any safer? Not really," said Eliseo Arias Cortez, a cross border shopper who visits Wal-Mart regularly. "Everyday I wonder if when I return to Agua Prieta I'll be in the middle of someone's gunfire. Until a new chief of police comes and changes things for the better, things may remain the same."