Nearly 15 years later, in 2007, reform fervor swept the area after President Felipe Calderon's PAN party won regional elections. Ledezma said he was impressed with talk of reorganizing La Junta's "deplorable" police department. A civic leader encouraged him to apply, and he became chief in November 2007.
His predecessor, he recalled, offered some advice: "Some people are going to visit you. My suggestion is you cooperate with them."
Undeterred, Ledezma recruited and trained new officers and outfitted them with weapons and bulletproof vests. Then the two cartel representatives confronted him with their offer: Join us or die.
Playing for time, Ledezma told the men that he couldn't accept without talking to the mayor's chief of staff. One of the traffickers pulled out a cellphone and dialed the man's number. He was connected on speakerphone.
The point was made: Ledezma could expect no help.
Ledezma regrets leaving behind friends, family and the life he had built in Mexico. He is living in the U.S. interior but asked that the location not be revealed, for safety reasons.
"It hurts to be here" he said. But crossing the border was his only option.
"They never forget," he said of the men who threatened him. "Sooner or later they'll catch you."
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abecker@cironline.org
This report is published in cooperation with the nonprofit Center for Investigative Reporting in Berkeley, where Becker is a staff reporter.
