'Mexico's Bravest Woman', 20 year old Police Chief Marisol Valles, seeks U.S. asylum

A college student and mother who was a Mexican bordertown police chief has fled to the United States seeking asylum, one of her relatives told AFP on Thurssday.

Marisol Valles, 20, "received death threats from a criminal group that wanted to force her to work for them," the relative told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Valles, who has a baby son, took over the job as police chief in the town of Praxedis G. Guerrero in October after two other job candidates dropped out following the assassination of the mayor and his son.

Valles "went to the United States along with two relatives and will seek asylum," the source told AFP.

Praxedis G. Guerrero is on the Rio Grande border with the United States some 65 kilometers (40 miles) southeast of Ciudad Juarez.

Valles's departure comes after Erika Gandara, 28, a female officer and the sole representative of the law in the town of Guadalupe, a border town just up the road towards Ciudad Juarez, was kidnapped in December. Gandara's fate is unknown.

The Sinaloa and Juarez drug cartels are engaged in a bitter fight for control of Ciudad Juarez and its surrounding towns, key points to smuggle illegal drugs into the lucrative US market.

Last year some 3,100 people were killed in Ciudad Juarez, population 1.2 million, in violence police blame on the drug trade.