Murder City_ Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields - Charles Bowden [109]
He says, “I have now relived something I should never have opened up. Are you the medium to reach others? I prayed to God asking what I should do. And you are the answer. You are going to write this story because God has a purpose in you writing this story.
“God has given you this mission.
“No one will understand this story except those who have been in the life. And God will tell you how to write this story.”
Then we embrace and pray. I can feel his hand on my shoulder probing, seeking the power of the Lord in me.
I have my work to do now.
And so we go our separate ways.
In the parking lot, he moves with ease, in a state of grace. The sun blazes, the sky aches blue. Life feels good. His eyes relax and he laughs. And then I see him memorize my license plate in a quick and practiced glance. He has told me he is bathed in the blood of the lamb, but his eyes remain those of the wolf.
The pace roars in December, and then, just around Christmas, there is a faint slowing. But on December 30, three go down. Number 1,600 is a man who resisted a robbery in an auto repair shop. After him, a guy is murdered on the street when he walked out of a money exchange. Another person is snatched, and his fate left to the imagination. Then, a man is murdered in his boutique dress shop. His customers are beaten and robbed. By New Year’s Eve, 1,602 are dead and 195 people had been slaughtered in December, a month rivaling August, when 228 died.
Then, they go down until just minutes before midnight on New Year’s Eve, and then there are 1,607 dead. The final body is an act of love, according the Juárez tabloid, P.M.:
A man who began celebrations to welcome the New Year with a woman
was shot to death near midnight in the colonia Plutarcho Elias Calles
thus becoming the last mortal victim of 2008, number 1,607.
According to residents of the neighborhood
just a few days ago, the woman broke off her relationship with another man
who had been planning some kind of revenge fueled by jealousy
and thus, he could be the author of the criminal act.
It is said that it could have been a crime of passion, although state
authorities will investigate
to find out if this was the motive of the aggression.
It occurred near the stroke of midnight marking the end of 2008 and the
beginning of the New Year
at the intersection of Isla Santo Domingo and Isla Quisca streets in the
aforementioned colonia.
According to first reports to Emergency 066, three individuals who looked
like cholos
one of them riding a bicycle
shot at a white car where a man and woman apparently were
resulting in the death of the man.
The deceased, identified by the nickname “El Mango,” twenty-eight years old
received several gunshot wounds in different parts of his body
including the head according to witnesses
who said they had seen the woman’s ex-boyfriend among the aggressors
and so now, the authorities are looking for him.
They added that the woman who accompanied the victim was not injured
and she managed to get out of the car and hide in her house which was near
the scene of the crime.
According to some sources, “El Mango” had intended to get some
bodyguards
but these guys abandoned him and after running a little way
they fell dejected and downhearted in the street.
State agents came to the scene and it is presumed that they interviewed the
surviving woman
in order to get some facts about the possible identities
of the aggressors.
At 2:40 A.M., the first person is gunned down in the New Year. The next kill comes at 4 A.M. The year of our Lord 2009 is launched.
The next morning, the city is spent. Green, yellow, red, orange, blue, and white balloons flap from a palm tree in