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By Root 1501 0

By June 2008, the city cannot handle its own dead and starts giving corpses wholesale to medical schools or tossing bodies into common graves. The list of the dead becomes a dark burden as solid information dwindles. And so it finally trails off, a path littered with death and small voices whispering against the growing night. But it gives a sense of the rumble of daily life as the bullets fly and the killers roam unimpeded. In January and February 2008, newspapers and voices on the streets all marveled at the horror of more than forty killings in a month—a number never before recorded in Ciudad Juárez. By May 10, the work becomes unbearable, and the tally of that moment records only a fourth of the slaughter the year would bring. Of course, all this happens before things get really bad in the city. By the end of 2008, the monthly totals reached beyond two hundred. By summer 2009, more than three hundred murders in a month became normal in Juárez.

JANUARY

El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, January 1, 2008

State agents know the nickname of the murderer. “El Popeye” shot César Seáñez to death in Colonia Chaveña Sunday night. The assassin, known by the nickname “El Popeye,” at this time has not been arrested by the Ministerial Police.

El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, January 3, 2008

EXECUTED MAN IDENTIFIED IN PASEO TRIUNFO

The man shot to death in his car on the Avenida Paseo Triunfo de la Republica was identified yesterday by his family. The victim, Ernesto Romero Adame, 33, bled to death from bullet wounds in his neck, face and thorax. One bullet perforated his aorta, causing rapid death, said the spokesman for the State Prosecutor’s Office, Mario Ruiz Nava. The homicide occurred on December 31, 2007 at 3:00 A.M. in the Avenida Paseo Triunfo de la Republica. . . . According to witnesses, the victim was pursued by an armed commando traveling in several late-model vehicles until they caught up with him in front of a hotel.

La Polaka, Ciudad Juárez, January 5, 2008

FIRST LITTLE DEATH OF THE DAY

A homeless man was found this morning with his head destroyed by a large rock next to a wall in the Colonia Hidalgo. The first murder this Saturday occurred at 9:00 in the morning. . . . The body was thrown into some abandoned ruins near the corner of Costa Rica and Tepeyac . . . causing alarm to the neighbors who said they were fed up with the crime in the zone and the lack of police protection.

El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, January 10, 2008

TUESDAY’S MURDER VICTIM WAS A JUNKMAN

The man executed by gunfire in front of a dozen workers at a construction site Tuesday afternoon in the ejido Salvárcar was identified yesterday by his family. The victim, Rodolfo Martinez Vazquez, 32, was apparently the owner of a junkyard.

La Polaka, Ciudad Juárez, January 12, 2008

JUST 16 THIS MONTH

This morning the mutilated body of another executed man was found along with two other gang members murdered during the night. The 16th homicide victim of the month was found this morning about 1:30 in a field near the intersection of Sabino Hinostrosa and Ejercito Nacional.

El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, January 14, 2008

18 INTENTIONAL HOMICIDES IN 13 DAYS; TWO KILLED YESTERDAY Two men were killed in separate incidents yesterday. The first victim died from several bullet wounds, presumably from a group of gangsters, and the other person was stabbed to death apparently during a robbery attempt. These crimes bring to 18 the total intentional homicides committed in Ciudad Juárez in the first 13 days of 2008.

El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, January 17, 2008

385 ARREST WARRANTS FOR HOMICIDE UNSERVED

More than 200 arrest orders remain pending under the old penal justice system, according to a report from the State Prosecutor’s Office. Of the total historic backlog of judicial orders issued in the last 14 years, 385 are for intentional homicide. In addition, from 1995 through December 31, 2007, 844 murder cases remain unresolved and continue to be investigated under the traditional justice system, according to official reports.

El Diario, Ciudad Ju