Murder City_ Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields - Charles Bowden [118]
Fearing retaliation, family members of some detainees demonstrated at the military installations, demanding that the authorities provide information on the whereabouts of their relatives. They were denied entrance and no representative of the military spoke with them. They then went to the offices of the Federal Attorney General asking where their relatives had been taken, but they were informed that they were not there.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, February 26, 2008
Federal officials reported that five bodies, two heads and three thoraxes were found buried in four clandestine graves in the patio of a house-warehouse in the Cuernavaca neighborhood at 1847 Cocoyoc Street. The house has been sealed off since January 25 when authorities confiscated 1.8 tons of marijuana.
Las Cruces Sun-News, February 27, 2008
Javier Perez Mendiola, alias “El Indio,” 41, and Adrian Juárez Juárez, 25, were putting gas in their Dodge Ram pickup at a station just a few steps from the border in the town of Palomas when assailants wearing ski masks pulled up in two cars and opened fire on them. Investigators had made no arrests and were trying to determine a motive for the killings.
Houston Chronicle and El Paso Times, February 27, 2008
Agents Seize $1.9 Million Hidden in SUV on Border; Mexican National Jailed in El Paso in One of the City’s Largest Cash Seizures Ever
Saul Sanchez, 42, a Mexican national living legally in Kansas City, Kansas, was arrested by ICE agents on charges of currency smuggling. Agents at the Bridge of the Americas used a density meter to inspect the doors of the 1992 Ford Expedition and found $1,858,085 in cash.
International Herald Tribune, Associated Press, February 27, 2008
MEXICAN POLICE FIND PARTS FROM AT LEAST 8 BODIES IN PITS NEAR BORDER IN CIUDAD JUÁREZ
A statement from the prosecutor’s office said authorities found five complete bodies, three limbless trunks and two heads in four pits.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, February 27, 2008
Bodies found in a clandestine grave now total nine, according to federal police authorities. A report stated that digging will continue and that it is not possible to say exactly how many human remains might be discovered.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, February 28, 2008
An agent of the mounted police, José Guadalupe Cruz Cisneros, known to his neighbors as “El Tyson,” was executed just a few meters from police headquarters. He died instantly in a hail of AK-47 gunfire. His wife and 12-year-old son and other close family members arrived at the scene. Cruz Cisneros left work at 7:00 P.M. and drove toward home in his 1989 Datsun pickup. He was chased by several armed men in two vehicles; one closed him in as the occupants of both vehicles opened fire. Cruz Cisneros died inside his truck from bullet wounds in his abdomen, thorax and face.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, February 28, 2008
FAMILY MEMBERS OF DISAPPEARED PERSONS SEARCH
“NAR COFOSA”
After several bodies were found in a clandestine grave in the Cuernavaca neighborhood, family members of disappeared persons demanded information from the state and federal prosecutors’ offices. Since last Monday, relatives of three missing persons voluntarily gave DNA samples in order to determine if any of the bodies found recently might be their loved ones.
El Paso Times, February 28, 2008
Jaime Hervella, founder of the Association of Relatives and Friends of Disappeared Persons, said an anonymous telephone tip led Mexican police to the house at 1847 Cocoyoc Street. “I received a phone call from an informer that at such and such a warehouse where they recently picked up marijuana, you will find some of the individuals on your list.” Hervella’s group maintains a list of about 200 men who disappeared in Juárez since the early 1990s and are believed to be victims of drug traffickers.
El Paso Times, February 29, 2008
FEDERAL CASE UNVEILS INNER WORKINGS