Murder City_ Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields - Charles Bowden [125]
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 16, 2008
The State Investigative Agency reported that three men were killed Saturday night. A double homicide took place in the Colonia Alvaro Obregon at about 10:35 P.M. The unidentified bodies showed no external signs of violence. One had a tattoo on his left arm of a mouse wearing a hat. The second had four tattoos: the word “Juareño,” on the shoulder, an eagle devouring a snake on the back, “Hecho en Mexico” on the upper left arm, and “Xicotencatl” on the chest, indicating membership in the “Mexicles” gang.
At 11:58, in the Colonia Pancho Villa, Pedro Pablo García Colorado, 18, was murdered in a gang fight between “Los Chicos Trece” and the “Veteranos.”
Agencia Reforma, Mexico City, March 16, 2008
The number of executions related to organized crime thus far in the administration of President Felipe Calderón has risen to 3,008. During 2008, the number of killings has risen by 30%. . . . Security expert Ernesto Mendieta says that the violence will continue because current government strategies do not attack the roots of the problem, nor are the killers arrested. “There is not a single intelligence investigation that will stop the groups doing the killing. If you want to kill someone, you kill them.”
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 16, 2008
The Federal Attorney General’s Office announced today that three more bodies were exhumed from the property on Sierra Pedregal Street in Colonia La Cuesta, bringing the total to 36. The bodies were buried in 16 graves and the victims were murdered and buried by members of the Carrillo Fuentes cartel.
Present at the scene were the anthropologist who directed the recovery of the bodies and her 5 collaborators, 15 federal agents and “Rocco,” a 2-year-old Belgian Malinois who participated in the work. The anthropologist, who asked that her name be withheld, demonstrated the recovery process for the reporters.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 17, 2008
Four people were assassinated and their bodies found this morning discarded around the city. A male, approximately 35, brown skin, thin beard and mustache was found in the Emiliano Zapata neighborhood, the word “Juárez” was tattooed across his stomach. A little later, three murdered men were found in the Colonia Papalote with multiple signs of beatings in different parts of their bodies.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 17, 2008
This morning three bodies were found in Colonia Papalote. Two of the unidentified victims are men, while the third is a woman. The bodies were found semi nude with visible signs of violence. According to neighbors, the victims were not from that area.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 17, 2008
This afternoon at about 2:00 a jeep was riddled with bullets by an armed commando in front of a mall at the intersection of Zaragoza Boulevard and Emiliano Zapata Avenue. One body was left inside the jeep and the occupant was taken by the attackers.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 17, 2008
Nine murders were reported in less than 12 hours in the city. Four bodies were discarded around the city, two were killed in gang fights, one was killed at a nightclub and two others were machine-gunned in public. These killings bring the total so far in March to 58, the highest monthly tally in the history of the city. Also, this month federal authorities recovered 45 bodies buried on the grounds of two houses in the city.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 17, 2008
Two men were assassinated yesterday at noon in the Colonia Galeana. One man tried to escape by boarding a city bus, causing panic among the passengers. He died from his wounds a few minutes later in a rear seat on the bus. Witnesses