Murder City_ Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields - Charles Bowden [132]
Frontera Norte Sur, Las Cruces (N.Mex.), March 25, 2008
NO EASTER TRUCE IN 2008
Narco-violence in Mexico showed no let-up during the Easter holiday season. Press reports from just the three days between Holy Thursday, March 21, and Easter Sunday, March 23, registered at least 59 homicides connected to organized crime. By all accounts, Ciudad Juárez’s citizens are terrified by the seemingly endless string of killings. Shootings have occurred on main streets, in front of commercial malls and other businesses and in bars and motels. As many as 218 executions were reported in Ciudad Juárez and different regions of Chihuahua from January 1 to March 25 of this year.
ArrobaJuárez.com, Ciudad Juárez, March 26, 2008
Hooded men in a pickup killed a man today in the Infonavit Juárez Nuevo neighborhood. Neighbors identified the victim as Joaquín, nickname “El Vino,” 22. He was shot more than 15 times, and his mother was present at the scene. The killers shot at her from the inside of the truck as they drove away.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 26, 2008
The number of homicides committed in March has risen to 103. This number is more than January (48) and February (45) combined, a toll unheard of in the history of the city. The latest victim, Joaquín Fernando González Arjón, 23, was shot multiple times by hooded men in a van. His mother was at the scene and tried to help him but he died in her arms and she collapsed in an emotional crisis. The victim had recently served time in prison for robbery and he was said to be a member of the Mexicles and Sorgueros gangs.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 26, 2008
“Why was he killed?” Family members and Delta Group companions of Juan Manuel Ruiz Flores gathered at his funeral to ask why there has been no progress in the investigation. “We don’t know anything. He was a quiet person, he didn’t mess with anyone and he lived a simple life.”
El Paso Times, March 26, 2008
One of the men caught in El Paso trying to smuggle a .50-caliber semiautomatic rifle and other weapons into Mexico last week is the CEO of a religious charity, officials with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms confirmed Tuesday. Jonathan Lopez Gutierrez, 32, is the CEO of Emmanuel Ministries, a 40-year-old shelter for about 100 children in Juárez. Many Americans traveled to volunteer at Emmanuel Ministries, according to testimonies on the Web site.
Lopez, a Mexican citizen, was arrested March 19 on the Stanton Street bridge driving a white van. Inside the van were six .223-caliber rifles and the .50-caliber semiautomatic weapon hidden under a load of roofing shingles, according to court documents. The van had been rented through Emmanuel Ministries, said ATF spokesman Tom Crowley in Dallas.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 26, 2008
A group of 59 men accused of beating their wives and partners will not go to jail, but will have the option of undergoing psychological therapy as part of a reform of the justice system.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 27, 2008
Elements of the Federal Preventive Police, CIPOL, Municipal Police and U.S. Border Patrol agents were deployed in a joint operation along the banks of the Rio Bravo from the Juárez Valley to Anapra with the objective of stopping illicit activities along the border including traffic of illegal immigrants, weapons and drugs. These actions were supplemented by Mexican army checkpoints in different areas of the city.
Dallas Morning News, March 27, 2008
CIUDAD JUÁREZ—Mexican President Felipe Calderón dispatched an estimated 2,000 soldiers and hundreds of federal police to Ciudad Juárez and outlying areas Thursday in response to the continued rise in violence here that has claimed the lives of nearly 200 people in the last three months. The crackdown comes as a senior U.S. law