Murder City_ Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields - Charles Bowden [133]
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 27, 2008
At the Security Summit celebrated at the Hotel Camino Real, “Joint Operation Chihuahua” was launched with the participation of the Secretary of National Defense and the Federal Police. The meeting was attended by Government Operations Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino, Defense Secretary General Guillermo Galván, Chihuahua Governor José Reyes Baeza, and Juárez Mayor José Reyes Ferriz. The preventive forces will include 2,026 army troops, 900 Federal Police and 300 state police.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 27, 2008
Polygraph tests will be a new tool for detecting bad elements in the police forces. Saúl Hernández, head of the Chihuahua Department of Preventive Operations (CIPOL), said that these kinds of controls are reliable and necessary so that the population can be sure that the police officers are honest.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 27, 2008
Yesterday the federal prosecutor released six police who had been detained for 36 hours by elements of the Mexican army after discrediting the charge that they carried illegal weapons. Military sources had also alleged that the municipal police officers were following an army convoy and radioing their movements to a group of narco-traffickers. Mayor José Reyes Ferriz said yesterday that he did not have enough information about the case. “As the governor has said, we know that all of the police forces have been infiltrated by bad elements and our job is to identify these persons and get them out of the municipal police,” said the mayor in a press conference.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 28, 2008
“Joint Operation Chihuahua” is the fourth battle plan against organized crime to be implemented by the government of President Felipe Calderón. Other operations have been launched in Michoacan, Tijuana, Guerrero and Nuevo León-Tamaulipas.
Las Cruces Sun-News, March 28, 2008
COLUMBUS [N.Mex.]—Palomas will receive 100 soldiers from the Mexican army as part of an indefinite operation to combat border violence. . . . Columbus Mayor Eddie Espinoza said he was cautiously optimistic about the news of the troop deployment. “I’ve got to see it to believe it,” said Espinoza, after being notified of the deployment Thursday. “That’s great. I think it’s about time they stepped up.”
Rick Moody, agent-in-charge of the Deming Border Patrol Station, said in recent weeks it’s become common for agents to hear gunshots at night. In the past week, he said he was aware of at least nine violent incidents, including shootings and kidnappings, against targeted individuals. “These are special soldiers that have been deployed. Juárez also received a deployment. They’re generally only deployed in situations like this, where the violence gets out of hand,” Moody said. “There are two major criminal organizations attempting to control these corridors, these gateways into the U.S., and they use terrorist tactics and extreme forms of violence.”
El Paso Times, March 28, 2008
JUÁREZ—A deployment of more than 2,000 soldiers is arriving in Juárez to take the city back from feuding drug traffickers—blamed for intensely violent murders that are causing concern on the U.S. side of the border. . . . The deployment is expected to spark more violence, but officials said they were prepared to meet any threat or attack. Officials did not say what kinds of weapons the soldiers would carry.
El Paso Times, March 29, 2008
JUÁREZ—While hundreds of Mexican soldiers armed with automatic rifles arrived in C-130 Hercules aircraft Friday to overpower warring drug gangs, the U.S. State Department reiterated its earlier advice that travelers should be careful when visiting