Murder City_ Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields - Charles Bowden [139]
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, April 10, 2008
Governor José Reyes Baeza said yesterday that the city is paying the price today with public insecurity for having welcomed with open arms thousands of migrants from other parts of the country to Juárez. “Thousands of Mexicans have found alternatives here on the border, but after all this time, we see the effects of this generosity, mainly the problem of insecurity.
“Today in Chihuahua, we have the presence of the Mexican army, an institution that we all believe in and trust. . . . The only thing I know about the narco-traffickers campaign to smear the army is what the army has said, but we have to believe it is the truth and we have to prevent these criminal groups from soiling the reputation of an institution like the Mexican army by committing criminal acts while dressed like soldiers in order to discredit Joint Operation Chihuahua.”
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, April 10, 2008
Of the 96 cases with 117 victims of homicide that occurred in March, more than 60% are related to violence between gangs and the sale of drugs on the retail market, according to the State Attorney General. The March murders set a new record for Juárez. Never before in this border region have there been more than 100 murders recorded in only one month. “Something very extraordinary has happened here, it is historical that there have been more than 100 victims, but we now have to carry out the role assigned to us: to fight impunity,” said the State Attorney General, Patricia Gonzalez Rodriguez. In the first trimester of 2008, there were on average 2 murders per day.
ArrobaJuárez.com, Ciudad Juárez, April 10, 2008
More than 80 civil society organizations across Mexico protested today against persecution, torture and impunity in Juárez. In a declaration entitled “Respect for Human Dignity,” addressed to the President of the Republic and to the Commander in Chief of the armed forces and other government leaders, dozens of individuals joined with organizations to protest the murder of campesino leader Armando Villareal Martha and the subsequent arrests of activists Carlos Chávez and Cipriana Jurado, and the federal arrests warrants issued against leaders of social organizations who participated in different protest events.
El Paso Times, April 10, 2008
JUÁREZ—Two men were found shot to death Wednesday evening next to a pickup with Texas plates at a ranch about nine miles from the village of Guadalupe Distrito Bravos across the border from Tornillo [Texas]. The men were identified as Javier Trejo, who was found on the ground, and Alejandro Peña Trejo, who was in the bed of the older-model Chevrolet truck at the Trejo’s ranch.
In Juárez, a man was fatally shot while sitting at home, and pieces of a skull and other human remains were found in the desert near kilometer 28 of the Panamerican Highway.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, April 12, 2008
In a ceremony yesterday at the headquarters of the 20th Motorized Calvary, the Secretary of National Defense and the Federal Attorney General yesterday incinerated 8.4 tons of marijuana and 4.4 kilograms of cocaine confiscated in recent raids by Joint Operation Chihuahua. Two elementary school students set fire to the drugs using an electronic device.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, April 12, 2008
95.5% of Juárez residents believe that the majority of the police are involved in organized crime, according to a poll contracted by El Diario. In addition, 8 out of 10 polled think that the police arrested recently by the army were involved in suspicious activities and not framed by the army.
Excelsior, Special to El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, April 14, 2008
In 10 days, narco-traffickers paid more than $336,000 to operate and obtain protection in Juárez, according to a payroll ledger found in a house belonging to a cartel leader.
El Paso Times, April 14, 2008
The State Department updated its travel alert for Mexico to warn U.S. tourists of ongoing border violence, including the current drug war in Juárez. “Violent criminal activity fueled