Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields (41 page)

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 reported that a group of armed men attacked the two men, wounding them with multiple gunshots in the back. Neither man was identified.

Frontera Norte Sur, Las Cruces (N.Mex.),
March 18, 2008

The unearthing of at least 48 murder victims from three properties in Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua City during recent weeks grimly refocused attention on the persistence of torture and forced disappearance in Mexico. Since many—if not most—of the victims were presumably associated with illegal drug trafficking and other criminal activities, the popular wisdom is that common citizens who keep their noses out of trouble shouldn’t be overly concerned by the discovery of mass horrors like the latest narco-graves.

Condemned by all human rights organizations, forced disappearance constitutes the silent side of Mexico’s narco war. Much more visible, of course, are the inner city shoot-outs, streetside body dumpings and public executions that have jarred entire regions of the country. In Ciudad Juárez, for example, 9 people were reported slain gangland style on Monday, March 17, including one man who was shot to death inside the popular Willy’s dance club in the city’s Pronaf district.

Deming (N.Mex.) Headlight,
March 19, 2008

COLUMBUS MAYOR EDDIE ESPINOZA WATCHES FROM CHAIR AS DENTIST IS ROBBED AT GUNPOINT

“I went down there to get some dental work done,” Espinoza said. “I was in the chair, the dentist was doing a root canal. A couple of guys came in and robbed the dentist (Felipe Salazar).” That was at about 9:30 A.M., Sunday.

“They’re getting brazen down there,” said Espinoza, whose dental work was not finished, for obvious reasons. “I didn’t have no fear about going to Palomas before. Now, I do.”

El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
March 19, 2008

Juan Manuel Castro Ávila, 35, director of the transit police in Guadalupe, Bravos district, was wounded in an AK-47 attack at the entrance to his office in the Guadalupe Town Hall. The uniformed officer was shot by an armed commando from the inside of a vehicle as he arrived for his evening work shift at about 7:00 P.M. The armed attack caused terror among the residents of Guadalupe who at this hour were getting off work and walking around the central plaza. Castro Ávila was reported in serious but stable condition after being taken to the hospital in Juárez.

El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
March 20, 2008

A 30-year-old woman, identified by neighbors as Carolina, was killed by two gunshots when she opened the door to her house last night in the Hacienda de las Torres neighborhood. She was a housewife and mother of three small children, who were present when she was shot. Police report that a man knocked and then shot the woman at point-blank range when she opened the door. After hearing the shots, neighbors arrived to find the victim dead in the entrance to the house with two children crying beside her body. Minutes later, her husband returned from work to the tragic scene.

Also, last night police found an abandoned late-model Mercedes C-230 with broken front and rear windshields. Witnesses said that a woman and her daughter had been taken from the car after trying to escape from a violent situation in their home. Her husband pursued them in another vehicle, broke into the car and took them away to an unknown location.

El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
March 20, 2008

ASCENSIÓN—Three people have disappeared from this rural community in the last few hours, abducted by a group of heavily armed men. The identity of the missing is unknown. Another man is reported missing in the small town of Puerto Palomas.

El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
March 21, 2008

Two men were found dead last night in different areas of the city. Unofficial sources reveal that one of the dead men is a former agent of the Transit Police who resigned about a year ago. The body was found wrapped in a plaid blanket with a plastic bag over the head. Another man was found about 9:30 in the Colonia Cuauhtemoc. Neighbors reported seeing the body thrown from a car and that the man lived for several minutes. He had been severely beaten and his face completely disfigured.

El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
March 21, 2008

State Attorney General Patricia Gonzalez Rodriguez is avoiding public events. She was at her offices in Ciudad Juárez yesterday under heavy guard, but refused to be interviewed. Unofficial sources said that Gonzalez Rodriguez met with business leaders who expressed their concern about the wave of executions and abductions in the city. On several occasions, the official has received funeral wreaths and some of her aides have been murdered or injured in organized crime shootings.

El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
March 21, 2008

PUERTO PALOMAS DE VILLA—The recent execution of two persons and the abduction of six others in this border community has provoked the resignation of the entire preventive police force of the village. At 6:00 P.M. Wednesday, the police found out that armed groups had abducted several people, and an hour later, Police Commander Emilio Pérez and six of his subordinates received death threats. They abandoned their posts, and their whereabouts are unknown. Yesterday, only two officers were present at the jail. “We can’t do anything, we are alone here,” said one of the officers, who did not give his name. He said that yesterday two bodies wrapped in blankets and tied with adhesive tape were found in separate locations on the outskirts of the town. Afterward the bodies were identified as Sergio Pérez, 55, and Rigoberto Muñoz Acosta, 21.

As of yesterday afternoon, Palomas was left with no preventive police. State authorities asked that soldiers from the army post south of Palomas patrol the urban area.

El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
March 21, 2008

Three men were shot by two armed men inside a nightclub after being involved in a fight. The incident took place at 4:30 in the morning in the La Mentira bar in the Colonia La Cuesta. The victims were identified as Arnulfo Loma, 24, who was found on the street outside the bar; Saúl Bernal and Ignacio Bermúdez, whose bodies remained inside. The killers were said to be well-known clients at the bar who escaped without being detained.

El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
March 21, 2008

Transit policeman Jorge Osorio was shot in the back this morning as he patrolled in the area of Vicente Guerrero Avenue and Paseo Triunfo de la Republica.

Las Cruces Sun-News,
March 21, 2008

The embattled city of Palomas, Mexico, is now literally lawless. The Luna County Sheriff’s Office and U.S. Border Patrol reported Thursday that the Palomas Chief of Police came to the Columbus Port of Entry late Tuesday night, requesting political asylum. The chief, identified as Emilio Pérez, reportedly told Immigration and Customs Enforcement his department’s only two officers had fled and he had no idea where they are.

Dallas Morning News,
March 21, 2008

CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico—The killers arrived at the motel in the predawn

gloom. Dressed in military-style uniforms and armed with automatic weapons, they forced the manager to hand over a guest list, then stormed from room to room, pointing their guns at the terrified occupants. In room 49 they opened fire on the man and woman inside. The woman’s body was on the floor next to the bed, and the man was in the bathroom. At least 100 bullet casings were found, police said. The killers escaped in three late-model SUVs.

El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
March 21, 2008

At 7:10 P.M., another transit policeman was attacked and seriously injured after being shot by an armed commando. Minutes later, his motorcycle exploded and crashed. He was transferred to a hospital and dozens of policemen arrived to guard the medical institution.

El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
March 22, 2008

Despite intensive security operations this week by state and municipal authorities, 11 murders took place in a recent 12-hour period. The toll for March now stands at 77, an unprecedented number of homicides in one month in the history of the city. The recent rash of killings began Thursday night at about 7:00, when the body of a man was found adjacent to the Colinas de Juárez cemetery. At 9:30, another body was found on the sidewalk in the Colonia Cuauhtemoc. At about midnight, an individual was killed in the Colonia Municipio Libre when a group of men confronted him [and] shot him in the head. At 1:00 in the morning, another man was found wrapped in a blanket in the Colonia Lucio Blanco. At 4:30, 3 men were shot in the La Mentira bar. Then at about 5:30, a couple was killed in a room at the Motel Rio by a group of armed commandos who broke into every room until they found their targets. At about 8:00 two more people were found assassinated in a house in the Colonia Monterrey. In addition a transit policeman was shot inside his patrol car [and] managed to drive himself to the hospital, where he is reported in serious but stable condition.

El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
March 22, 2008

This morning the body of an unidentified man was found on the sidewalk a few meters from the Delicias police station.

Las Cruces Sun-News,
March 22, 2008

TENSION HIGH IN BORDER VILLAGES OF COLUMBUS AND PALOMAS

COLUMBUS [N.Mex.]—Residents on both sides of the border are nervous after a month of border shootings, disappearances and at least two confirmed murders allegedly sparked by drug-traffickers’ turf wars in the Mexican town of Palomas. On Thursday, after reporting his two police officers had disappeared, Palomas Chief of Police Emilio Pérez fled to Columbus requesting political asylum. . . . On the same day the police chief fled, the bodies of two people were found wrapped in blankets and dumped along a road near Palomas. Several other people were seen taken hostage over the past few days by heavily armed men.

Norte de Ciudad Juárez,
March 23, 2008

TEARFUL RELATIVES CONFIRM IDENTITY OF VICTIM KILLED IN THE MOTEL RIO

Who Was She? América Dayanara Maldonado Íñiguez, 27

The State Attorney General’s Office reported that América Dayanara Maldonado Íñiguez, 27, was identified by family members as the woman killed last Friday in the Motel Rio. At about 10:30 this morning, family and friends arrived at the morgue to officially identify América. At least 10 people accompanied a tearful young woman and helped to shield her from the press. The body had been found in room 49 of the Motel Rio on March 21 at 6:00 in the morning along with another body identified as Luis Martín Sánchez Loya, 35. Both died from multiple gunshot wounds to the neck and face. More than 90 bullets were recovered at the crime scene.

El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
March 23, 2008

Five men were shot to death yesterday and others were injured in three separate incidents. At a little after 9:00 P.M., the owner of the El Eje bar in the Colonia Constitución, his brother and an employee were killed; none have been identified but residents nearby said the proprietor was known as “Chuy.” They said that Chuy “had already been sentenced” since last Thursday when his pickup was burned outside the bar. “It’s a pity because you get to appreciate your neighbors, but who knows what they were up to, even though it doesn’t justify murder, but that’s how these things are done,” said another businessman.

In another incident, a man of about 50 was shot to death from a moving car as he walked along the street about 5:00 P.M. in the Colonia Melchior Ocampo. Others in the area hit the floor inside their houses to avoid being hit by stray bullets. The man who was dressed in cowboy-style clothes was left lying on the sidewalk with at least three bullet wounds visible. No one saw the killers’ vehicle. Later, at about 5:20, Saturnino Acosta, 45, owner of a small store in the Oasis Revolución neighborhood was shot and killed at point-blank range. An employee, Facundo Bautista Hernández, was also injured in the attack.

El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
March 23, 2008

Four men were burned to death beyond recognition at the “Los Lamentos” ranch about 50 kilometers from Palomas. The fire and the deaths were reported to the state police at about 6:00 P.M. Friday by the owner of the ranch. The bodies were transferred to the Forensic Medical Service and the case is being investigated. Last Wednesday, armed groups abducted several people in the border community and public servants received death threats.