Read Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields Online
Authors: Charles Bowden
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
April 9, 2008
More than 50 percent of adolescents in Ciudad Juárez between 15 and 17 years of age do not attend preparatory school either because they were rejected by state-funded schools because there was no room for them, or because they needed to work to help support their families. Student Jacqueline Holguin said that for students who finish their education with secondary school, their only future is to become maquiladora workers.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
April 9, 2008
The Honor and Justice Commission will review today the desertion and dismissal of 19 officers of the municipal police who have not shown up for work in recent days and have not turned in their voluntary resignations. The firing of these officers includes some elements considered “dark cases.” “The recent turnover is very high and it is part of the filtering process that will continue until the purification of the police is complete.”
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
April 9, 2008
Dozens of soldiers interrupted the service at the municipal cemetery in Villa Ahumada, where Gerardo Gallegos, 19, killed in Sunday’s shoot-out in Parral, was going to be buried. Military vehicles interrupted the funeral procession and blocked entrances to the cemetery as two helicopters flew over the area. The order came from one of the helicopters to hit the ground, causing panic to break out. Soldiers forced about 200 people to the ground, including women and children, and detained an undetermined number of men. The municipal police on duty at the time did not want to make any comment about what had happened, for fear of reprisals, and the mayor of Villa Ahumada could not be found. Unofficially, it was determined that a military commando was looking for several members of a criminal organization. Residents, who asked not to be identified for fear of the military, said that the soldiers began to search the vehicles with no respect for the mourners and also opened the casket and searched it. Witnesses said that once the military forces had secured the area, they freed the children, who stayed outside the cemetery crying for their parents. The body of Gallegos was finally buried at about 7:30 in the evening. His mother’s neighbors were worried about her safety as soldiers had entered and searched her house; it was left empty, with the lights on, doors open and contents in disarray.
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 by a war between criminal organizations struggling for control of the lucrative narcotics trade continues along the U.S.-Mexico border,” the alert reads. “Attacks are aimed primarily at members of drug trafficking organizations, Mexican police forces, criminal justice officials, and journalists. However, foreign visitors and residents, including Americans, have been among the victims of homicides and kidnappings in the border region.”
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
April 15, 2008
A payroll ledger found in the search of a Juárez cartel leader that confirmed municipal police collected $8,000 per month has spurred a federal investigation. The ledger used code names for those who received payment from the Vicente Carrillo Fuentes organization. Municipal police spokesman Jaime Torres said that
“We know that there are good and bad elements in every group and the police are no exception. We are in the process of detecting these bad elements. . . . ”
New York Times,
April 16, 2008
DRUG WAR CAUSES WILD WEST BLOOD BATH, KILLING 210 IN A MEXICAN BORDER TOWN
CIUDAD JUÁREZ, Mexico—One sign of the desperation to end organized crime in this border town is that the good guy on the police recruitment posters is not a clean-cut youth in a smart police cap, but a menacing soldier in a black mask and helmet carrying a heavy machine gun. “The mortuary is full of more than 50 unclaimed and unidentified bodies, proof that the soldiers in the underworld war come from other states,” the mayor said.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
April 16, 2008
Juárez residents’ greatest fear is to get caught in the crossfire during a gun battle in the streets, according to a recent poll. Two out of three residents say that it is “very easy” to get a marijuana cigarette, a dose of cocaine or ecstasy.
La Jornada, Mexico City,
April 17, 2008
NUEVO LAREDO, Tamaulipas—Offering salaries in dollars, life insurance, houses and late-model cars, the Gulf Cartel is recruiting ex-soldiers, according to an announcement posted Thursday on the streets of Tampico. “Stop your suffering, ex-soldiers, federal police . . . join the ranks of the Gulf Cartel . . . here we pay in dollars, we offer benefits, life insurance, a house for your family in a good neighborhood, and pick your own new car or truck every year . . . What more could you ask for? Tamaulipas, Mexico and the United States—all Gulf Cartel territory!”
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
April 18, 2008
Víctor Jesús Jiménez Soto, Benjamín Verdugo Villalobos and Alfonso Leyva Carrasco showed the marks of torture and violence on their bodies and said that the drugs and guns were planted by the Mexican army.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
April 18, 2008
The State Attorney General reported 21 homicides in the city during the first 18 days of April. Official statistics indicate 231 murders so far in 2008; 12 are women. In January there were 48 murders, 45 in February, and 117 in March.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
April 19, 2008
POLICEMAN AND 8-YEAR-OLD SON SHOT AND KILLED
Four people were shot and killed last night in separate organized-crime-style incidents. Municipal police captain Alejandro Martínez Casas and his 8-year-old son died at the medical center where they were taken after the attack. Martínez Casas’s name had appeared in the list of targeted officers on the Police Monument on January 26. The attack occurred at about 9:15 P.M. while Martínez drove his late-model, double cabin Nissan Titan pickup with Mexican plates, number DS57696, registered in the State of Chihuahua. A group of masked, armed men opened fire with AK-47s. Numerous bullet holes could be seen in the front and on the passenger side of the pickup. The child, whose name was not released, received various bullet wounds and witnesses reported that one of his arms was nearly destroyed.
The other double homicide occurred when the still unidentified occupants of a 2002 Honda were shot after being chased by four men in two other vehicles. Another man was shot and wounded on the sidewalk in Colonia Galeana. As neighbors gave first aid, 6 men got out of a black pickup and threw the wounded man in the truck. The victim was not identified as the armed commando unit took him away.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
April 19, 2008
Four presumed Federal Police officers were arrested yesterday for public drunkenness, causing a scandal, molesting a woman and assaulting Preventive Police agents.
Frontera Norte Sur, Las Cruces (N.Mex.),
April 19, 2008
MEXICAN JOURNALISTS STILL UNDER SIEGE IN 2008
Two young radio announcers from the southern state of Oaxaca are the latest journalists to suffer violent deaths. Felicitas Martínez, 22, and Teresa Bautista, 24, were shot to death in an ambush April 7 while on their way to cover a state meeting of indigenous peoples. Four others were wounded in the attack, including two children aged 2 and 3. As of April 19, no suspects had been arrested for the crimes. Martínez and Bautista allegedly suffered threats before their murders. “Some people think we are very young to know, but they should know we are very young to die,” Martínez and Bautista reportedly said on the air shortly before their deaths.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
April 19, 2008
The death of young Alejandro Martínez Cruz, son of the municipal police officer executed Friday night, has caused pain and shock. Neighbors commented that although they barely knew the family, they regretted both deaths, especially that of the 8-year-old boy. “We don’t know if the father was bad or if he deserved to die that way or not, but there was no reason to kill the boy, he was an innocent victim. He hardly ever went out to play but when he did he ran around a lot, like all kids, he was a healthy boy and good at sports.”
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez,
April 19, 2008
More than 250 bullets were fired at the municipal police captain and his son who died in the hospital minutes after the attack in the Colonia Margaritas. The victims were identified as Alejandro Martínez Casas, 32, and his son, Alejandro Martínez Cruz, 8. The officer’s wife and mother of the child drove the wounded to the hospital in a private vehicle. State authorities reported that the officer received multiple bullet wounds on his left side, thorax, abdomen and legs. The boy was hit in the head and chest. At least 6 Mexican army tanks and dozens of soldiers disturbed the crime scene, kicking around the spent cartridges in the area.
Rockford (Ill.) Register Star,
April 19, 2008