Due to a lack of sufficient weapons, the SSPM has ruled that only command-level officers may carry their service weapons 24 hours per day. The spokesman said that it is impossible for all officers to retain their weapons when off duty and this privilege will be accorded only those at high risk. This decision was made despite the fact that the last 4 police officers executed were low-level street cops and were not on the “narco-list” of “executables.”
“We are not allowed to keep our weapons, we have to turn them in when we go off duty so that there will be enough for the next shift. If you want to take it, you have to pay 200 pesos per week,” said an officer who asked for anonymity.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 25, 2008
PUERTO PALOMAS DE VILLA—The body of a man was found yesterday in a garbage dump. He had been shot 18 times with a type of bullet used exclusively by the army. A man collecting recyclables found the body of a man about 22 years old, wearing an imitation goose down vest, army boots and a military-style haircut.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 25, 2008
FAMILIES OF FALLEN POLICE LEFT WITHOUT PENSIONS
Families of executed municipal police officers will not receive a government pension unless the officers were killed on duty, said Julio Gomez Alfaro, coordinator of the Commission on Labor and Social Protection. “The pension and retirement policy doesn’t include executions. . . . ” However, he added that the lives of all police and firemen are insured and that the families of the fallen officers will receive this economic support. As of yesterday afternoon, 8 municipal policemen had been assassinated so far this year, as well as 2 state police, two CIPOL agents and one army soldier.
Mario Campolla, brother of murdered officer Oscar Campolla, said that their relatives’ bodies are sometimes robbed. “On top of the cowardly murders, they take your relatives’ things. They stole my brother’s watch, a ring and his salary. When they returned his wallet, all of the money he had in it was gone.”
“Wives and children of the police have been abandoned. There are mothers who no longer receive their husbands’ salaries because the men have disappeared. The corporation does nothing to search for the missing officers,” said one relative.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 25, 2008
CHIHUAHUA—“All of the public security agencies are infiltrated—all of them, pure and simple—and we are not going to put our hands in the fire for any bad element,” Governor José Reyes Baeza declared yesterday, concerning the narco-related assassinations and executions in Chihuahua in recent days. The governor explained that the state is facing an atypical situation over the last two months and he has confidence that in the next few weeks, Chihuahua will return to its prior condition of normalcy. Baeza Terrazas said that he had formally petitioned the federal government to send their elite forces to investigate, “and that they explain to us what is happening in Chihuahua.” For his part, local representative Miguel Jurado Contreras declared yesterday that the state is completely overrun by narco-trafficking.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 25, 2008
Daniel Antonio Hernández Enríquez was killed and another man was wounded yesterday when they were attacked by armed men as they walked along Yaqui Street. The dead man’s mother arrived at the scene and identified the body.
Other recent victims identified and/or cause of death:
• Saturnino Acosta Herrera, 51, shot in the chest
• Israel Macías Navarro, 37, shock induced by gunshot to the abdomen
• Jesús Macías Navarro, 41, gunshot to the face
• Joel Tim Ríos, 43, bullet wound to the chest
• Unidentified man, Colonia Hidalgo, asphyxia by strangulation
• José Uribe Beltrán, 19, bullet wound to the head
• Unidentified man, Colonia Granjas Unidas, bullet wound to the head
• Nicolás Olivares García, shock induced by bullet wound to the chest
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 25, 2008
Two men were shot to death in their pickup truck last night after being pursued by their killers, and two others were abandoned on the streets of the Colonia 16 de Septiembre. The two bodies were found about 3 blocks apart in the western area of the city, semi nude and showing signs of torture. The other two men were driving in a Chevrolet pickup in the Colonia Profesora Maria Martinez when an armed commando chased them down and shot them. Witnesses said that the dead men were known in the area by their nicknames “El Pelon” and El Tuercas” (Baldy and Nuts).
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 25, 2008
CHIHUAHUA—Two months after suspending public activities due to a viral illness that caused partial facial paralysis, Governor Reyes Baeza Terrazas announced his return to public life, including travel outside the state. He reported that he had been treated with acupuncture which accelerated his recovery of mobility in the right side of his face.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 25, 2008
More than 40 unidentified bodies have been buried in a common grave, said Rosa Padilla Hernandez, coordinator of the Forensic Medical Service. “We are working at maximum capacity with 103 employees working three shifts, but this has been one of the most violent months ever and we cannot keep up,” said forensics expert Hector Hawley. “When we arrive at a crime scene we can’t work too fast, but in this month, there have been cases when we have barely arrived and we get calls about another event. . . . ”
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 enforcement official across the border in El Paso cautioned that Juárez, much like Nuevo Laredo in the past, faces a prolonged drug war where the worst is yet to come, a war that’s gradually spilling over into the Texas side of the border. Another 40 people have been killed about 100 miles to the west of Ciudad Juárez, in and around the town of Palomas, just across the border from Columbus, N.M.
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 Mexico.
Dallas Morning News, March 29, 2008
DRUG CARTELS OPERATE TRAINING CAMPS NEAR TEXAS BORDER JUST INSIDE MEXICO
CAMARGO, Mexico—Mexican drug cartels have conducted military-style training camps in at least six such locations in northern Tamaulipas and Nuevo León states, some within a few miles of the Texas border, according to U.S. and Mexican authorities and the printed testimony of five protected witnesses who were trained in the camps.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 29, 2008
A patrol car from the Cuauhtemoc district was found abandoned in the Rincones de San Marcos neighborhood, just a few meters from the house on Plateros Street searched by the army yesterday. The officers assigned to the patrol car are missing.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 29, 2008
In two days, four cases of young children—aged 6, 11 and 13—raped by family members or teenaged acquaintances have been reported. In two of the cases, the accused rapists were 17 and 16 years old and were friends of the victims.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 30, 2008
Elements of the Mexican army detained 5 persons and confiscated more than a half ton of marijuana, 17 late-model vehicles, and two firearms in the Rincones de San Marcos and Colonia Ampliacion Aeropuerto after an anonymous tip. Those arrested are members of the criminal organization of Pedro Sanchez, operator for the Carrillo Fuentes cartel in the town of Villa Ahumada.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 30, 2008
A municipal policeman with 16 years of service joined another four agents who resigned on Friday after the inauguration of the Joint Operation Chihuahua. Forty-six agents have resigned for various reasons in the last month.
Las Cruces Sun-News, March 30, 2008
PALOMAS, Mexico—It’s nothing compared to the violence a month ago, says American expatriate Georgie Flores, who gave this strange tour Saturday. “There’s a cooling down, big time.” The afternoon of Feb. 27, Javier Perez Mendiola, 41, also known as “El Indio,” and Adrián Juárez Mendoza, 28, were shot to death at the Pemex gas station on Avenida 5 de Mayo, four blocks from the border. Just weeks earlier, Feb. 18, four men were shot in Palomas—two died. On March 18, Palomas’ chief of police fled to Columbus [N.Mex.] after his two deputies left the department. Two days later, two bodies wrapped in blankets were found, dumped along a road near Palomas. This week, four burned bodies were found at a ranch south of town. Flores said he saw the Pemex shooting—for three solid minutes, the street was full of automatic-weapons fire—and the bodies: “There were 3(00), 400 shots. This guy didn’t have no face no more.”
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 30, 2008
Despite the military presence, a man was shot to death yesterday outside of his recycling business in Loma Blanca in the Juárez Valley. The victim’s body, not identified by the authorities, was found thrown into a parking lot.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 30, 2008
A man an
d woman were found murdered yesterday in adjacent houses in the Colonia Zaragoza, apparently beaten to death. . . . With these crimes, the total assassinations during March rises to 107. There were 48 in January and 45 in February, and in addition the discovery of 45 bodies in hidden graves, according to journalistic records based on official statistics.
El Diario, Ciudad Juárez, March 31, 2008
Four more municipal policemen were detained by elements of the Mexican army, causing the police assigned to the Babicora district to refuse to go out on patrol for fear of being arrested by the military. For more than 3 hours, officers coming on duty abstained from going out on patrol and demanded to speak to their superiors to express their fears. An agent with 17 years of service who has been recognized for heroism said, “If there are bad elements, they should pursue them but those of us who are doing a good job and trying to do the best we can for the citizens, we do not deserve to be detained or charged with crimes. It is not fair to us or to our families that we fear being arrested or killed.”
The officers were especially concerned when they found out that the first four agents arrested by the army had been handcuffed, beaten and humiliated by military personnel.
Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy's New Killing Fields Page 30
