Ciudad Juarez is a site of much poverty and violence. People there don't come out of their homes at night due to the fear of kidnappings and homicides. Since 2008 there have been roughly 7,275 murders in the city. There were 3,075 just in 2010 alone. Even the rehabs aren't safe they have become targets.2 years ago 18 patients at a clinic called El Aliviane were massacred. They were lined up in a corridor and gunned down. No one was ever arrested for it. The police force is plagued with corruption and many of the ones who aren't corrupt have been assassinated. In 2008 an officer was found hanging from a fence near a school with a pig's mask on his face. Another has been found hanging from a bridge on one of the city's busier streets beheaded.
The numbers for 2008-2010 were bad but just between feb 17-19 of this year 53 people were murdered. Right now the city averages 8 murders a day and the morgues have become overwhelmed and are having trouble storing bodies.
So what do the people do to escape this? They run to the United States to get away from it. The problem is that it's also in the United States across the border. A great number of people in that region of the US blame them for bringing the violence over the border. They don't see the violence there and are angry Immigration Reform has been a huge problem in the US now for years mainly because of taxes. If you arrest the illegals and put them in prison then the public pays for them. If you send them back to Mexico they just come back. If they stay the public is mad because they don't pay taxes. The wide belief is why should they get a free ride for being criminals. In some instances the way the laws are in the US now undocumented immigrants technically have more rights than American citizens. Frankly if these citizens knew what was going on in Juarez some would be more understanding but honestly some wouldn't. It may be right or it may be wrong but this is what the American public believes to be true. We all hear it everyday don't pretend that you don't. The Mexican government could do a great deal but they don't do anything which infuriates people more. It is my belief that President Calderon is doing an terrible job. He got on the ball too late and didn't do anything about the corruption in police departments now federal officers have to patrol the cities there. The arrogance of this man came to a head recently over a shooting around San Diego. Basically three men crawled through a sewage drain and jumped the border fence to get into San Diego,CA. Border Patrol agents intercepted them and went to make the arrest. A couple of the guys started throwing chunks of concrete at the agents which we all know can kill or cause brain damage. To defend himself one of the agents shot the guy in the head and killed him knocking him off the fence and back into Mexico. President Calderon apparently confronted Secretary of State Clinton at a meeting in Guatemala about the incident protesting and demanding the Border Patrol agent be punished. Are you kidding me? We now know why this exodus is taking place and understand it. We feel for these people and our hearts go out to them. However, this man is a moron. He loses control of his country to cartels and isn't taking care of business. Does he think we are gonna think it's ok to try to kill an US Federal Officer and that we don't have a right to defend ourselves? By the American standard these guys were criminals. They were criminals trying to murder a border patrol officer to stay in the country. After hearing this from this poor excuse for a leader it is only going too make Americans angrier and put more Mexican lives in danger crossing that border. His lack of understanding of the issue and his handling of this situation is appalling. The best thing Mexico could do in my opinion is to get rid of this guy. So as you can now see both sides you see what a mess we have. So is there anything positive at all going on? In little spurts yes. Let's head back to Juarez and see what's going on.
The Capture of El Diego
Yesterday which was Aug. 2, 2011 Mexican authorities arrested the head of the La Linea Gang which served as the enforcement arm of the Juarez Cartel. They were made up mainly of traffickers and corrupt police officers. His name is Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez. He also went by the name El Diego. He ordered over 1500 killings, and yes he also is a former police officer. He was also wanted in the US for his part in the killing three officials connected to the US Consulate. The United States had offered 1.2 million dollars for his capture. His minions had also set up a car bomb in Juarez which killed 2 soldiers, a police officer, and a medic on July 16,2010 using an industrial explosive known as tovax. Back in September another car bomb plot was foiled that is believed to have been meant for officials. Police received a call late at night to an industrial park by some guy on the phone saying someone had been executed. A body was in fact found in a second car nearby. It's believed that this was a luring tactic to draw police there so the bomb would blow them up. Police caught on to it and disarmed the threat with a controlled explosion. The same type of gel called tovax was used in making the bomb
The Consulate Murders
Though believed to have been ordered by El Diego the consulate murders were actually carried out by the Barrio Azteca gang in Juarez. On March 13 gunmen attacked two similar cars leaving a child's birthday party in Juarez. They killed consulate employee Lesley Enriquez and her husband. Their infant child in the backseat was unharmed. Her husband was Arthur Redelfs who worked at the El Paso County Jail in Texas. Jorge Salcido was killed minutes before in a similar attack. He had two children in the back that were wounded. Though these murders took place in Mexico this gang was actually founded in the United States within the US prison system by street gang members from El Paso,TX. They have members from all over Texas and the southwest US as well as deep into Mexico. On March 18th US Federal,state, and local police raided homes in El Paso of suspected members and arrested dozens of men on outstanding warrants. My question is if they knew where they were why not sooner? Oh well I guess that's another article. Within the last couple days the senior member of this gang has been arrested by Mexican authorities and identified by the FBI. I'd like to say these two high profile arrests are a big blow but they aren't. Someone else will just step in and this will continue. My hope is that Americans reading this will better understand what these people are running from when they try to get over here and why they fight so hard to stay. Lord knows President Calderon hasn't done a good job in getting the word out. I don't know how to fix the problem over there it's going to take something big. All I can do is try to educate people and maybe give them a better perspective. Maybe a few will even understand a little better. It's one thing to hear about it on the news it's another thing to see it.
So how are they coping in Juarez? It's one thing to read it but as I said seeing is different. Some of the pictures in The Exposed Face of Drug Dealers were in Juarez and I'm going to repost those in this article as well. So here they are from Claudia Daut and Reuters News Agency:
A woman carrying her dog looks at a crime scene where three persons were gunned down in a drive-by shooting in downtown Ciudad Juarez April 28, 2010
The shadow of police on a truck is cast on a wall while they patrol the streets in Ciudad Juarez August 16, 2010. REUTERS/Claudia Daut
A boy lies dead after being shot by drug hitmen outside a supermarket in the border city of Ciudad Juarez October 6, 2009. REUTERS/Alejandro Bringas
Crosses mark the burial site of unclaimed people, mostly victims of violent crimes, at the San Rafael cemetery on the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez April 28, 2010. REUTERS/Claudia Daut
A boy looks at a policeman near a crime scene in Ciudad Juarez February 10, 2011. REUTERS/Gael Gonzalez
A couple embrace each other during a mass in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, February 14, 2010. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo
10-year old Jose Angel holds his violin while posing for a photograph on a street in his neighborhood in Ciudad Juarez, October 15, 2010. In one of the world's deadliest cities, where drug gangs murder a dozen people a day, a former heroin addict is changing lives with violins and trumpets rather than assault rifles. Alma Rosa Gonzalez is helping poor children learn classical music and give them an outlet that might stop them falling prey to the gangsters who are terrorizing this city of about 1.5 million on the Texas border. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo
Mexican woman ride their pink motorbikes in Ciudad Juarez January 23, 2011. The women hand out food and medicines to the poor in one of the world's deadliest cities to protest the deprivation they say fuels much of the violence. Braving drug gang wars in Ciudad Juarez that have killed some 6,700 people since 2008, including hundreds of women, the self-dubbed "Female Warriors ride out every Sunday to barrios that ring the factory city across from El Paso, Texas. REUTERS/Gael Gonzalez
The shadow of a policeman is cast on the wall next to the body of a dead man in Ciudad Juarez September 9, 2010. REUTERS/Alejandro Bringas
Manuel Casares, 31, mourns for his wife at the house where she was killed when gunmen sprayed bullets during a family birthday party in Ciudad Juarez October 23, 2010. Thirteen people were killed and 20 wounded in the second massacre at a party this month in the violent border city as drug cartels battle security forces and each other over smuggling routes into the United States, authorities said. REUTERS/Gael Gonzalez
Ricardo (top), a recovered heroin addict and a volunteer of the "Outcry in the Barrio" ministry, places his hands and prays over a recently admitted heroin addict who is going through withdrawal symptoms in the border city of Ciudad Juarez September 9, 2009. The ministry helps drug addicts, alcoholics and prostitutes to transform their lives through praying to achieve detoxification. Drug gangs have targeted rehab centers in the past, accusing them of protecting dealers from rival groups. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo
A boy rests his head at a children's day care center run by a child protection NGO aimed at getting children off the streets in Ciudad Juarez August 17, 2010. REUTERS/Claudia Daut
These people are real victims. I just wanted to follow up with you and let you know that when your listening to the news and you hear about this stuff that you know these people had a name and a face. Children are being murdered not just thugs. This isn't a situation where gang members are just knocking off each other and good riddance as some would say. Their are honest and innocent people dying as well. I just wanted you all to know.
Check out this episode of Ross Kemp Extreme World on Jaurez
Sources:
-Photos from Reuters News Agency. The corresponding photographers are listed by the photographs
- Arrested Juarez Kingpin Order 1,500 Killings - The Los Angeles Times
-Mexican Police Probe Juarez Car Bomb Possibly Meant For Police - Nick Valencia/CNN.com
-Gang Boss Arrested In Consulate Killings In Ciudad Juarez - Dudley Althaus/Houston Chronicle
-Mexico Condemns Border Patrol Shooting - Los Angeles Times/CNN
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