Pubdate: Mon, 15 Jul 2002
Source: El Paso Times (TX)
Copyright: 2002 El Paso Times
Contact:  http://www.elpasotimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/829
Author: Diana Washington Valdez
Note: Diana Washington Valdez covers border affairs

RESIDENTS SAY PUSHER TERRORIZES COMMUNITY

Something is wrong when Juarez families ask an El Paso newspaper for help 
because of a drug problem in their neighborhood. A representative for 
residents in the Colonia Puerto de la Paz, a poor neighborhood in the 
northwest end of the city, said a local drug pusher has terrorized their 
streets since 1997.

So why not call the police?

"Well, we have, but we suspect police are involved," the representative 
said. "The drug pusher and his gang threatened us after some police last 
went to his house. We have nowhere else to turn."

The neighbors provided the names of those involved and the unit numbers of 
city patrol vehicles that make frequent visits to the drug pusher's home. 
Allegedly, the pusher sells cocaine, heroin and marijuana.

Federal police who went to the dealer's house seized weapons and drugs but 
made no arrests. Chihuahua state judicial police also seized items from his 
home but made no arrests.

Research confirms

The neighbors said they worry that someone will be killed or seriously 
injured because the drug dealer's gang likes to play around by shooting off 
weapons from rooftops. Gang members accost young women who walk down the 
streets and intimidate the longtime residents who yearn for their 
once-peaceful colonia.

Javier Arroyo, a research professor in Juarez, conducted a survey and study 
a couple of years ago that confirmed the existence of such gangs throughout 
the city -- and their connections to police.

"Neighbors, for example, might report certain people to police who were 
committing burglaries, and nothing would get done," he said. "They would 
mention that police were protecting the burglars in their colonias. 
Sometimes rapes were reported, and again, nothing (was done). This was the 
pattern in numerous colonias throughout the city."

Picaderos

The White House Office of Drug Control Policy has reported a rise in the 
number of drug addicts in Juarez, where drug dealers are finding it hard to 
transport drugs across the border. Dealers in Juarez are pushing their 
merchandise on the locals through a network of more than 1,000 picaderos 
(drug storefronts), and are creating a new generation of addicts. The 
ramifications for El Paso are enormous.

Juarez government and police officials publicly acknowledge the picaderos, 
which DEA and FBI sources allege are controlled by former Juarez police 
officials who work with the Carrillo Fuentes drug cartel. U.S. officials 
say the network generates lots of money, and that could be why none of them 
are shut down.

Mexican newspapers routinely publish stories and pictures of "Chandokan," 
the city's alleged heroin king, while someone known as "Madonna" is the 
alleged cocaine queen. Although residents say they are not hard to find, 
Manuel del Castillo, spokesman for the Juarez federal police office headed 
by Lorenzo Aquino, could not explain why neither is in jail.
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