Pubdate: Sun, 27 Dec 2009
Source: El Paso Times (TX)
Copyright: 2009 El Paso Times
Contact: http://www.elpasotimes.com/formnewsroom
Website: http://www.elpasotimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/829
Author: Ramon Bracamontes, El Paso Times
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/topic/Juarez
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Felipe+Calderon

NO QUICK FIX SEEN FOR DRUG BATTLE IN JUAREZ

The Juarez of old is gone.

In its place is a paralyzing and vicious 2-year-old drug war that has 
the 1.5 million residents in the manufacturing border town living in 
fear, even as city leaders pledge to never give in to the powerful 
cartels that are using the city's streets as a killing ground.

The axis of the problem remains the same: The Sinaloa Cartel and its 
leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman are trying to wrest control of the 
Juarez drug-trafficking corridor from the Juarez Cartel and its 
leader, Vicente Carrillo Fuentes.

Neither side has been able to defeat the other after two years. As a 
result, Juarez has gone from a popular tourist attraction to the 
murder capital of North America. Juarez had more than 1,600 murders 
in 2008 and 2,580 this year.

That translates to 165 deaths in Juarez per 100,000 residents. In 
Baghdad, there are 48 deaths per 100,000 residents.

One expert on Mexico said the violence may not ease for some time, as 
both cartels are entrenched and neither is backing down.

"Inasmuch as neither organization can completely exterminate the 
other, the carnage is likely to continue for a while," said Tony 
Payan, a University of Texas at El Paso professor, whose expertise is 
Mexico. "Nobody really knows how long, but it is likely to continue."

Two years ago, when the cartels declared war, the grand prize was the 
Juarez Plaza. Each saw control of the plaza as an exclusive right to 
ship drugs into the United States through El Paso and Juarez.

For ordinary residents in Juarez, those trying to make an honest 
living and have safe neighborhoods, the stakes are greater.

The cartels are fighting for heroin sales on Juarez's streets, and 
competing to shake down businesses through extortion. No one knows 
exactly how lucrative these new endeavors are, but U.S. officials 
estimate that Juarez has tens of thousands of drug addicts. The 
extortion racket, which includes kidnappings, has caused more than 
6,000 businesses in Juarez to shut down, including most of the 
tourist shops in the mercados.

Several restaurants on Avenida Juarez have also closed. The town, at 
night, is basically empty, as neither tourists nor natives dine out. 
The street mariachis, who used to roam the sidewalks, are gone.

"Right now, the big problem we have are extortions," Juarez Mayor 
Jose Reyes Ferriz said. "We're getting a task force ready to work on 
that. I'm sure we will be able to lower that crime rate, as well as 
the homicide rate."

Genesis of a Drug War

Juarez's troubles publicly surfaced in January 2008, but the war was 
actually triggered 13 months earlier when Mexican President Felipe 
Calderon took office. Calderon did not like the direction his country 
was headed. The cartels, he has said, were a national security problem.

He ordered the Mexican army to disband them. Calderon's targets 
included the Juarez cartel, which had controlled Juarez's drug trade 
since the early 1990s.

As the Juarez cartel faced off with the military, Guzman and the 
Sinaloa cartel tried to move in. Guzman recruited two Mexican street 
gangs -- the Artistic Assassins and the Mexicles -- to try to bury 
the Juarez cartel.

The Sinaloa cartel began attacking Juarez cartel members in 2008. 
Various U.S. and Juarez officials expected the street violence to end 
within three months. Instead, it raged on as police officers and 
cartel members were executed and tortured. Innocent people on 
occasion also have been killed in the gangland fighting.

This year, when it became apparent the violence would not end, 
Calderon sent 7,000 soldiers and 2,000 federal police officers to 
Juarez. The military took over the municipal police department, as 
well as most of the day-to-day law enforcement operations.

The killings stopped for about three weeks in March, a lull before an 
explosion. The violence resumed in April, this time in greater 
numbers. Kidnappings, bank robberies, carjackings and extortions escalated.

Many saw this as a failing of government.

"We thought they had a solid strategy and some intelligence on the 
cartels. What we found out is that they didn't have a strategic 
plan," said Juarez businessman Gabriel Cantu.

In November this year, Cantu and several hundred other business 
owners formed the group, "Juarenses por la Paz," or Juarez residents 
want peace. It hopes to place billboards in El Paso and Juarez that 
say, "Ya Basta" (Enough).

"We are tired of the violence," Cantu said. "The situation is getting 
worse. And if it isn't stopped, it will affect El Paso. It has 
affected El Paso, but it will be worse."

El Paso's Interests

So far, U.S. law enforcement officials say, the cartel violence has 
spilled into El Paso only twice.

In May, Jose Daniel Gonzalez-Galeana of El Paso was shot dead at his 
home on the East Side. Investigators say his execution was ordered by 
one of the cartels because Gonzalez-Galeana was an informant for the 
U.S. government. Three men, including a Fort Bliss soldier, were arrested.

Then in September, attackers kidnapped Horizon City resident Sergio 
Saucedo from his home while his wife and a busload of school children 
looked on. His mutilated body was a found week later in Juarez. No 
arrests have been made in that case.

Joseph Arabit, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement 
Administration's staff in El Paso, said law enforcement agencies in 
El Paso continuously monitor crime in West Texas to see whether it is 
related to the cartel violence.

"There are some local drug distribution networks in El Paso, but El 
Paso is mostly a transportation point," Arabit said. "We are 
constantly investigating and breaking up the distribution networks on 
this side, but very little spillover has occurred."

He attributes that to the Mexican military's proactive presence in 
Juarez, which is hurting the cartels.

"What we are seeing is that loads being smuggled are getting smaller 
and smaller. Seizures are down 30 percent, and the purity of the 
cocaine is going down," Arabit said.

Five years ago, drug shipments being caught at the ports of entry in 
El Paso routinely weighed 300 or 400 kilos. Now the shipments being 
detected weigh 50 to 75 kilos.

Reyes Ferriz and the Mexican army insist that they are slowly turning 
things around in Juarez. In the past year, more than 5,000 people 
have been arrested and charged with drug trafficking, weapons 
violations or both.

The army has arrested several gang members, who have confessed to 
killing more than 1,000 people, Mexican officials said. The fact that 
the war rages on is testimony to the number of foot soldiers, or 
street-level gang members, who are involved.

"There is a human toll going on over there that we as human beings 
should be concerned about," said David Cuthbertson, FBI special agent 
in charge of the El Paso division.

Military Presence Continues

In September, during his third state of the union address, Calderon 
reiterated that the fight against the cartels would continue and that 
the Mexican army would lead the way.

Calderon, who is halfway through his six-year term, said the military 
must remain in charge until all of the local and state police 
departments are void of corruption.

UTEP's Payan said Calderon strategy is to keep hitting the cartels.

"He is the first truly conservative president of Mexico in a long 
time, and thus his orientation is one of law and order," Payan said. 
"He will continue his struggle. He believes that the price is worth paying."

Calderon has shown that he is willing to take on any cartel or 
criminal organization. Just this month, the Mexican navy got into a 
firefight with one of Mexico's most powerful drug lords, Arturo 
Beltran Leyva, and killed him.

His death might have implications for Juarez, Payan said. Beltran 
Leyva was a major enemy of Guzman.

Now that Beltran Leyva is gone, there is a chance that Guzman will 
focus on Carrillo Fuentes and the Juarez cartel.

"If that is the case, Ciudad Juarez can get worse before it gets 
better," Payan said. "It is entirely possible, however, that he will 
simply take over the Sinaloa-Sonora-Arizona corridor and that he 
leaves the Carrillo Fuentes organization alone to operate in Ciudad 
Juarez through some sort of truce. And that may mean a reduction in 
violence in Ciudad Juarez." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake