Pubdate: Thu, 17 Sep 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: Daniel Borunda Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/topic/Mexico Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment) MORE CARNAGE: SHOOTINGS AT CARWASH, EATERY KILL 10 MORE 10 Slain At Rehab Center Five killed at a carwash. Five in a restaurant. Ten at a drug rehabilitation center. And a Mexican federal agent shot outside his headquarters. The staggering bloodshed that has gripped Juarez for more than a year was relentless during the past two days even as the city celebrated 16 de Septiembre. Juarez police said there were no problems during the traditional grito, or cry for independence, gathering attended by 50,000 people on Tuesday night at the old municipal presidency building. There were also no major problems Wednesday during the traditional parade featuring hundreds of marching police and soldiers. But the displays of Mexican patriotism did little to curb the rampant violence believed to be linked to warring drug cartels. More than 20 people died Tuesday, and the killing continued Wednesday, including a federal agent fatally shot in the afternoon outside the headquarters of the Mexico attorney general's office on Avenida Abraham Lincoln near the Bridge of the Americas. The single deadliest episode was a shooting at a drug rehab center that killed 10 people late Tuesday night. A group of gunmen with assault rifles went into the Anexo de Vida center, where they killed nine men and a woman in various parts of the center, said Enrique Torres, spokesman for Joint Operation Chihuahua, the federal anti-crime deployment. "For those sick with drug addiction and alcoholism," stated a painted sign on an outside wall of the modest center at 564 Plan de Ayala in southeast Juarez. Among those killed, said the Chihuahua state attorney general's office, were the center's director, Jose Iram Ortiz Facio, and its doctor, Dr. Luis Orozco Lopez. The other victims were Eduardo Villalobos Jaquez, alias El Zeox; Rafael Trejo Estrada; Hector Ivan Amaro Villa, alias El Grande; Graciela Isabel Ochoa Archuleta; Juan Carlos Macias Velazquez; Gerardo Garcia; Francisco Arreola Rodriguez; and Francisco Javier Gutierrez Hernandez. A man and a woman wounded in the assault were hospitalized. The massacre was the second this month at a drug rehab in Juarez. On Sept. 2, gunmen killed 18 men at the Casa El Aliviane drug rehab center. Law enforcement agents have said that some drug rehab centers in Juarez are fronts for drug sales or are associated with gangs. The Juarez mayor's office said in a news release Wednesday that the latest case was due to the war between drug cartels that started in January 2008. The drug rehab massacre was one of three multiple shootings since Tuesday. About 1 a.m. Wednesday, five men were killed inside the Coco Bongo restaurant at Avenida Hermanos Escobar and Costa Rica street. Chihuahua state police said the victims were Jose Ignacio Macias, 50; Juan Jose Guardiola Barbosa, 21; Jose Luis Olivas Apodaca, 46; and two men who had not been identified. Tuesday evening, five other men were killed in the Spider carwash near the border in east Juarez. The dead were Rodolfo Soriano, who is in his 40s; Adan Gonzalez Alvarez, 32; Rogelio Alarcon Soriano, 20; Julio Cesar Hernandez Hernandez, 20; and Jaime Hernandez Hernandez, 22. So far this year, an estimated 1,650 murders have occurred in Juarez, surpassing the 1,607 homicides in all of last year. - --- Other multiple shootings About 1 a.m. Wednesday, five men were killed in the Coco Bongo restaurant on Avenida Hermanos Escobar and Costa Rica street. Chihuahua state police said the victims were Jose Ignacio Macias, 50; Juan Jose Guardiola Barbosa, 21; Jose Luis Olivas Apodaca, 46; and two men who had not been identified. Tuesday evening, five other men were killed in the Spider carwash near the border in east Juarez. The dead were Rodolfo Soriano, who is in his 40s; Adan Gonzalez Alvarez, 32; Rogelio Alarcon Soriano, 20; Julio Cesar Hernandez Hernandez, 20; and Jaime Hernandez Hernandez, 22. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom