Pubdate: Sat, 09 Oct 2010
Source: El Paso Times (TX)
Copyright: 2010 El Paso Times
Contact: http://www.elpasotimes.com/townhall/ci_14227323
Website: http://www.elpasotimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/829

CARJACKINGS DRIVE HOME FEAR IN JUAREZ

JUAREZ - As murder numbers skyrocket in Juarez, another crime there is
becoming even more common: carjackings.

Chihuahua state records show that carjackings peaked in August at 341,
more than the city's 333 murders in the same month. Since 2008, 5,643
people have reported carjackings in Juarez compared with 86 in El Paso
in the same period.

Investigators worry that these attacks have gone "beyond logic," and
that criminals are finding innovative ways to trick drivers.

As the city is under siege from drug cartels fighting a turf war,
Juarez's lawlessness spreads with terrified drivers running red lights
and speeding or simply staying home. They are scared for their lives
and their property.

Streets in Juarez, a city of 1.3 million, look dead by 9
p.m.

An official with the Chihuahua state attorney general's office who
works in the vehicle-theft unit said carjackings happen at any time of
the day anywhere in the city. The official asked not to be named
because of security concerns.

The victims are 60 percent women and can be of any age. The carjackers
are equally diverse, sometimes even families with children.

As carjackings increase in Juarez, where about 6,500 murders have been
recorded since 2008, people have been coping with a new reality.
People think murder victims are often involved in or are related to
those working in the drug trade, but carjackings can happen to anyone.

Drivers turn off music and pay close attention to rearview mirrors,
searching for suspicious motorists. Doors are locked and most windows
rolled up.

Most drivers prefer to travel with other passengers. Women rarely
drive alone. When they do, they hide their purses under the seats or
behind their backs.

People say vehicles with no license plates or with Texas or New Mexico
plates are easy prey. But the state official disagrees with the
popular belief. The cars that are jacked come from anywhere in Mexico
and the United States, the official said.

Most carjackings involve newer vehicles between 2002 and 2011 models.
Traditional car thefts are usually of older cars.

Edgar Pastrana, a U.S. citizen, fell victim to a carjacking in Juarez.
Pastrana, a math student at the University of Texas at El Paso, drives
to Juarez every weekend to see his parents.

But on a recent Sunday afternoon, Pastrana was distracted.

As he drove by Malecon Avenue near the Bridge of the Americas, a white
vehicle suddenly swung in front of him and stopped. He tried to
escape, but a gunman got out of the vehicle and screamed, "Get off!"

"They took my cell phone and my watch," Pastrana said.

The man smacked Pastrana's face and drove away with his car: a 2008
black Toyota Scion.

"I really don't think police will recover it," he said.

Figures show that Juarez police recovered 34 percent of stolen
vehicles in 2009. But the percentage is down to 20 percent so far this
year.

People flood the car-theft unit in Juarez's state offices. The
official said about 40 people file a report every day.

The state investigator said carjacking has a history in Juarez. But
since 2008, the numbers began to rise in the same pattern as murders
in the city.

The official said the surges in carjackings and homicides are no
coincidence. He said many of the cars are used for kidnappings and to
carry out attacks.

In addition, some carjackings result in homicides, especially when the
victim resists. "We tell the people to act with integrity if they are
carjacked, to think about their lives first," he said.

Before 2008, the Chihuahua state attorney general's office did not
separate carjackings from regular car-theft investigations.

There is no Spanish word for carjacking. Chihuahua officials call it a
"vehicle theft with violence."

But people in Juarez are becoming more and more familiar with the
American term. "Me hicieron un carjacking," they say (I was carjacked).

The word was coined in the 1990s by The Detroit News as the number of
hijacked motorists spiked in that city. Police in Chicago, New York
and Los Angeles, all drug hubs, faced similar problems.

Congress passed a law in 1992 that made carjacking a federal crime.
The Department of Justice said 49,000 carjacking attempts took place
per year between 1992 and 1996 in the United States. Since then, the
problem has become less severe.

In Juarez, new statistics separating carjackings from car thefts show
that while the total number of car thefts has gone down in Juarez,
carjacking attacks have gone up.

The investigator said these armed robberies are not necessarily tied
to drug-cartel violence, although some stolen vehicles are later found
at crime scenes or used by alleged drug traffickers and kidnappers.

"Unfortunately, with all the violence, many people are taking
advantage and committing these types of crimes," he said.

For instance, police recently arrested a family who was carjacking
people who were selling their vehicles. Famiy members would look for
ads in the newspaper, go see the car, test it and then pull out a gun
and drive away.

Another time, a woman was carjacked right outside her home. The
offenders took the car even though her baby was in it. Fortunately,
the official said, police recovered the car with the baby unhurt.

Carjackers sometimes frighten drivers with little more than toy guns
or threats. Liana Maria Martinez, 25, recently became a carjacking
victim.

She was traveling back home from a gas station with her three
daughters. It was between 8 and 9 a.m. on a Friday, and she was going
home to prepare the girls for school.

Martinez had slowed down to turn at an intersection. Then a car
crossed right in front of her and men got off the vehicle, she said.
Just as with Pastrana, they screamed, "Get off!"

"I got really scared because my three girls were watching," she
said.

Martinez said she had heard stories of carjackings around her
neighborhood in the southeastern outskirts of Juarez.

"I never thought it could happen to me," she said.  
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