Pubdate: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Contact: http://www.sjmercury.com/ Copyright: 1998 Mercury Center Author: Paul de la Garza Chicago Tribune DRUGS TAINT MEXICAN CITY We will never be able to guard the border completely. Not even with the best technology from the gulf war. International problem:Battle for control of cartels raises havoc on both sides of the border. CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico -- The banner headline splashed across the front page of a local newspaper blared, ``Another two found in the trunk of a car.'' The victims, both men, had been strangled, each found with a green cord tied around his neck. The article mentioned a possible motive: that it was a drug-related hit. But residents of Ciudad Juarez could have guessed that. In fact, many have become inured to the drug-related violence that has changed their city, and the way of life of its more than 1 million residents. This city, just across from El Paso, Texas, is home to arguably the most powerful drug-running organization in the world, the Juarez cartel. With the death of its leader last year, a full-scale drug war has erupted, with all the trappings: gangland-style murder. Official corruption. Increased domestic drug use. And a sullied international reputation. ``This is a city where anarchy reigns,'' says a local newspaper editor. Billions of dollars are at stake. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration estimates $200 million a week flows through the hands of Juarez-area drug dealers. Most of it, officials say, comes from helping cocaine move from Colombia across the U.S. border. A struggle has broken out over control of the trade. In Ciudad Juarez, cartel hitmen have entered restaurants in search of their enemies, shooting indiscriminately and killing bystanders. Last month in Ensenada, Baja California, 19 people were massacred. The victims included women and children. Both Mexican and U.S. officials say the massacre was a drug-related revenge killing. The first arrests in that case were made this week, when three members of a gang that allegedly worked for Ramon Arellano-Felix were taken into custody by Mexican police. Police say the gang had set out to settle a drug feud with Ferm(acu)n Castro, an alleged small-time narcotics dealer who was among the victims. As a result of such bloodletting, citizens of Ciudad Juarez are changing the way they live, choosing to stay at home, for example, or avoid crossing the border for entertainment. ``I don't go out at all,'' said Lucia Hernandez, 20, who works at one of the maquiladoras, or factories, that dot the border. ``I don't like Ciudad Juarez. But I came here to work, not to play.'' A newspaper reporter said he no longer takes his family out. ``Here, you go out to dinner, to play, you know something can happen,'' said the journalist, who requested anonymity because he says he has received death threats for reporting on drugs and corruption. Hands tied, cops say To hear police officers tell it, there is not much they can do. Despite an army of Mexican and U.S. law enforcement officials stationed along the border, authorities from both countries say their actions are doing little to stem the flow of drugs into the United States. Javier M. Benavides, the city's newly appointed police chief, until recently was helping to lead the charge in the drug war nationally as a federal field commander. ``We will never be able to guard the border completely. Not even with the best technology from the gulf war,'' Benavides said. ``You can bring in the Marines. You can put submarines in the Rio Grande.'' But, he added, ``So long as there is demand, there will be a problem.'' U.S. officials agree, but say official corruption in Mexico still presents a major obstacle to effective law enforcement. In places such as Ciudad Juarez, drug barons generally operate with impunity. The now-deceased leader of the Juarez cartel, Amado Carrillo Fuentes, reportedly was spotted in town last year campaigning with a politician. U.S. law enforcement officials say they learned a bitter lesson last year, after Mexico's top drug fighter, Gen. Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, was arrested on charges of protecting the Carrillo organization in exchange for money, cars and a luxury apartment. Praise from U.S. Gen. Barry McCaffrey, Gutierrez's U.S. counterpart, had lavished Gutierrez with praise in the days before his arrest. Gutierrez is now in prison. Last year, the Juarez cartel lost Carrillo, once described by the DEA as the world's most powerful drug chieftain, to plastic surgery gone awry. Carrillo, who apparently underwent the procedure to disguise his identity, did not survive the lengthy operation, possibly because of a reaction between the drugs used during surgery and the cocaine in his system. His death, according to authorities, prompted the latest blood bath in the city. The ensuing yearlong power struggle has left more than 50 people dead. With Carrillo no longer in the way, authorities say the Tijuana cartel, run by the Arellano-Felix brothers, apparently has tried to push into the Juarez cartel's territory. Officials believe that after Carrillo's death in a women's clinic in Mexico City on July 4, 1997, the Tijuana group banded with the Ciudad Juarez-based narcotrafficker, Rafael Munoz Talavera. Munoz Talavera was making a run at the leadership of the Juarez cartel until he was shot to death about a month ago in Ciudad Juarez. During his reign, authorities say Carrillo helped keep the peace in this city, preferring negotiations or bribery to violence in order to settle disputes. Officials believe that his younger brother, Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, 36, has taken over control of the organization. The younger Carrillo, described by law enforcement officials as a vicious boss, was indicted in the United States this month on drug-trafficking charges. He remains at large. Drug flow continues In the 15 months since the death of Amado Carrillo Fuentes, the drug flow into the United States has not skipped a beat, said Robert Castillo, special agent in charge of the El Paso field division of the Drug Enforcement Administration. Trouble began brewing in Mexico early in this decade when the Colombians, facing increased pressure from U.S. interdiction efforts in the Caribbean, switched cocaine-trafficking routes to Mexico. The State Department estimates annual drug trafficking in Mexico yields $27 billion to $30 billion in revenue. Castillo said the stakes in Mexico are higher now because unlike the old days, when the Colombians paid the Mexicans in cash to smuggle the drugs into the United States, they now pay them with drugs. The Mexicans, he said, ``can set their own price.'' - --- Checked-by: Rich O'Grady