Borderzine (https://borderzine.com/tag/border-violence/page/3/)
EL PASO — With an increasing number of drug-war killings in Ciudad Juárez, shootouts in broad daylight and random acts of violence such as the burning down of a nightclub, the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) administration has warned students and faculty to be extra careful when travelling in Mexico.
EL PASO — President Richard Nixon declared war on drugs in 1969 with a stepped up campaign targeting the production, distribution and consumption of illegal drugs. Forty years later many consider that war a complete failure.
According to Anthony Placido, leader of the Drug Enforcement Administrator’s Intelligence Program, the solution to the drug problem is not going to be possible if authorities and the government pretend or believe that the consumption and trafficking of these substances will be solved with only one policy, instead, institutions need to face the idea that the problem will continue to grow.
El Paso — Dozens of persons are killed every day in Juarez in a war fueled by cartels feuding with rival cartels, feuding within their own cartels, and rebelling against the Mexican government since the installation of President Felipe Calderón according, to the chief of Intelligence for the Drug Enforcement Administration.
EL PASO — While the death-toll rises and fear grips the citizens of the El Paso/Juarez border due to the mounting violence of warring drug cartels, El Paso’s leaders are not resigned to do nothing.
EL PASO — With a raging drug war that has left many in fear and confusion, the choice to move to the United States isn’t as black and white as some would hope. But for the individuals and families with money, moving to the United States isn’t just a choice, but a luxury they can afford.
Tras 40 años de que el presidente Nixon proclamara que Estados Unidos se encontraba en una guerra contra las drogas, actualmente la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México vive en un grito desesperado por el descontrol del uso de drogas y la ineficacia de la política actual.
With violence at an all time high, a two-day conference that starts at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) will reevaluate this “war” the nation has been fighting.
For those living in a country where drug war violence is an everyday occurrence, looking at the bigger picture isn’t always easy. Signs of the drug war can be seen everywhere in border communities like El Paso and Juárez. As the violence escalates, its political, social and economic effects continue to weigh heavily on the sister cities and their residents.
Many Juarenses leave much of their family behind in Mexico to start a new life in El Paso, but some such as UTEP art student Luis Porras, who endures a difficult daily commute to school, says he can never really settle in either city.
People are scared to speak, scared to have their picture taken or to even give their name. When I ask people what they think about the drug war, most of them say: “It’s like hearing the weather reports. It happens everyday…”
A veteran Border Patrol agent and a City Council representative told students at the University of Texas at El Paso that drug legalization and regulation is a better solution to the El Paso/Juarez region’s ongoing violence than the current prohibition laws.
El año 2008 quedará grabado para siempre en todos los juarenses que día a día sobreviven la guerra a muerte entre narcotraficantes en conflicto por controlar en la frontera el negocio más lucrativo de narcotráfico en México.
CIUDAD JUÁREZ — Después de un año de vivir con miedo y un caos de violencia sin tregua ni límites, el alcalde de esta ciudad, José Reyes Ferriz, anunció el comienzo de una nueva etapa donde se espera recuperar la paz y la libertad secuestrada a través de un programa llamado “Amor por Juárez”. Con este nuevo movimiento social creado por el gobierno municipal de la ciudad se espera unir y exhortar a la población local para comenzar una nueva etapa de paz y tranquilidad en la ciudad fronteriza, dijo Reyes Ferriz. “Vamos a presumirle al mundo que ante la adversidad los juarenses sacamos la casta, que somos una sociedad decidida a recuperar la paz y la libertad”, dijo Reyes Ferriz. El alcalde también dio las gracias a las fuerzas armadas por hacer suya la causa de los juarenses y a José Reyes Baeza, Gobernador del Estado de Chihuahua por estar en todo momento presente ante la crisis de violencia e inseguridad. “Amor por Juárez es un movimiento social que nos proyecta como una sociedad luchadora e indomable.
A pesar de la fuerte presencia militar, Ciudad Juárez mantiene altos números de muertes y actos de violencia con más de 1 000 muertes en lo que va del año 2009. Los ciudadanos se ven afectados por una inseguridad pública que les rodea y no parece tener fin.
La violencia está a la orden del día en ciudad Juárez desde comienzos del año 2008. El año pasado murieron violentamente 5300 personas en México, de las cuales 1500 fueron ejecutadas en ciudad Juárez. Hasta el día de hoy la ciudad se maneja como una entidad sin ley, donde los ciudadanos día a día corren el peligro de ser asaltados o que su integridad sea amenazada.
Aquel martes que deambulé por Ciudad Juárez vi algunas funerarias. Una de ellas, Perches, ofrecía ataúdes de metal o laminados en pan de oro. Recuerdo que el gerente del local sólo tenía una queja con respecto a la situación: la morgue oficial, el SEMEFO, no podía con tanta necropsia y le remitían los cadáveres tarde y con gotero. Pero era comprensivo con la situación y se armaba de paciencia.
A personal note on the writing of Bloody Battles Batter Business. When I first began writing this story in August of this year the body count was a terrorizing 700, now in the early weeks of December that number has since doubled. I hoped that by the time this story was published some of this violence might have subsided. That “they” would have stopped killing the “bad guys”, and everything would go back to what it once was. Some believe these killings are “surgical” and that only those who are guilty of corruption have fallen.
What was once a bustling scene of smiling tourists and eager sales people peddling their wares is now eerily quiet. Smiles have been replaced with drawn faces and eyes full of worry. Courtesy of Minero Magazine. Originally published on Vol. VII, Fall 2008. Since January 2008, there have been more than 1,000 homicides in Ciudad Juárez. The number of murders in El Paso’s close neighbor thus far averages nearly four killings per day. The numbers continue to rise each day and have increased by more than 300 since research into this article began.