La violencia ha robado el alma del pueblo

NOGALES, Ariz. — I remember what it was like all the days when I was ten, mi mama dijo, “Mijo vete a comprar unas tortillas.” So I walked out the door to the Morley Street garita, crossed the line and went to the tortillería. Regresé con una docena. One day, in 1973, mi tia Meli decided to get a job at department store right at the line on the American side. She went to the Morley Street garita and told the U.S. migra man, “I’m just going over to Bracker’s to ask for job.” He said, “OK, go ahead, they have all the papers you’ll need.”

In 1976 we walked from Nogales to Nogales from the movie theater at 12 o’clock at night.

El Paso has a front row seat on the unending killing in Juarez

EL PASO, Texas — About a century ago, El Pasoans lined themselves up near the border for a good view of the revolutionary war raging just across the river as gunshots and war cries echoed from the brush and dirty water. A hundred yeas later, El Paso once more holds a ringside seat to the bloodshed of Mexican souls. Last week, shots fired from Mexico hit the windows of El Paso’s City Hall. Although no one can be sure how or when the bulk of the violence will die down, many students at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) have their opinions. “A lot of people have told me that maybe if they legalize marijuana in Juárez it would be better because then the drug lords would loose some of their power,” said Lindsy Gutierrez, a music major.  She sat in the shade outside the Fox Fine Arts building of UTEP reading a book on poetry.

Living in constant fear, Mexicans long for the good life they lost

EL PASO, Texas —Little is known about the truth behind the Cartel Wars, but one thing is certain, they must end. They are a constant plague on our way of life, the borderway.  For more than four decades, the citizens of the borderland have been subject to a war that brewed and heated until it erupted only four years ago. Frankly, the people here do not care who is in charge, to them the only person they call “boss” is Bruce Springstein, and maybe Pedro Infante. Regardless, we the people say screw these bastards who are endangering our Juarense brothers and sisters. We demand to be protected and we will not accept the current standard.

Juarez Drug War Criminals Even Shake Down the Street Vendors

CIUDAD JUÁREZ, México — Daytime here displays a busy city, alive and full of productive energy. Street vendors hawk their products, restaurants await the rush hour crowds and mechanics do tune-ups out of their homes. These images of a normalcy, however, are deceptive. More than 5,000 of Juarez businesses have closed their doors permanently during the past four years of drug war violence, according to Cámara de Comercio de Juárez, which has infected every aspect of Juarenses’ life. Nighttime is a different creature altogether, according to Martín, the owner of a few very profitable food stands in Juárez and no stranger to the cartels.

Hundreds Mourn Pregnant Mother and Husband Murdered in Juárez

EL PASO, Texas — More than 800 persons attended funeral services for the U.S. consular employee and her husband gunned down March 14 in Ciudad Juárez, México. Family, friends, and co-workers paid their last respects to Lesley Enriquez, 35, and Arthur Redelfs, 34, a detention officer in the El Paso County Sheriff’s Department, to the solemn lament of a trumpet playing Taps on a windy afternoon at Memorial Pines Cemetery in Sunland Park on March 20th. The couple was murdered after a car chase through Juárez after leaving a children’s birthday party with their baby daughter. “When they were brutally murdered, seven-month-old Rebecca was left in the back seat orphaned but thankfully unharmed. Also tragically, Lesley was pregnant at the time and we just now found out that baby Rebecca will never get to know her little brother,” said Michael Redelfs, Arthur’s uncle.

Voces del narcotráfico salen de las sombras en el libro Drug War Zone

EL PASO — Las voces humanas y los elementos insólitos del narcotráfico se entretejen en las historias del libro Drug War Zone, el más reciente proyecto literario de Howard Campbell, profesor de antropología de la Universidad de Texas en El Paso (UTEP). El proyecto literario comenzó en el 2005 antes de que comenzara la conocida guerra entre carteles en Ciudad Juárez — “Si vi venir la situación de Juárez porque varios conocidos me advirtieron de ella. Creo que lo más impactante de esto es ver que esta guerra parece no tener fin, yo solía creer en la idea de Vicente Fox, pero ahora ¿cuál es la solución” dijo Campbell. Las escenas presentadas introducen al lector con testimonios y sus historias personales en el sórdido mundo del narcotráfico, escenas que muestran la cara oculta y desapercibida: la cara humana de las drogas. “Seis aviones más arribaron, de uno de ellos emergió El Chapo, vestido en sus tradicionales jeans, chaleco, gorra de baseball, un rifle cuerno de chivo AK-47 pegado a su pecho  y una pistola que le combinaba a su atuendo en su cinto”  (Campbell).

Reporting on the Drug War, a Dangerous Business

EL PASO — As the drug cartel violence in Ciudad Juárez continues to escalate, the news media on both sides of the border has continued to cover it. But now, the violence has spread to the newsrooms —getting the story is a job and a danger.

The Failure of The War on Drugs

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.

War On Drugs: Exporting the Drug War

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.

War on Drugs Conference at UTEP

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.

Drug War

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…”

Veto this discussion

EL PASO — Students for Sensible Drug Policy is an international organization of students who are concerned about the impact drug abuse has on our communities. This organization puts all its energy on awareness and education about our failed drug policies. We feel that the war on drugs, like any other war on an idea, is a failure. It is a waste of time, money, and lives. The United States has 5% of the world’s population but 25% of the world’s prisoner population and the majority of those incarcerated are non-violent drug offenders.

Advocates of drug legalization state their case

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.

La narcoguerra del 2008 no se olvida

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.

Violencia en la frontera

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.

Ninguna historia vale la vida de alguien

EL PASO — El 20 de febrero se presentaron en la Universidad de Texas de El Paso los periodistas Alfredo Corchado y Gerardo Reyes como parte de los talleres Watchdog Workshop de la organización IRE (Investigative Reporters and Editors). Su plática trató de la cobertura periodística del crimen organizado, narcotráfico y lavado de dinero, un tema por demás popular en nuestra zona fronteriza. El periodista Alfredo Corchado comenzó la plática con los pormenores de su experiencia cubriendo el crimen organizado: “Si uno quiere estudiar el crimen organizado se necesita hacerlo como a una organización, como si fuera Starbucks o McDonald’s. Son (sic) una corporación con funciones completas, el 50% de sus ganancias regresan a sus operaciones. Al igual que una corporación, ellos creen en la buena calidad y en la publicidad, necesitan un vocero que le diga a los medios como quieren su historia y otro vocero para infiltrarse en los partidos políticos” dijo Corchado.

No hay ley en Juárez

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.

Un día en Ciudad Juárez

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.

Decriminalize Drugs: Talk About It

There has been much media coverage about the “Drug War” going on in the United States and in Mexico with no sound solution in sight. How about taking an alternative route, and just legalize the narcotics that drug cartels profit so highly from?

Bloody Battles Batter Business

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.