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 Americas & Beyond | May 2008 
Fewer Cross Into Juárez After Threat of Bloodshed
 Diana Washington Valdez - El Paso Times
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| | Army soldiers question a man during an anti-drug operation in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Tuesday, May 13, 2008. Mexico's President Felipe Calderon has sent thousands of soldiers and federal police across the nation to confront the drug cartels. (AP/Alexandre Meneghini) | | |
Fewer people crossed the El Paso-Juárez border after a cyber message warned that this past weekend would be bloodiest one in Juárez memory.
A decrease in waiting times at the international bridges, closed shops and nightclubs, and deserted strips in some parts of Juárez indicated that many people took seriously the warning of unknown origin.
"After midnight and until 4 p.m. Saturday, we saw average decreases in the waiting times of 20 to 30 minutes at the (Zaragoza), Bridge of Americas and Paso del Norte bridges compared to other Saturdays," said Rick Lopez, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in El Paso.
Saturday evening, Mexican police reported eight more slayings, bringing the total since Friday to 19.
The spike in mob-style killings prompted Juárez Mayor José Reyes Ferríz to cut short his visit to Colombia, where he had traveled with Chihuahua Gov. José Reyes Baeza Terrazas to study Bogota's mass transit system.
The widespread cyber message of unknown origin prompted the U.S. Embassy in Mexico to post on its Web site this warning: "U.S. citizens are urged to be especially alert to safety and security conditions when visiting Ciudad Juárez and the State of Chihuahua, particularly during the weekend of May 23-25."
The Mexican National Chamber of Commerce in Juárez reported losses of up to 40 percent by some businesses, and attributed the declines to a sense of insecurity.
Because there have been nearly 400 homicides since January, most of them drug-related, officials said, bodies were stacking up faster than they could be processed at the city's SEMEFO morgue.
The Juárez mayor said Saturday that the city was beefing up night patrols around shopping and entertainment centers.
Diana Washington Valdez may be reached at dvaldez(at)elpasotimes.com |
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