Frontera NorteSur July 2000

Ciudad Juárez municipal police came under sharp attack after a series of incidents in which city police agents were either caught dealing drugs or, in one case, beating a man to death. The competency of police chief and director general of public security Javier Benavides was called into question by both city and state authorities. The continued problems with security in Cd. Juárez caused Mayor Gustavo Elizondo to blame the state government, which in turn blamed both the city government and federal police. Meanwhile, dead bodies continued to turn up: the skeletons of two women were found in the desert and five more men were killed in execution-style slayings in Cd. Juárez (for details on these crimes, see database lists at the end of this article). New statistics showed that both homicides and domestic violence had increased dramatically in Cd. Juárez in just a year's time. Local activist Esther Chávez Cano commented, "It is shocking that more and more police are involved in drugs and acts of blood. The people are very afraid of talking with police, especially those that they don't know."

Washington Post Feature Investigates Murders of 238 Women

Cd. Juárez, the subject of an intense U.S. media invasion in December 1999 during the so-called "mass graves" fiasco, again found itself in the spotlight when The Washington Post ran a five-part feature in June entitled "Nightmare In the City of Dreams," which focused on the 238 murders of young girls and women in the city since 1993. The series did not arrive at any conclusions about who might be involved in the murders, though the feature considered the possible guilt of Abel Latif Sharif, El Tolteca and other former maquila bus drivers, and the street gang Los Rebeldes. Special prosecutor for Crimes against Women, Suly Ponce, was portrayed favorably in the feature, although The Post noted that federal bureaucrats from México City considered her investigations "a shambles." Ponce was quoted as saying, "We don't know who it is."

The skeletal remains of two women were both found on June 6, one on a ranch near Samalayuca and other in a vacant lot in Nuevo Casas Grandes. In the Samalayuca case, Ponce ruled that the death of 29-year-old Martha Francisca Hernández was not a homicide. Rather, she stated, the victim died of starvation. In the Nuevo Casas Grande case, investigators determined that 26-year-old Claudia Quezada Nevárez of Cd. Juárez had been murdered. The key suspect in the case, her boyfriend, had "long ago disappeared to the United States," according to police. In addition to these two cases, a 23-year-old woman was reported missing as of May 19. Erika Sandoval Aguilar left her home in the Kilometer 20 neighborhood to visit a friend. She never reached the friend's house. She was reported missing by her husband and family on May 20 and has not yet been found.

Complaints About Municipal Agents Result in Investigations of Police Chief

The municipal police came under increasing scrutiny in Cd. Juárez throughout May and June. Several municipal investigations into the murders of both women and men, including the April 29 murder of popular journalist José "Pepe" Ramírez, were called into question. However, these concerns were overshadowed by the shocking news that city agents were arrested for the possession and distribution of drugs, and that two other agents had beat a man to death in front of the bar where he had been arrested. In late May, Mayor Elizondo and state attorney general Arturo González Rascon both launched investigations into the city police and the work of police chief Benavides. Benavides responded by saying that "every sergeant will be responsible for every agent, every lieutenant will be responsible for every sergeant, and every captain will be responsible for every lieutenant." However, Benavides said he could not be held responsible for everything done by the city's police agents. "I do not have total control," he said. "I am not Superman, nor am I all-powerful."

Elizondo commented on May 25 that Benavides "should more closely supervise his agents." On June 9, González Rascon announced that the state's investigation showed that Benavides "was getting results."

Two city councilors disagreed, and literally called for the head of Benavides. "If the hands and feet aren't working right, then there's something wrong with the head," said Pablo Gómez, city councilor and member of the Revolutionary Democratic Party (PRD). Local businesspersons organized into the Private Initiative agreed with Gómez, demanding a total re-structuring of the municipal police. "The final responsibility rests with Benavides," said Héctor Carreón, president of Canaco. "Elizondo is not married to his subordinates." Three more cases of police abuse were reported June 13, but Benavides said that in each case the police had used "reasonable force."

The incidents that sparked the controversy were the May 20 beating death of a man, which resulted in the arrest of city agents Juan Gallegos and Teresa Ortiz, and the May 21 arrest of two city agents, Jorge Arturo Baez and Delfino Hernández Valles, caught with 17 kilograms of marijuana. Baez and Hernández were arrested by the federal police, the PGR, and were convicted of possession with intent to distribute. In the case of the beating death, three eyewitnesses said that Gallegos and Ortiz moved the body "to make it look as if he [the victim] had fallen." In addition, on May 24, state police (PJE) agent Gilberto Contreras Garcia, was caught distributing marijuana inside a city picadero, or drug house. As a result of these high-profile arrests, Juárez daily El Norte ran a banner page one headline that read: "NARCO INFILTRA POLICIA."

City, State Criticize Each Other Over Security Problem

The fallout over the police controversies resulted in some election-time mudslinging between Mayor Elizondo of the National Action Party (PAN) and Chihuahua Governor Patricio Martínez of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). While Elizondo initiated an investigation into "possible links between police and drugtraffickers," he also rebuked the state sharply for failing to provide the 245 million pesos promised for security purposes at the February 28 Anti-Crime Summit. As of May 15, he said, the state had only given the city 2.5 million of the promised 245 million pesos. Elizondo also said "it is ironic that drug trafficking deaths keep multiplying since the Anti-Crime Summit."

Governor Martínez responded that the state would not give any more money to Ciudad Juárez, which he alleged had taken state money earmarked for security and used it for parks, gardens, and city services, including cleaning. The governor said, "I was a municipal president once, and I never solicited an extraordinary amount of money for public security." In addition, Martinez said that money would not solve the city's security problem.

The governor also suggested that the federal government was not doing enough to solve the problem. "In Juárez, there is a storm of bullets, and all of Chihuahua is asking, what is the PJF and the PGR doing?" The PJF and PGR are both federal police agencies.

Elizondo did not respond to Martinez' allegations, but noted that the numbers of drug-related crimes "are more than the PGR can handle," and said he would ask President Ernesto Zedillo for help. State attorney general Arturo González Rascon agreed that "public security in Juárez is not sufficient."

Elizondo also removed municipal police from the anti-drug mixed cell units, which include officers from all three levels of government, saying that the mixed cells had not achieved results, May 28. Instead, Elizondo ordered the municipal police to crack down on bars and other public places where drugs are bought and sold. In one weekend, city police arrested 212 people in their narcobar operations.

However, after enduring heavy criticism from Rascon, who blamed a new set of murders on Elizondo's pullout from the mixed cells, the mayor re-instated the municipal police, June 8. Elizondo said the re-instatement was conditional upon good results. Federal police claimed two successes during the month: a raid that freed six people kidnapped by drug traffickers, May 20, and the announcement that the military's mixed-base operations (BOMs) had arrested 3,500 people in eight months.

Elizondo, Federal Official Insist on U.S. Complicity in Security Problem

The mayor also re-stated a point he has made many times before, namely, that the security problem in Cd. Juárez is being driven by U.S. consumption of illicit drugs. "It is difficult to stop executions when Juárez is a major pathway for drugs to the U.S.," he said May 16. He was supported by Mexican federal official José Angel Gurria, who said May 18 that the problems with violence and drug-trafficking in Cd. Juárez and Tijuana "rest in large part with the U.S. appetite for drugs."

Elizondo also pointed out on May 25 that drug traffickers and assassins "are coming from all over the country" to be part of criminal activities in Cd. Juárez, another factor contributing to the security problem. He noted that many drug traffickers from Sinaloa are known to be in Cd. Juárez.

Elizondo also rebuked the El Paso daily newspaper, El Paso Times, for continuing the use the phrase "Juárez Cartel," May 28. The mayor has objected that the phrase is not accurate, due to the fact that the cartels are nationally and internationally organized. In addition, he has claimed that the phrase damages the image of Cd. Juárez. Earlier this year, U.S. President Bill Clinton agreed with Elizondo. Elizondo and the federal Méxican government prefer the phrase "Carrillo Fuentes Cartel."

Police Investigations Criticized

In an ongoing battle, citizens of Cd. Juárez have continued to criticize police for investigations which they consider unprofessional. Several cases warranted protest this month. The family of Eréndira Ivonne Ponce Hernández, found murdered August 18, 1998, complained that not only had investigator Joel Tellez bungled the investigation, but that police were harassing the family. The family of Jacqueline Sánchez Hernández (no relation) who was recently found dead floating in a canal, complained that she had reported to the police the fact that she was being followed by a man, but that the police did nothing about it. They accused the state police (PJE) of negligence in the case.

"Irregularities" committed in the investigation of the September 8, 1999 murder of Felipe Javier Lardibizal have caused state assistant attorney general Ricardo Vázquez Santiesteban to ask that the case be re-opened. Rosa Maria Lardibizal, sister of the victim, said that her brother knew of connections between state PJE officers and drug traffickers during the Francisco Barrio administration (PAN governor of Chihuahua, 1992-1998) and alleged that he was killed by a former PJE officer in Juárez.

Finally, the family of José "Pepe" Ramírez, the well-known radio and print journalist who was stabbed to death 36 times April 29, continues to demand that the PJE "clear his name." Ramirez, according to a state investigation, had 8 kilograms of marijuana in the trunk of his car when his body was found by state police. Attorney General Rascón said June 8 that the state had made a "60 percent advance" toward solving the murder. He said the Ramírez case is "very delicate" and that he hoped the state would make a breakthrough in its investigation of the murder soon. Ramirez' family would like the police to state that the killers planted the marijuana in the victim's car.

New Statistics Show Homicides, Domestic Violence Increasing in Cd. Juárez

Statistics released by the Department of Legal Medicine within the state's attorney general's office showed that homicides in Cd. Juárez for the period January-May 2000 had increased 30.7 percent over the number of homicides for the same period in 1999. As of May 30, there had been 85 homicides in Ciudad Juárez in 2000, compared to 65 in 1999.

In addition, there has been a 53 percent increase in suicides (30 in 1999 to 46 in 2000), a 28 percent increase in accidental deaths (71 to 91), and a 56 percent increase in deaths due to intoxification and overdose (41 to 64). There has even been an increase in traffic deaths, from 96 to 104. In the first five months of 2000, these five classifications of deaths have totaled 390 deaths.

The Unit for Sexual Crimes and Crimes Against the Family also released its statistics on domestic violence which indicated that in May 90 cases of domestic violence had been reported in the state of Chihuahua. At the same time, a social worker for the Casa Amiga Crisis Center in Juárez, Mirna Mercado, said that the center had seen an alarming increase in the number of cases of abused women it has handled. In the three-month period from February 1-April 30, 2000, the center handled 53 cases which involved domestic violence. The center handled 38 such cases in the three-month period from November 1999 through January 2000. In the three previous three-month periods, the numbers were 34, 26, and 8. The Center is handling over six times more cases than it did a year ago.

Worst Security Crisis Ever: Cd. Juárez Businessman

A leader of the Cd. Juárez business organization Canacintra said it is a risk for a business to be located in Cd. Juárez because of "the climate of insecurity."

"We are living in the worst security crisis ever," said Leonardo Eloy del Villar Calvillo. "Peace in Juárez is a dead word." He called upon politicians to "have a conscience."

The lack of trust in the city and state police agencies has motivated some families of disappeared women to launch their own investigations of a kind. For several Sundays in May and June, families have been combing the desert area known as Lote Bravo where many raped and murdered women have been found, looking for more bodies and more evidence that may finally bring the killers to justice.

The searchers have been partly organized by the group, Voices Without Echo (Voces Sin Eco), whose lead organizer is Vicky Caraveo. Caraveo said that the relationship between the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the office of the Special Prosecutor for Crimes Against Women, headed by Suly Ponce, has become strained.

"We do not have a good relationship," said Caraveo. "The prosecutor does not help the families of disappeared people, while we have to do the work in favor of these cases and the affected families."

Caraveo said she felt that police agencies were simply not working together on the cases.

Another Cd. Juárez human rights activist, Esther Chávez Cano, spoke more generally of the city's lack of trust in its police forces. "In the past, the police were respected," she said. "But their image is changing in society."

Violence Against Women, May 16-June 15

June 16 -- The skeleton of Melina Garcia-Ledesma was found buried in the backyard of her husband's house, 3107 Hamilton, in central El Paso. Garcia-Ledesma had been reported missing by her husband seven years ago, when the victim was 17. Her husband, Alejandro Ledesma Jr., was charged with the murder. The woman had disappeared after having a fight with her husband. Her family distributed leaflets all over the city in an atempt to locate her. According to El Paso Times, "neighbors said it was difficult to sleep over the all-night sounds of digging" seven years ago.

June 11 -- An 23-year-old El Paso man using a semiautomatic handgun shot and killed his ex-girlfriend and her mother at their East Side El Paso home, June 11. He also shot and wounded his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend. William Edward Henschel was charged with two counts of capital murder and one count of attempted capital murder. Caroll Ann Dibler, 56, a speech teacher at an El Paso high school, and her daughter, Kristin Dibler, 20, both died in the attack. Matt Kennedy, 21, who was visiting the house, was in serious but stable condition at Thomason Hospital as of June 12, according to police.

June 9 -- An autopsy of Sophia Martinez, the 18-year-old El Paso woman kidnapped from an El Paso ATM location and later found dead after being shot 5 times, proved that she was raped before she was killed. The murder occurred March 10, 2000. Dulce Enriquez, Sophia's sister, said that the police had informed the family of the sexual assault on March 14, but asked the family not to disclose the information for the first few months of the investigation.

June 6 -- The skeleton of Claudia Quezada Nevárez, 26, was discovered by boys playing soccer near a vacant lot by Calles Laguna and Arboleda, Nuevo Casas Grandes. Police recovered most of the bones of her body within a 50-meter radius. In addition to finding her vetebrae, police discovered pieces of her skull. Police also discovered her pants, blouse, and underwear. Police classified the case a homicide because of three wounds to her ribs which were caused either by a blunt weapon or a firearm. Police suspect her former boyfriend of the murder, but the man reportedly left for the United States a long time ago. Quezada Nevárez, originally from Cd. Juárez, was reported missing in September 1999. Forensic specialists said she had been dead at least six months.

June 6 -- The skeleton of Martha Francisca Hernández, 29, was found on the ranch "El Vergel" near Samalayuca. Police recovered the woman's skull, vetebrae, and leg bones; however, other parts of her skeleton could not be found. Special prosecutor Suly Ponce said that the case was not a homicide and that the woman had died of starvation.

June 6 -- A 27-year-old Juárez man, Juan Armando Favela Soto, was charged with the June 10, 1999 rape of a 15-year-old girl who is both deaf and mute. The attack occurred in the Felipe Angeles neighborhood. The accused denied the charge of rape, though he admitted to touching the girl.

June 4 -- A 19-year-old woman was allegedly raped by 25-year-old Ulises Félix Piñuelas in the La Cuesta neighborhood. The woman returned to her home where she informed her stepfather of the attack. The stepfather then reported the attack to the state police. However, the state police, according to El Diario, "did not act immediately." The stepfather went to Félix's house, where he beat the alleged offender, bruising his eye and both arms.

June 4 -- Juan Carlos Irán Camacho Garcia was arrested and charged with the sexual abuse and rape of his 16-year-old daughter.

May 27 -- Rosa Mendoza Martínez, 45, was charged with the stabbing death of her husband, Juan Alberto Bueno Esparza, 33, in the La Cuesta neighborhood. An hired housekeeper who witnessed the stabbing, and had tried to intervene in the matter, said that Mendoza acted in self-defense after Bueno Esparza, whom she said was inebriated, had wounded Mendoza during a domestic dispute.

May 20 -- Erika Sandoval Aguilar, 23, was reported missing by her family. She was last seen by her husband at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, May 19, when she left their house in the Kilometer 20 neighborhood to visit a nearby friend. She never made it to the friend's house, and as of June 30 she is still reported missing.

May 17 -- María Huerta Triana, 25, was charged with stabbing Jesús Martín Valenzuela Granados, outside of their house on Calle General Treviño in the Mariano Escobedo neighborhood. Huerta said she was defending herself from an attack when she stabbed Martín once with a pair of scissors. Martín was in stable condition at General Hospital as of May 18.

May 16 -- Mirna Lizeth Santos, 18, charged with the stabbing death of her husband, Fernando Moreno Bonilla, 35, claimed that she was acting in self-defense. Lizeth said her husband routinely beat her and injured her when drunk, and that she was defending herself from another drunken attack the night she stabbed him twice in the back with a knife. Lizeth also said that her husband of two years was a drug dealer in their neighborhood, Granjas Santa Elena.

Execution-Style Slayings and Related Crimes, May 16-June 15

June 15 -- Unidentified man, approximately 25 to 35, found strangled and left in the sewer channel of the Valley of Juárez. The victim's hands had been tied with gray adhesive tape. State police were alerted to the "presence of a corpse floating in a sewer canal at kilometer 48 of the Juárez-Porvenir Highway" by a witness at 12:30 p.m. Police did not find any documentation on the body of the executed man. An unofficial FNS count of drug-related execution-slayings, derived from reports in the Juárez daily newspapers, indicates this was the 29th such killing in Cd. Juárez in the year 2000.

June 14 -- Witnesses reported an attempted execution of an unidentified man whose car was fired upon by men using AK-47's while both vehicles were traveling down Avenida de la Raza.

June 4 -- Attempted assassination: José Estabillo López, 31, was shot once after being pursued by assassins through the streets of Ciudad Jimenez. Police said they believed the shooting may be related to drug trafficking activities.

May 29 -- Roberto Acosta Fujivara, a city councilor in Ciudad Jimenez, was killed after being shot twice by an assassin using a .45 caliber weapon, Calles Alvaro Obregón and Luis Echeverría, Ciudad Jimenez. Witnesses described the killer as a man approximately 35 years old wearing beige pants and a dark shirt. State police officials said they had not determined a motive or found the suspect as of May 30. Acosta was a city councilor for the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and also was a "prominent agricultural grower." He was shot once in the head and once in the chest.

May 27 -- Lucio Cano Barraza, 44, said to be a high-ranking member of the Carrillo Fuentes Cartel, was arrested without incident at his west side El Paso home. The Méxican government has said Cano is a "big player" in the Cartel and will seek his extradition to México where he will stand trial. That matter will not be decided until August.

May 22 -- Two more bodies exhumed from the so-called "mass graves" excavation of November 1999-January 2000 were identified: Antonio Tarzan, lawyer, and Raul Sanchez, former Juárez police officer, both missing since 1995.

May 18 -- Ramiro Adame López, 37, shot to death with a 9mm gun while parked in his car, General Eligio Pasten and Capitán José Granados, Oasis Revólucion neighborhood, Cd. Juárez. A passenger, Héctor Reza Dévora, 48, of New Mexico, was shot three times in the legs and was listed in stable condition at General Hospital.

May 16 -- Double execution: Two men, Jesús Reyes Méndez and Alexis Ramírez, found strangled and buried in a desert area near the colonias Toribio Ortega and Oasis Revólucion, Cd. Juárez. The two victims were both found with their hands and feet tied behind their backs and with their heads covered by plastic shopping bags. The two men had been dead for three to five days before they were discovered by two workers passing by who happened to notice the arm of one victim and the forearm of the other protruding from the sand. Police investigators later determined that the two men were victims of a robbery.

May 15 -- Juan José Quevedo Fernández, 40, shot 16 times with AK-47 fire while driving his car on Avenida Tecnológico toward Avenida de la Raza, Cd. Juárez. The victim was pursued by assassins driving two cars, one a black Cherokee and the other a black Nissan Sentra. An autopsy report indicated that he had died of shock after being struck by bullets in his head and torso. Police investigators called the killing "a professional execution," the 27th of the year for Cd. Juárez, although the state police (PJE) also said that 13 of those 27 executions were committed by gangs, not the drug cartel, within the city. The victim was a lawyer who was in practice with his brother in Cd. Juárez.

Sources: El Paso Times, El Diario, El Norte