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Tuesday, September 5, 2000 Families in the Northern Chihuahua and the city of Juárez have new tools to help them cover the expenses involved with education through 560 scholarships offered by the Northern Zone Education Coordinator (Coordinadora de Educación Zona Norte) and the "See Well to Learn Better" programs. It is estimated that 30,000 school age children in Juárez suffer from vision problems. That is why a fund for the "See Well to Learn Better" program will be doubled in an effort to supply 4,500 pairs of eyeglasses to children this semester. Statistics show that 2.7% of students who transition from elementary to middle school require glasses. The effort to distribute the glasses will take place from September 4th until December 15th at the State Government Social Development offices. The glasses are given to students without cost to their families. Also, 560 scholarships will be awarded to students with financial
need and students with outstanding academic performance.
The scholarships will be awarded in the form of school supplies,
instructional material, uniforms, and/or cash. A commission
will be formed within each school district that would be in charge
of the selection process. The scholarships are intended
to support elementary and secondary education. The scholarship
values will vary depending on the needs of the student which
will be determined by an analysis of the financial status of
the students family. The minimum value is that of 500 pesos
monthly. According to Abelardo Loya Peña of the Northern
Zone Education Coordinator's office the scholarships will be
a major economic support to families as well as encouragement
to students to further their education. According to census counts published yesterday there are 31
million Hispanics in the US. This is an increase of 38.8% between
July 1, 1990 and July 1, 1999. In New Mexico there 708,400 Hispanics,
up 22.3% since the last census and more than double the numbers
of non-Hispanic whites in the state. Source: El Diario, August 31, 2000. Article by Lorena
Figueroa. Thirty-four other agents from the city police, traffic police
and the fire department were also honored for their outstanding
service to Cd. Juárez in the month of July. The event
was held at town hall in the Francisco Madero salon. Tuesday, August 29, 2000 "They were not listening to my words. I shot twice into the air but still the people attacked us," said Víctor Manuel Martínez, 34 years old, a former Cd. Juárez police agent. "I shot once more into the air and at that moment the drunks broke a full, liter bottle of beer over the head of my partner." This was six years ago and for this Martínez was arrested and fired. "I liked my profession very much, I was at it for three years, but they let me down. It was unjust what they did," he said. Asked if he would go back if they let him he replied that he would not. He works as a security guard at a mall and although the pay is less he does not feel afraid there. "I am happy as a guard, I never want to fire a pistol again." This is just one of the stories of the many people that leave the Cd. Juárez police force every year. So far in the year 2000, 113 officers have left the department. Some leave by choice, others are fired. Of the 113 that have left this year, 50 resigned voluntarily by their own decision to take better jobs, go to the US or simply leave the police force because they did not like the type of work. Thirty-one agents were fired because they did not show up for work and twenty-three other agents were let go because their superiors lost confidence in them (firing under Article 29, Fraction II). Eight agents have retired so far this year. Twenty-eight traffic officers have also left the department this year. Sixteen of them were fired for not showing up to work and twelve left on their own. Cd. Juárez police earn about 5,500 pesos a month (approximately US$600), have life insurance, medical care, a vehicle, job security and access to loans. Some people also join the police force so that the department will pay for their college education. Of every ten officers that receives a degree while on the force, only one leaves after graduation. Police officers' children also receive college scholarships if they are under the age of 25. The El Diario article also goes on to state that city police do not leave their jobs because of fear of danger. Most agents like their work and feel that they are doing their city some good in serving its people. Source: El Diario, August 28, 2000. Article by Javier Saucedo Alcalá. Monday, August 28, 2000 One hundred high school and Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez students completed the first ever census of trees in the city's El Chamizal park. El Chamizal is Cd. Juárez's largest green space at 241 hectares. The census, which was carried out in June of this year, found 17,750 trees of 22 species in the park. Among the species were pine, oak, mesquite, juniper, eucalyptus, acacia, maple, cypress, and palm according to the director of Ecology (Ecología), Luis Carlos Guerrero Salmerón. Guerrero also stated that the most common species were oak and pine. On average the park has one tree for every 30 square meters of space. Guerrero added that now that it is known what trees exist in the park it will be possible to define specific conservation programs. The oak population will also have to be controlled, he said. Besides the 17,750 trees counted in the census, there are also 45,000 more trees developing in El Chamizal's nurseries according to the director of Servicios Públicos Municipales, Ricardo Martínez García. Source: El Diario, August 26, 2000. Article by Araly
Castañon. In a dispute that has been simmering since the beginning of July, tire workers and vendors have blockaded with thousands of high-piled tires the entrances to the Environment, Natural Resources and Fisheries Department (Secretaría del Medio Ambiente, Recursos Naturales y Pesca, Semarnap), the Commerce and Industrial Development Department (Secretaría de Comercio y Fomento Industrial, Secofi), and the town hall (Presidencia Municipal). Members of the Tire Workers Environmental Union (Unión Ecológica de Llanteros) are demanding that they be given the environmental approval necessary with which to begin the importation of used tires. Such permission has been delayed because of the large number of abandoned used tires which already exist scattered around Ciudad Juárez. These tires are blights on the landscape and pose a health threat in that they fill with water and provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes and other disease vectors. Local authorities, despite having one of their buildings blockaded, support the tire union in their desire to import the used goods. Without imported used tires the city and the tire union recognize that tire workers will not have enough material to rework and sell. The city also supports the tire union because it has agreed to a tire disposal and clean up fund that will be contributed to through a tire importation tax. Also, the city and the union have reached an agreement with the company Valati that will create a factory that will make products out of used tires. The city is also sponsoring and organizing a meeting at which the city, the tire union and the federal authorities can gather to work out there differences. The city, perhaps out of fear or out of support for the tire union, has refused to remove the tire blockades. If the blockades are disassembled by the city the union has threatened to set up new blockades throughout Cd. Juárez. Some union members have even talked of lighting the tires on fire if the situation is not soon favorably resolved although the possibility of this happening is probably very slight. Source: El Norte, August 24, 2000, article by Francisco Luján. El Diario, August 25, 2000, articles by Rosario Reyes y Araly Castañon. Thursday, August 24, 2000 The Madre canal is currently being cleared of accumulated mud and garbage because these deposits are prohibiting sufficient Rio Grande water from reaching Juárez Valley irrigation canals. From last Saturday through this past Tuesday workers and heavy machinery have been clearing out the acequia Madre near where it enters Anapra. The work is being done by the National Water Commission (Comisión Nacional de Agua, Conagua). Previously, on a number of different ocasions, the Juárez Valley Irrigation Users Association (Asociación de Usuarios de Riego del Valle de Juárez) has indicated that people are using the canal as a place to throw garbage, tires, dead animals and toxic waste. Only less than a month ago a garage dumped 10,000 liters of used oil in the acequia and no one cleaned up the waste. According to Conagua, responsibility for cleaning and maintaining the irrigation system belongs to Conagua, city government and local users. Source: El Diario, August 23, 2000. Article by Rosario Reyes. Wednesday, August 23, 2000 Officials at the Civil Registery (Registro Civil) in Cd. Juárez say that the most popular names for children in the last seven months are Brian and Michelle. The other most common names for girls are Arlene, Jaqueline and Stephanie and for boys, Giovanni, Jonathan and Sebastián. Employees at the Civil Registry say that foreign names are currently popular in Cd. Juárez, especially names from the US. They attribute this to Cd. Juárez's proximity to the US. Movie star and soap opera names are also quite common, with Brad (from Brad Pitt) and Jennifer (from Jennifer Lopez, not Aniston) being the most fashionable at this time. Losing popularity are names that many see as traditionally Mexican: José, Jesús, Francisco, Felipe, Salvador, Guadalupe and María. Names with good meanings that are disappearing perhaps because they sound too harsh or too old are all names in Nahuatl (an indigenous language) and names like Pánfilo, Anacleto, Teofilo and Eufemia. Mexican law dictates that a name must be composed of at least two words and numbers are not allowed. Nicknames are prohibited as are names that would reflect negatively on the child. One employee at the Civil Register said that he had to discourage a family from naming their daughter something that meant "Angel of Darkness." Employees also warn parents not to give their sons names like Guadalupe, Concepción, Mercedes or Refugio because whenever their name is called out people will expect to see a female, not a male. Such names for boys used to be more common in Mexico. Naming children after parents and grandparents is still common as is naming a child after the saint's day they are born on. Civil Registry employee Jorge Javier Salazar Serrano says that he also sees class trends in naming. The lower class often invents names and chooses obscure names while the middle class prefers classic names like "Juan Alberto and Víctor Daniel." The upper class also likes the traditional names and foreign names too but often choose the less known foreign names. Source: El Diario, August 19, 2000. Article by César Ruiz García. Tuesday, August 22, 2000 A crackdown on pharmacies in Ciudad Juárez is upsetting pharmacy owners and the Chamber of Commerce (Canaco) and is also seen to be targeting law-abiding businesses but ignoring those pharmacies that allegedly make illegal sales. The investigations, perhaps begun in part due to El Norte's undercover investigation of pharmacies that sell regulated drugs without prescriptions, are said to be intense revisions of every prescription that a pharmacy has filled in the last five years. Canaco pharmacy-area specialist Cruz María Arreola Enríquez complained that the Health Service (Servicio de Salud) inspections are like a form of terrorism in their severity. "They are wasting their time inspecting good pharmacies while those that obviously sell illegal drugs and illegally sell controlled drugs are ignored," she said. Arreola went on to say that most pharmacy owners like herself struggle to make a living in the business while owners that break the law for profit are becoming rich overnight and display their great wealth by driving the latest, most expensive cars. Over the weekend a large drug arrest was made outside the Plaza Farmacia by Grupo Orion officers. Inside a car owned by an employee of the Plaza Farmacia, police discovered 68,440 regulated medicinal pills, eight kilos of marijuana and 28 street-sized doses of cocaine. The owner of the pharmacy denies having anything to do with the drugs and said he had no idea that his night watchman was allegedly involved in such things. The watchman said that he was only waiting on the street according to his boss's instructions and had no idea what the boxes in his car contained. Nearly 60,500 Valium pills were seized along with 590 pills of Neo-Pecordan, 3,900 Rohypnol pills, 630 Tafil pills, 400 Darvon pills and 520 OxyContin pills. Source: El Norte, August 21, 2000. Article by Juan de Dios Oliva. Monday, August 21, 2000 Public bus safety has been an important topic in Cd. Juárez since July, 2000 when a number of people were killed in a flood-related bus accident. In response to these deaths the city has mandated the drug testing of all public bus drivers and has required that all bus lines carry insurance to cover their passengers in case of accident. In regard to the insurance requirement bus lines complained that insurance companies would not sell them the insurance they desired. This was confirmed by the State Department of Public Transportation when it called all of the city's insurers and invited them to a meeting about the coverage of city bus passengers. Only five of the city's companies attended the meeting and only four stated that they would cover public transportation passengers. This happened despite the fact that state officials explained to insurers that public busses had less accidents than specially contracted busses that take workers to and from maquiladoras. The specially contracted busses currently have insurance. However, now that the public bus lines have insurers that they can work with the state expects that travelers will soon be covered with insurance in case of accident. The policy will be for 350,000 pesos (approximately US$38,450) per event. Already in action, the city's drug-testing program began on August 4, 2000 and has resulted in the suspension of three drivers. Two bus drivers lost their licenses for failing drug tests. Chemical evidence of cocaine use was found in the drivers' urine. Another man had his license suspended when he failed to give a sample to a technician. However, he later completed the test and will have his license returned if the results are satisfactory. The surprise sampling program has been criticized in that drivers must give a urine sample while standing in the back of the bus, often with customers seated nearby. Tests are supposed to be done on a weekly basis but the lab cannot keep up with the city's testing demands according to state officials. Testing is to resume shortly however. Source: El Diario, August 18, 2000. Insurance article by Jesús Avila Ventura.
According to Miguel Hernández, treasurer for the Verification and Diagnostic Centers, 346,000 of Cd. Juárez's 450,000 vehicles have not yet had their cars' emissions systems inspected and therefore lack their year 2000 environmental stickers. The inspection and sticker costs 110 pesos (about US$12). To help people of limited means get the inspection and sticker for free, the government is announcing an assistance program at the centers and over the radio. People who do not get the stickers this year will be fined 1200 pesos next year (about US$130) when they go to get their new stickers. Hernández says that each verification center currently does about three inspections per day and is asking Cd. Juárez vehicle owners not to wait until the end of the year to get their cars inspected. This would overwhelm the centers and cause for long waits. So far this year traffic police (Dirección de Vialidad) have fined over 6,000 drivers that do not have their environmental stickers. People are fined about 270 pesos for driving without a valid environmental sticker and are fined an additional 648 pesos if they are driving a car that is causing visible pollution. Vehicles that are fined both amounts can get out of paying the penalty if they have their cars repaired and inspected within one month. Sources: El Norte, August 13 &14, 2000. Articles by Juan de Dios Olivas. Thursday, August 17, 2000 Deming, New Mexico Sheriff Frank Peña and two Palomas, Mexico police officers were arrested in Mexico while detaining two suspects in the disappearance of Stacey Milligan, age 24, mother of one. Milligan's body was found later in New Mexico on Tuesday, August 15, 2000. Milligan had been missing since last Thursday, August 10, 2000 and her family had reported to Mexican State Police (PGJE) that three men had kidnapped their daughter and taken her to Mexico. Apparently with the approval of local Palomas, Mexico police, Frank Peña went into Mexico to look for Milligan and her car. Accompanying Peña were the subdirector of the local Palomas police, Mauricio Rubio Nájera, and police agent Esther Hermosillo Montañez. The three law enforcement agents found Milligan's car in the hands of two of the suspects. They arrested the suspects and brought back the car. At this point one of the suspect's family members called the PGJE because of the way the men were detained and Peña, the two Mexican officers and the two suspects were stopped near Palomas. All were arrested. Peña and the Mexican officers posted bond of about $350 each and were released. Peña was charged with illegally carrying out police duties in Mexican territory. Peña was later taken to the border and released. Strangely, the two Mexican officers were stopped and arrested while transporting the two suspects in the car of the president of Palomas, Pedro Alvillar Olague. Relatives of Milligan stated that earlier they had approached Alvillar for help when they felt that the PGJE was not doing enough on the case. Indeed, a special state-level anti-kidnapping group said that they could not investigate since the crime took place in the US. :Later, State Attorney General Arturo González Rascón said that rumors about Peña having contracted the two Mexican officers are not correct and that the case is not being examined in this light. There was no contracting he said and no payments either. Since then, the two suspects in the car theft, both US citizens, both originally detained by Peña and the Palomas officers, were extradited to the US for having stolen Milligan's car. They have not been charged in the death of Daisy Milligan. One more suspect in the case was arrested in the US, also for possession of a stolen motor vehicle. He is also a US citizen. All three are now in the Luna County Dentention Center. Chief of the Luna County Sheriff's Department Gary Ciccotelli said that Peña followed all the right channels of international law to be allowed to go into Mexico and arrest the suspects. He continued by saying that he did not understand why Peña was stopped by the same police agency that gave him permission to go into Mexico. Perhaps they needed more time for diplomatic formalities Ciccotelli suggested. The General Secretary of State Government, Víctor Anchondo Paredes, said that he was told Peña had asked the local police for their collaboration and that such help is usually granted. The problem was more with the arrest and Peña and the local police had not made sure that they had valid legal reasons to make the arrest. To have correctly handled the situation Peña and the Mexican law enforcement officers would have taken more officers with them and would have had their orders written out officially. They also would have had an arrest warrant and an order for extradition. Mexican reaction to this event is mixed. The head of the state congress is calling for an investigation and the lawyer's bar is asking the governor and the attorney general to look into the case. The lawyers believe that an irregularity ocurred when Peña was dealt with at the local level. Instead, his case should have been handled by the proper, higher authorities. Anchondo, the general secretary of state government, seemed willing to drop the case if it is determined to have happened by misunderstanding, much in the way Mexican soldiers were released a few months ago when they were found to have been operating in US territory. He did however feel that the case should be looked at closely to determine if other, serious crimes were committed. Source: El Diario August 16 & 17. Wednesday, August 16, 2000 The subject of abortion rights has been highlighted in the Ciudad Juárez press over the last week due to a controversial, new anti-abortion law in the state of Guanajuato. The Guanajuato law, passed by PAN party members in congress, outlaws abortion even in the case of rape. In reaction to the legislation, press around the country has been focusing on abortion law and rights throughout Mexico and fellow PAN member and president-elect Vicente Fox has distanced himself from the PAN congress of his home state. Recent articles in El Diario have examined the abortion issue in Cd. Juárez at a number of levels. An August 13 article showed that various, affordable herbal preparations that cause an abortion are available in markets throughout the city. A less common form of abortion is the purchase and ingestion of Cytopec, an unregulated, ulcer drug available without prescription in Mexican pharmacies. Abortion is a side effect of the drug. Cytopec is purchased mostly by US citizens because of its high price, around US$50. The articles goes on to state that illegal abortion appears to be uncommon in Juárez. Only one case of it has been reported to legal authorities since March of this year. At a medical clinic which saw 464 miscarriages, only one was deemed to have been illegally provoked. By law, medical clinics must report illegal abortions to the police who then investigate. A Notimex article from August 15 says that 60% of women who have abortions in El Paso, Texas (which is just over the border from Cd. Juárez) are Mexican citizens, of the middle class or higher, who consider themselves Catholics. An un-named, non-governmental women's health organization said that El Paso's four abortion clinics perform twenty abortions per day. The Mexican women are mostly from Cd. Juárez and the north of Chihuahua state with some coming from other Mexican cities. Most of the Mexican women are between 16 and 21 years old, say they are Catholics and belong to the Mexican middle and upper classes. This last fact is almost self evident as Mexico's lower classes cannot afford the US$300-$800 procedures. Minors must be accompanied by an adult, the article states. An August 16 article in El Diario describes the state of abortion law in Mexico's 31 states and Mexico City which together are referred to as Mexico's 32 federal entities. In 31 of the 32 entities abortion is permitted in cases of rape. In 28 of the federal entities abortion is allowed if it threatens the life of the mother or if conception occurred by way of a medical accident or mistake. 11 entities permit abortion in case of fetal genetic defects and Yucatán allows abortion for economic reasons when a woman already has 3 or more children. Mexico City is about to allow abortion for reasons of economic hardship. Only Chiapas, Morelos, Nuevo León and Tabasco currently do not permit abortion in cases where the mother's life is in danger. The article also states that 17% of Mexican women of reproductive age have had an abortion. Tuesday, August 15, 2000 An El Norte undercover investigation of pharmacies in Ciudad Juárez indicates that many drugs supposedly available only with prescription in Mexico are readily obtainable without a prescription and at a much lower price than the drug would cost legally, or on the street, in the US. Valium which sells at Walgreens for US$19.50 in the US for 10 pills, 10 mg each, costs only US$10 in Mexico without a prescription. Qxicotin, a synthetic morphine, which would cost on the street nearly US$20 a pill in the US is available in law-breaking Cd. Juárez pharmacies without a prescription for US$10 a pill. Perhaps the most frightening part of the story is that US buyers only have to walk across a bridge from El Paso into Cd. Juárez and ask a taxi driver to take them to a pharmacy where "prohibited medicines" are sold. The driver then gets a cut of the sale for having provided the pharmacy with a customer. The El Norte article also followed a married couple from Alamogordo, New Mexico around Cd. Juárez as they sought out Qxicotin over a period of a week. During their first visit to the city the couple easily found a taxi driver to show them a pharmacy that would sell them the synthetic morphine. Their second time back the first pharmacy they went to would not sell them Qxicoticn without a prescription but told them a place to go. Upon arriving at the second pharmacy someone met them at the door and took them upstairs to a doctor who wrote out the desired prescription. More Qxicotin was then obtained from this store. Cd. Juárez does have a control system in place but apparently it is not always adhered to by the drug stores. Whenever "dangerous" medicines are sold the prescriptions for them are to be kept by the pharmacy and then sent to the Health Department. Also, controlled medicines are not to be displayed within view by the public but this violation did occur in many of the stores that El Norte visited. The display of such drugs may symbolize the fact that a particular pharmacy illegally trafficks in prescription medication. Cd. Juárez health officials commenting on the story all agreed that the illegal sale of potentially dangerous drugs is a serious health problem but that the city does not have the resources to enforce its existing laws. Source: El Norte article by Guadalupe Salcido, August 14, 2000. Monday, August 14, 2000 Chihuahua governor Patricio Martínez officially denies the spraying-related death allegedly caused by the Federal Attorney General's Office (Procuraduría General de la República, PGR) in its efforts to eradicate marijuana fields in the Tarahumara Sierra region of Guachochi. He said that the story was created by narcotraffickers to fool the public, the government, the press and even the Chihuahua Human Rights Commission (Comisión Estatal de Derechos Humanos, CEDH). Martínez insisted that he has always been critical of the PGR but that the story of the death of a two-year old girl by PGR spraying is a total falsity. He continued by saying that federal authorities should continue spraying marijuana fields because the Sierra de Chihuahua and the Sierra Madre Occidental is full of marijuana. Authorities should not back away from the destruction of drug fields solely because of negative stories like the one of the girl killed by herbicide intoxication. The Chihuahua State Attorney General, Arturo González Rascón, said that the mother of the girl who supposedly died from the Paraquat spraying is a sister of the Muela family, three members of which were arrested previously at a marijuana field. González continued by saying that in December of last year and in June of the present year three members of the Muela "pandilla" (gang) were arrested. He described them as "murderers, narcotraffickers, rapists and robbers." Martínez also expressed to the press some of his frustrations with the PGR. He stated that it was all well and good that the PGR sprays marijuana fields, especially as significantly large parts of the state are planted in the drug, but added that the Attorney General's Office has done nothing else to solve drug-related crimes in the state. Sources: El Diario and El Norte, August 12, 2000
The Citizens Committee Against Crime (Comité Ciudadano de Lucha Contra la Delincuencia, Cocilude) and the Education Workers' Front (Frente de Trabajadores de la Educación, FETE) asked yesterday for the resignation of the head of Public Security (Seguridad Pública), Javier Mario Benavides González. The groups also called for a public meeting on new security strategies to be held in the Plaza de Armas on Saturday, August 19 at 9:00 a.m. In attendance will be NGO's, women's groups, industry groups, unions and church leaders. The call for Benavides' resignation comes after a particularly bloody week in Ciudad Juárez in which a female teacher Elodía Payán was robbed and killed during daylight hours in a shop where she worked. A lawyer was found stabbed to death in a car and a man was assassinated in a Catholic church. Also, four police officers, two men and two women, were allegedly shot by two or more gunmen during a traffic stop (although there has been some speculation in the press that the police may have fired on each other). Three of the four officers were shot in the back or chest and were not wearing body armor. One of the groups' complaints is that local police work in deplorable conditions. The department cannot afford bulletproof vests and some of the police injured in the shootout had never before fired their sidearms. This is because the department does not have a firing range and the underpaid officers are forced to buy their own munitions. The groups are also asking for public feedback on their three crime proposals. The first proposal is for public, direct election of the police of chief, the head of Public Security (Seguridad Pública). The public could then vote on the candidate with the best resume and past history of success. This would help to put career police officers at the head of the force and make sure that it was not politically compromised pick. The second new security proposal is to allow the citizenry to carry firearms. This is permissible under Article 10 of the Constitution which allows for people to carry guns if their lives are threatened and as long is there is the approval of the Secretary of Defense. The groups say this is necessary because there are only 980 agents in Cd. Juárez divided among three shifts. Thus, at any one time, there are only around 300 police agents to guard the city's 1.4 million inhabitants. The third proposal is for a new, anti-crime tax. The spending of the money would be watched over by society, the church and government. The groups also ask for the end of all political fighting between the mayor and the governor, saying that they should stop competing and start working together for the benefit of the people. Source: El Diario, August 11, 2000. Article by Tania Fernández Thursday, August 10, 2000 The Federal Attorney General's Office (Procuraduría General de la República, PGR) states that the story of a Tarahumara town in southern Chihuahua poisoned by aerial spraying and a two-year old girl's resultant death may be part of a campaign to tarnish its reputation. This is according to the PGR's Mauricio Martínez who says that a detailed investigation of the situation is now taking place. He also denied that the PGR was carrying out any actions near the town of Chorowi on the date in question. For this reason the PGR is not in agreement with the complaint filed with the Chihuahua State Human Rights Office (Comisión Estatal de Derechos Humanos, CEDH). The spokesperson for the Chihuahua State Attorney General's Office (Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado, PGJE) Horacio Nájera said that for now there are only rumors about a case of herbicide intoxication in the small town of Chorowi, Guachochi county, in the Sierra Tarahumara in the south of Chihuahua. The PGJE has not started an investigation because it has yet to see the body of the dead girl nor has it received a formal complaint from the Tarahumara nor has it seen an autopsy report. Other unnamed government officials speculate that the Muela family of narcotraffickers could be strategically generating these stories to discredit the PGR. The governor of Chihuahua, Patricio Martínez, said
in his weekly radio address that a detailed social study of the
supposed Paraquat spraying is now underway in the Guachochi community.
However, he also stated that there has been no autopsy nor a
medical report stating that there was a death by herbicide intoxication.
None of the region's medical clinics have reported any cases
of herbicide intoxication either. Wednesday, August 9, 2000 Paying US$300 to Mexican customs' officials to cross a truck full of goods into Mexico is now seen as an outdated, clumsy manner with which to pass contraband into Mexico from the US. Today, the Mexican government worries more about "technical" or "document" contraband. With this kind of illegal importation trucks are accompanied by the necessary paper work but the paper work mistakes the trucks' loads. Often the numbers, volume or weight of the material being crossed is far under-reported or the nature of the imported material is slightly changed so that a lower tariff rate can be achieved. One example of this is from 1996 when federal police discovered two vehicles transporting 40 tons of lard. The documentation on board the trucks said that the lard was a mixture of edible fats including pig lard and tallow. However, when the police examined the lard more closely they found that it was pure pig lard. While the difference might seem trivial pure lard is taxed at 256% of its value whereas the mixed lard would have been taxed at 14%. The difference in taxation meant that Mexico would have been shorted 500,000 pesos (US$50,000) had the material not been correctly identified by the federal police. Contraband of this type badly hurts Mexican producers of fruit, chicken, milk products, clothes, toys and computers. The Mexican Chamber of Commerce, Canaco, is very worried about this type of contraband and says that it exists because the customs services and other government agencies do nothing about it. When the above mentioned trucks were detained lawyers arrived and got the drivers and their trucks freed and the investigation was halted. At other times the federal police have made stops only to be told later that people and merchandise must be freed because there was no law under which to charge people. Detailed studies of contraband networks presented by the federal police to the customs services, Aduana, have supposedly gone unheeded. The most dangerous type of contraband may be chicken as it susceptible to the salmonella virus. Mexico imports large quantities of dark meat that chicken producers in the US cannot find a market for at home. While the chicken usually arrives safely to Mexico it is often discovered in unrefrigerated trucks. Sometimes it is refrozen upon arrival in Mexico and then sold to stores. Other times, drivers move through busy neighborhoods and sell the contraband bird off of the back of their trucks. Not only is human health threatened but Oscar Fernández Anchondo, the president of the Chihuahua Aviculture Association, says that it is hard for chicken growers in Mexico to compete with large US producers. Source: El Diario, August 7, 2000. Article by Alejandro Gutiérrez. Tuesday, August 8, 2000 An important issue this summer for both Mexican and US officials is the safety of undocumented immigrants seeking to enter the US at remote, hot desert stretches that are the least guarded by the US Border Patrol. Mexico has responded to this by continuing its Grupo Beta patrols that watch out for the safety of would-be immigrants to the US. Grupo Beta seeks to protect Mexican citizens from robbery, rape and murder and even arrests other, corrupt government agents on its patrols. Beta also discourages people from crossing to the US this time of year and advises those that still want to make the attempt to carry lots of water with them. The position of the US Border Patrol concerning immigrant safety is a bit more contradictory. Because the Border Patrol has an ever-greater number of agents and is more aggressively patrolling the border and hardening it at many points with fences, walls, lights, cameras and motion detectors it causes Mexicans and Central Americans to cross at the most dangerous and most remote points on the US Mexico Border. This has caused an increase in the number of immigrant deaths, most due to dehydration, exposure and drowning. The US responded to this surge in mortality by stating that the Border Patrol would be charged with the responsibility of rescuing endangered immigrants. Such thinking is almost Orwellian on the part of US officials as it makes the persecutors of undocumented people take on the role of their saviors or rescuers. Two recent deaths reported on the California and Arizona borders with Mexico show the human costs of the US border policy and the failure of the Border Patrol and Grupo Beta to prevent deaths. The August 7, Ciudad Juárez paper El Diario tells the story of a 33 year old, single mother Rosalía Bazán Miranda who died of dehydration and sun exposure while crossing into Arizona with her two children, Ana Laura and Carlos Enrique, ages eleven and five. According to the daughter they entered the US with a group of immigrants but fell behind when they could not keep up the group's pace. Rosalía had only brought a little water with her and gave it all to her children sooner than expected because of the region's intense heat. Rosalía sat down to rest for a while but then fell unconscious. She died near the border, about fifteen miles from Douglas, AZ. After being rescued, the children were said to be suffering only from sunburns. Along the California/Baja California border seventeen-year old Juan Manuel Vargas lost his father, 55 year old Juan Manuel Vargas Dimas. He and his father got lost in the mountain region called La Rumorosa between Tecate and Mexicali. They had crossed into the US earlier in the day but escaped to Mexico when they saw US Border Patrol agents. They crossed with a group of polleros (human traffickers) but got lost. When Juan Manuel last saw his father he was sitting under a tree feeling ill. They were lost and Juan Manuel went for help. His father's body was later found by a Grupo Beta patrol from Tecate. The body was then identified by Juan Manuel and relatives from Sonora. Source: El Diario, July 30 and August 7, 2000 Monday, August 7, 2000 Aerial spraying of a marijuana field near a Rarámuri village carried out by the Federal Attorney General's Office (Procuraduría General de la República, PGR) left 300 sick and injured and may have killed a two-year old girl according to the Chihuahua State Human Rights Office (Comisión Estatal de Derechos Humanos, CEDH). Personnel from the Chihuahua Institute of Health (Instituto Chihuahuense de la Salud, Ichisal) and the Tarahumara State Coordinating Office (Coordinadora Estatal de la Tarahumara) went yesterday [8-4-00] to the Rarámuri community of Chorowi to take care of the injured and to perform an in-depth investigation. The death of a minor, Armida Muela Loera, was mentioned in a report made by the inhabitants of Chorowi, according to CEDH president Oscar Francisco Yáñez. The events occurred on July 12, 2000 but the complaint was not filed until July 31. The report states that Federal Judicial agents (Judicial Federal) and PGR air support sprayed herbicides on a field planted with marijuana. Attempting to explain away the Rarámuri's complaint, antidrug officer Herrán Salvatti denied to the SUN news agency that his agency had undertaken an operation of this nature. "The most recent PGR campaign in the Tarahumara [region], specifically in Guachochi, was July 28. Thus it is clear that our planes were not in this zone on July 12," he said. According to the CEDH's Yáñez, federal agents undertook a series of actions including knocking down homes and maltreating the town's population such that their human rights were violated. "In fumigating this area, the herbicides fell over the inhabitants of Chorowi, over their houses, their belongings and their animals. According to the report, this has caused them a series of injuries and problems, including skin sores and sores on their scalps, damage to their vision, airways and mucous membranes." He added that the Rarámuri allege that they were not advised of the spraying before it took place and that no precautions were taken to guard their health. Translated from El Diario, 8-5-00. Article by Silvia Macías Medina. PJF Kills Girl with Herbicide and Leaves Hundreds Sickened One dead child, hundreds sickened, houses leveled, terror and confusion: these were the results of an operation undertaken by two groups of Federal Judicial Police (Policía Judicial Federal, PJF) in the town of Chorowi, county of Guachochi, in Chihuahua state. What was supposed to be a PGR (Procuraduría General de la República, Federal Attorney General's Office) military action against narcotrafficking ended up as an abuse of authority and an abuse of the Tarahumara whose only crime is to live far from where justice is imparted. [Editors note: an accompanying map of Chihuahua shows Chorowi to be in the far southwest of the state. The map also states that the town is a 24 hour walk from where the nearest road ends.] In their direct testimony to the Chihuahua State Human Rights Commission (Comisión Estatal de Derechos Humanos, CEDH), those affected by the spraying said that on July 12 two groups of PJF agents showed up in Chorowi, one group on foot, the other overhead in helicopter. According to José Luis Armendáriz, the technical secretary of the CEDH, the complaint was made by 45 fathers of Chorowi families. They stated that a group of PJF agents flew over their town and sprayed herbicide, supposedly to damage marijuana fields. What actually resulted was the death of a two-year old girl who was in grave condition for two days from breathing the poison that fell from the sky. She died on July 14. This same poison that according to the townsmen killed the girl, caused the chemical intoxication of hundreds of other people and killed livestock like chickens and pigs. Furthermore, the group of PGR agents that arrived by foot into the village are accused of leveling homes, and causing panic and terror. Article by Edgar Prado Calahorra. Translated from El Norte, 8-5-00 by Greg Bloom, Frontera NorteSur editor.
The general secretary of the Regional Federation of Workers in Matamoros (FRTM), Alfredo Bazán Serrata stated that workers were suffering repetitive motion injuries and were being made ill by working with toxic substances in the Autotrim SA de CV plant in Matamoros. This situation was detected two years ago by the Maquila Industry Workers Union (Sindicato de Jornaleros y Obreros Industriales de la Industria Maquiladora) and almost all of the cases have been resolved. The repetitive motion injuries were caused by workers putting covers on automobile steering wheels. The workers suffered damage to their wrists, necks and shoulders. Workers have also been sickened by exposure to toxic materials at the plant. Bazán said that not all of the company's workers were injured and that there are only 35 cases of injured workers left to resolve. These cases were made after an investigation by the health department. It should also be noted that while Mexico has many very good worker safety laws on its books, similar to those of the USA, the laws are often not enforced. Source: El Mañana, Efraín Martínez In another story from Matamoros, the newspaper El Mañana writes about the clean up of a toxic spill by Cleanmex, a Mexican company that they describe as the only company in the country able to handle toxic waste. Found in a colonia (neighborhood) near the city dump, the spill is being attributed to the company Grupo Bioquímico of Saltillo, Coahuila. Six small tanks or containers carrying undescribed toxic waste or wastes from the company were spilled in Colonia El Alto. Grupo Bioquímico Saltillo contracted with Cleanmex to clean up the contaminated soil and dispose of the containers at a toxic-waste site. According to Sonia Chacón, director of environment for the city (Control Ambiental), the damage caused by the company's lack of responsibility was minor as only one square meter of soil was contaminated. The Federal Attorney General's Environment Office (Procuraduría Federal de Protección al Ambiente) will determine the fine in the case. The attorney general is also investigating clandestine dumping by unauthorized companies or persons. Source: El Mañana Juan Pablo Sánchez There are nearly 350 illegal garbage dumps in Cd. Juárez where industrial and medical waste are disposed of improperly. Margarita Rodríguez González, the coordinator of inspectors for the City Services Department (Dirección de Servicios Urbanos), says that many illegal dumps are larger than 200 square meters and that there exist within the city at least 50 dumps larger than 1000 square meters. The majority of these areas are on the city's edge, near the entrances to colonias or on vacant land throughout the city. The largest illegal dumps are those in Zaragoza, El Sauzal, Puerto Anapra, Fronteriza Alta y Granjas Unidas de la Frontera. The smaller dumps are found at the entrances to colonias like Municipio Libre, Tierra Nueva and Guadalajara. Cd. Juárez generates 2,400 tons of garbage daily, 55% of it is of domestic origin and the rest is from businesses or industry. Cd. Juárez has 80 trucks with which to pick up the waste generated in private homes. Industry and business must contract with private agencies to have their garbage removed. In February of this year Cd. Juárez mandated that industry and business must use officially approved and recognized groups to remove their waste. Rodríguez said that this has made a large difference in the amount of illegally handled waste. While the number of clandestine dumps has not been reduced, the amount of waste thrown in them has diminished. At the same time the city landfill has seen an increase in the amount of trash it has received since February. The city has 23 waste disposal companies that have been authorized to handle non-toxic, solid waste from business and industry. In the months ahead Rodríguez's inspectors will be fining companies that are using illegal waste haulers. Source: El Diario Tania Fernández Monday, July 31, 2000 The Environment, Natural Resources and Fishing Department of the state of Chihuahua (Semarnap) is proposing the construction of a toxic waste site to be located in the desert between Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua City. According to Semarnap, the state annually produces 27,000 tons of hazardous waste. 17,500 tons of the waste are from foreign maquilas and this is all returned for processing and disposal to the countries which own the maquilas. Of the remaining 9,500 tons of waste produced by Mexican sources, 5,000 tons are sent out of state to the Rimsa (Residuos Industriales Multiquim, S.A.) containment facility in La Mina, Nuevo León. Some 2,000 tons of hazardous oil lubricants are sent to cement factories to be used in the production of cement and 1,800 tons of waste per year are dumped down the drain in urban areas or are poured directly into streams or rivers. The rest of the waste is stored in private homes--things like paint thinner and pesticides--or on-site at industrial facilities. Currently, only four percent of Chihuahua state's hazardous waste is treated before final disposal. This is all infectious and contagious waste from medical facilities. The company Atherton, which has been operating in Chihuahua City for the last five years, imports biohazardous waste from all over the state, treats it so that it is no longer dangerous and then disposes of it in a local landfill. Luis Raúl Córdoba Chávez, a representative of the environment department of Semarnap, says that there is national and foreign money waiting to invest in a toxic waste facility in the state that would be placed in the desert somewhere between Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua City. He said that investors know that the toxic waste facility would be profitable especially because within a few years the maquila industry will be able to leave some of its waste in Mexico instead of having to return it to the country of origin. Mexico has yet to decide what chemicals it will allow to be buried in the country. Currently, the state of Chihuahua has no toxic waste facility and must export its waste to the Nuevo León if it wishes to properly dispose of hazardous waste. This transportation is quite expensive and some smaller companies are not be able to afford it. In Chihuahua City there are only three companies which can transport waste to the Rimsa facility in Nuevo León. One of these companies is Servicios Ambientales del Norte. Antonio Soria Gómez, a co-owner of the company, said that he transports 50 tons of waste a month to Rimsa. He also disposes of 76 tons per month of used oil which is taken to a Cementos Apasco plant in Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila. For these two services he bills his customers almost $36,000 a month. He estimates that the two other disposal companies in Chihuahua City do about the same amount of business. Consuelo Dueñas, an investigator at the Monterrey Technological University and part of a Mexican organization dedicated to waste handling (Red Mexicana para el Manejo de Residuos), said that Chihuahua should have its own waste facility nearby so that it can more safely and inexpensively handle its waste. Dueñas has been meeting with business people, academics, and environmentalists to try and convince them that Chihuahua needs its own toxic waste facility. She expects that there will be strong reactions to the plan but said that everyone is responsible for creating waste and properly disposing of it. One thing Red Mexicana will be doing in the near future is publishing a pamphlet that explains why a facility is important. However, as recent failed efforts to install toxic waste sites in Coahuila and San Luis Potosí have shown, a site for Chihuahua is not guaranteed. José Luis Rodulfo, the director of the Chihuahua Maquila Association (Asociación de Maquiladoras de Chihuahua), said that his group will soon look at the possibility of foreign maquilas disposing of waste within the state. However, Rodulfo also stated that foreign-owned maquilas have no problem continuing to send their waste out of the country and will continue to do so unless the conditions in Chihuahua were one-hundred percent safe. Rodulfo believes that the creation of the site depends upon how safe it will be and how much public support it has. Source: El Diario Friday, July 28, 2000 Previous estimates stating that Cd. Juárez could withdraw water out of the Hueco Aquifer (Bolsón del Hueco) for at least the next twenty years are now said to be incorrect according to Felipe Siqueiros, director of the Municipal Investigating and Planning Institute (IMIP) in Cd. Juárez. IMIP participated in a new hydrological study and on Wednesday, July 26, Siqueiros informed Cd. Juárez mayor Gustavo Elizondo that the aquifer could run dry within the next ten years at the current rate of use. Because of this troubling, new time table, Siqueiros expressed to the mayor the urgency with which the city must begin to exploit other sources of water. One new source of water for Cd. Juárez is the Río Grande (known in Spanish as the Río Bravo). Water would be taken from the river and treated in water plants before being used by the community. Water could also be extracted from the Mesilla Aquifer (known in Mexico as the Conejos-Médano) which currently supplies Las Cruces, Mesilla and other southwest New Mexico towns with their water. The Mesilla Aquifer extends perhaps twenty to thirty miles into Mexico. Mexico has done some test drilling of the aquifer but it is not currently exploited by Cd. Juárez. If Cd. Juárez were to begin using the water it would shorten the life span of the aquifer for US users. Finally, Cd. Juárez could bring in water via the Casas Grandes highway from the Minas Bismarck aquifer which is about 150 kilometers (90 miles) away. Siqueiros told Elizondo that the best course of immediate action for the city is to start treating Río Grande water for Cd. Juárez use. This would help slow the rate at which the Hueco Aquifer is being spent. Source: El Norte Thursday, July 27, 2000 Law enforcement officials and city administrators on both sides of the Rio Grande are worried about rave parties in El Paso and Cd. Juárez. Characterized by techno music or electronica, raves are also associated with hallucinogens and the drug ecstasy. While the press in both cities focuses exclusively on the drug aspect of the parties, the degree of drug use at the events is debatable. Indeed, attendees themselves discount this view of their parties saying that only a minority of the people present use drugs and that the music and spirit of the events is why they like the dance parties. A Cd. Juárez Diario article on "fiestas rave" in El Paso begins by stating that El Paso officials, worried about the alarming increase in rave parties, will have a series of presentations for parents and teachers to inform them about raves. The article goes on to say that last Sunday at 7 a.m. El Paso police saw intoxicated minors outside a building and entered to find a rave party in progress. They arrested the organizers of the event but released the minors after fining their parents for curfew violations. A police spokesperson is quoted as saying that although they have not had any serious intoxications yet the number of parties are on the rise and they want them to end. To help counter the rise in raves and to let people know about such events a narcotics officer is holding public meetings on the events. At the beginning of July in Cd. Juárez local police found a "clandestine party" in a city park where people were selling hallucinogenic drugs to minors. City officials said that the events are hard to know about ahead of time because they are prepared in secret and even ticket holders must call a phone number the night of the rave to learn of its location. The director of the city commerce department Roberto Cisneros Aranda said that the parties last all night and psychedelics are consumed and perhaps heroin, cocaine, marijuana and alcohol. He said his department has the authority to close any alcohol-serving establishment where drugs are being consumed but that he cannot go out and investigate the organization of the events. Cd. Juárez Mayor Gustavo Elizondo Aguilar also showed concern about the rave fiesta that was discovered in one of his parks. He ordered an investigation of the Parque Central (city park) and said park officials would be prosecuted if they were found to be involved. He said such parties would ever again take place in the park under any circumstances. Source: El Diario Wednesday, July 26, 2000 The Cd. Juárez newspaper El Norte reported on Tuesday, July 25, that 75% of births in the city's private hospitals and clinics are via caesarean section. In public hospitals, according to the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), the rate of caesarean sections for 1999's 15,680 births was 26%. By comparison, private hospitals in the US average a 30% c-section rate. In El Paso, the c-section rate is acknowledged to be around 30% for private hospitals. Thomason Hospital has a 12% c-section rate as does the natural birth center Maternidad La Luz. The main cause of the high c-section rate in Cd. Juárez's private hospitals and clinics is that their physicians can make more money by performing the surgery. These same clinics and hospitals also guarantee themselves return clients by allowing women to believe that future births after caesarean section must again be by surgical means. This however is not true and virginal birth after delivery (vbac) can have a very high success rate depending upon what the initial cause for c-section was. If the c-section was performed for reasons of fetal distress the vbac success rate is 71 to 92%, for problems of fetal presentation 84 to 91%, for failure to progress in labor 33 to 78%, and for having twins the vbac success rate is 72%. Across the border from Cd. Juárez is El Paso's Maternidad La Luz, a natural-birth center, where most of the women who give birth are from Cd. Juárez and are Mexican citizens. Many of the Mexican women are also doctors and dentists that understand the benefits of natural childbirth and the dangers of c-section. According to Heather Sinclair, a midwife at the center, their c-section rate is around 12% and they aim for a 5% rate. Five percent is the c-section rate in Sweden where there is a high rate of natural childbirth and good prenatal care. Similarly, some US doctors that are committed to drug- and technology-free birthing do both home births and hospital births and have only a 4 to 5% c-section rate. One idea put forth to protect women in Mexico from unnecessary c-sections is to pay the same for c-sections and vaginal birth. Women should also know that they can have a vbac and understand that caesarean sections are not risk-free operations. The mortality rate from c-sections is 0.8% with 37% of the deaths resulting from direct problems from the operation and 21% from problems with anesthesia. The other causes of death were infection, pulmonary embolism, complications from high blood pressure and hemorrhaging. Source: El Norte Tuesday, July 25, 2000 Late Sunday night and into Monday morning, hundreds of skilled workers, brought in from the poor, southern regions of Chiapas and Veracruz to build a local hospital, battled with police and burned four cars. Previously, the workers' living conditions had been much publicized in the Cd. Juárez press. According to one of the workers, Carlos Ramírez Mendoza, the men live in cheap wooden structures without ventilation, safe water or decent sanitary conditions. He also said that they are forced to work more than eight hours per day and that their pay checks are always incorrect. The workers were brought to Cd. Juárez by the construction firm Tribasa to build a state hospital for the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS). Reports differ as to what touched off the confrontation between workers and police. Local police say that a man injured in a fight with a coworker was brought to an on-site police facility used to observe the construction. The agents called an ambulance over their radios on an official frequency but because of communication problems no help arrived. The workers grew angry at the wait, the police said, and began to protest. One agent went to use a phone to call an ambulance and the other five were surrounded in their post by workers that had armed themselves with rocks and pipes. Four of the agents tried to run away and were pursued by an estimated 150 workers that threw rocks and other construction material at them. Fearing for their safety one of the agents fired into the air and the crowd of protesters dissipated. Reinforcements were called in but they did not seek to enter the crowd of agitated workers that had swelled to some 500 men. At some point the police agents' cars were burned. Ramírez said that the trouble began when police allegedly beat and kicked one of the workers into unconsciousness and refused to let ambulances on to the work site. The workers began to protest because of this, he stated. Now, the workers have had enough of the police, living conditions and the construction company and wish to return home. Ramírez says that the workers also fear reprisals by the police and are therefore asking for transportation home for the estimated 350 that want to leave. They also want any pay that is owed to them. The technical supervisor of the project, Hugo Celestino González, said that he has already organized transportation for the 350 of 800 workers that wish to leave. The president of the local Chamber of Commerce (Canaco) Héctor Carreón León said that in the future federal contracts should go to local firms so that the money stays in the region. He also stated that by bringing in outside workers, companies like Tribasa have a difficult time guaranteeing good living conditions. This can disrupt what he called an otherwise quiet labor environment. Confrontations such as these at the hospital site have caused other groups to back away from government-sponsored plans to bring in outside workers. The city of Chihuahua has talked about such a program but the Maquiladora Association of Juárez (AMAC) believes it would be inappropriate for Cd. Juárez. Luis Nava, director of AMAC, said that bringing in workers would cause a new set of problems in a city that already has a migratory influx. Many people believe that any government project for importing workers would only further overload a strained city budget and a completely over-taxed infrastructure. With the PRI and the PAN both adhering to neoliberal economic positions it is strange that they fall back on big government programs to provide workers for corporations. In the July press coverage of the worker importation issue no one has discussed or mentioned raising wages in the maquiladoras and throughout Cd. Juárez. This would certainly create a new labor pool in the border city that would neither depend on new government programs nor further stress the city infrastructure. Source: El Diario and El Norte Monday, July 24, 2000 The Wednesday, July 19 arrest of two alleged Federal Judicial Police (PJF) informants hit on a sore spot between local and federal government. The two men, Daniel Duarte Domínguez, age 28, and Fernando Duarte, age 17, were detained by Cd. Juárez police in a stolen vehicle containing bullets and bullet cartridges of a caliber that are illegal except for military use. The truck was reported stolen from Texas although the two Duartes said that the automobile belonged to a PJF officer. While the men were in a local-police holding station awaiting judicial and police proceedings two PJF officers, Agustín Vilchis and Juan Manuel Alfaro, entered the station and demanded their immediate release in what was called a threatening tone. The men were not immediately released as the PJF officers had wished although Daniel Duarte is now out on bond as he had no prior arrest history in Sonora or Chihuahua according to the PJF. Fernando Duarte's case is going to a juvenile court because of his age. As it had long been thought that the PJF had stopped using informants in Cd. Juárez without the knowledge of local law enforcement, Cd. Juárez Mayor Gustavo Elizondo Aguilar demanded from Federal Attorney General Jorge Madrazo Cuéllar that he be notified by Madrazo as to how many PJF informants there currently are in Cd. Juárez. The PJF is under the direct control of Attorney General Madrazo. Elizondo's letter also demands that the informants, and Vilchis and Alfaro resign from their positions in the federal law enforcement agency. In a Chihuahua (City) press conference, Elizondo also stated that he had no doubt that the two detained men were working in the service of drug lords. While no one has been arrested in any of the 28 Cd. Juárez drug-related killings this year, Elizondo said that it was men with characteristics like these that were responsible for the drug killings. The men were found to have communication equipment with them in addition to the stolen vehicle and large caliber bullets and cartridges. Over the past year, Elizondo has been frustrated by joint local-state-federal operations with the PJF and believes that some of its members have links to organized crime. Source: El Diario Friday, July 21, 2000 Beatriz Adriana, a popular Mexican actor and singer, was raising money to pay the ransom for her son Leonardo Martínez Flores when he was found dead along with his friend Aquiles Véliz Hernández. The day the bodies were found, Adriana told the press that her son's murderers should receive the death penalty, a punishment that Mexico does not have. The next day, July 21, Adriana and the rest of Mexico found out that her son's kidnapping was allegedly planned by his friend Aquiles Véliz Hernández. According to law enforcement officials, Véliz arranged for himself to be kidnapped so that no suspicion would fall on him. Primary investigations into the crime allege that Véliz , who was in severe financial debt, organized the kidnapping and then had some sort of complication with his fellow conspirators. This could explain why he was beaten before being shot. In contrast, Martínez's body showed no signs of having been beaten or tortured. Police say that both men, both of whom were in their twenties, were killed to prevent them from going to the police. The two men had known each other for three months before the kidnapping took place. In a separate incident in Tijuana yesterday, Víctor Lagunas Peñaloza the thirteen-year old son of the city PAN president Víctor Lagunas Ruíz was released unharmed after having been held for twelve hours by kidnappers. Police said it was strange that the boy was returned to his family without anyone having asked for a ransom. For this reason police officials do not know if this was a failed kidnapping, a warning or an act of revenge. The family will be guarded until such time as they are no longer under threat. No one has yet to be arrested in either of the cases. In reaction to these and other recent kidnappings, local authorities have said that they back harsher penalties for the crime of kidnapping. Mayor Víctor Hermosillo Celada condemned the crimes and said that it was lamentable that people would take the lives of others solely for money. Miguel Delfín Castro, a local PAN representative, said that the happenings were condemnable and irreparable and added that the local police department should be investigated and cleaned out after the recent crime wave that has fallen over the state of Baja California. Source: El Diario Thursday, July 20, 2000 The battle over who controls and may commercially exploit the sand dunes of Samalayuca takes a new turn as representatives of the Chihuahua Department of Urban Development and Ecology (CDUDE) say that permits to remove sand expired at the end of December, 1999. CDUDE also claims that renewing such permission would violate the state's ownership of the natural resource. Earlier this week three trucks were stopped from removing sand from the area and the drivers were arrested. The drivers were later release on bond. Jaime Andujo Chávez, president of the Committee for Common Land of Samalayuca, recently met with the Public Ministry of Chihuahua to discuss recent allegations by CDUDE that he had illegally removed several acres of sand. Andujo denied any wrong doing claiming that he had been granted permission as of September 28, 1998 by José Trevizo Fernández, former chief of CDUDE. Andujo sells the land on behalf of the people living on the ejido (common land) and says that profits from the sale are divided up among the families at year end. He sells to the mining company La Escuadra who sells to Mexicana de Cobre. The 1998 permit he has allows for 5,000 cubic meters per month to be extracted from a 20 hectare (49.4 acre) area. He receives $4 per ton of sand. Patricio Martínez, the governor of Chihuahua, said that the Samalayuca sand dunes pose a double problem to the state as they are beautiful and deserve to be preserved but they could also form an integral part of Chihuahua's move into high-technology manufacturing. The silicon in the sand is valuable, for example, in the production of semiconductors and other commercial goods. Martínez stated that it is very important for CDUDE, the Chihuahua Government Department, and another organization, Semarnap, to conduct further investigations in order to find a solution. Gloria Domínguez, the current director of CDUDE, said that the recent sand removal is illegal since no environmental impact evaluation of the site has been completed. However, one is due in fifteen days. Domínguez added that permission must be granted by two additional environmental agencies before sand can be removed for commercial use. Francisco Sáenz, sand-removal project director for the company Nafta Center SA de CV, said that the silicate in the sand is a ingredient sought after by companies throughout Chihuahua to help them in the production of technological goods. Nafta Center wants to exploit the sand that it was given right to on August 31, 1998. The permit Nafta Center received was for extracting 19,500 cubic meters of sand per month over a period of 36 months in a 10 hectare (24.7 acres) area, out of a total area of 100 hectares. His company wants to put a silicon production plant near the dunes. Source: El Diario Wednesday, July 19, 2000 The mobile checkpoints implemented in Ciudad Juárez's five police districts have stopped and searched a combined 2,395 vehicles in the period between July 8-17. The check points have seized three firearms, 3.3 pounds of marijuana, thirteen grams of cocaine and three doses of heroin. 148 people were detained and nineteen were arrested for being alcoholically intoxicated. Thirteen vehicles were detained and forty-two traffic tickets were issued. The checkpoints were established to stop a wave of crime which culminated a week and a half ago in the death of Ana Carillo, age 24, an El Paso woman in the company of her young son and other family members. Carillo was having her car filled with gas at a Pemex station in Ciudad Juárez when she was struck by a stray bullet intended for someone parked nearby. Police have yet to arrest anyone in connection with the case. The commissioner of public security for Ciudad Juárez, Javier Benavides González said that the goal of the checkpoints is not to make large seizures. Their purpose is to let people know that they can be stopped and searched at any time. His hope is that people will not dare take drugs or weapons with them out of their homes if they know that they could be subjected to scrutiny at any time at the checkpoints. Benavides stated to El Diario that if people find they are bothered by the check points they should understand that they were created with the intent of lowering the number of violent acts that occur in Ciudad Juárez. No one has yet to say if the checkpoints are a success or a failure but both Ciudad Juárez papers, El Diario and El Norte, reported on Monday that five people were killed in separate, violent incidents in the twenty-four hour period between Saturday, July 15 and Sunday, July 16. Source: El Diario Tuesday, July 18, 2000 Since November, 1999 El Norte newspaper has alleged that busses posing as tourist transportation have been moving undocumented Central Americans and drugs across Mexico to the US border with the help of authorities bribed by human traffickers. El Norte began investigating this subject when non-governmental agencies demanded that someone look into the bus rings and the role of corrupt government officials. The busses come from the southernmost regions of Mexico picking up people and drugs along the way. They are said to traverse the entire length of the nation without interference from law enforcement. Federal authorities deny that they protect the false tourist busses but the number of Central Americans deported from the Mexican side of the US Mexico border has been increasing for some time. Federal authorities deny knowing anything about the situation. However, in the first 15 days of July alone, 200 Central Americans have been arrested between Agua Prieta (just south of Douglas, AZ) and Ciudad Juárez. They were found in groups of between 22 and 29 people and were headed north to the US. Most of the Central Americans found this month are from Honduras whose economy has been in shambles since Hurricane Mitch. They will be taken to the south of Mexico and deported to their nation of origin from there. Source: El Norte Monday, July 17, 2000 Just days after the Thursday, July 13 Ciudad Juárez robbery of a Wells Fargo armored car in which an estimated five million pesos (approximately $550,000) were taken, federal, local and state law-enforcement agencies have combined their operations to form RIMA (Reacción Inmediata Máxima Alerta), an immediate reaction group. Around the city, police groups have also been tested by mock bank robberies to gauge their reaction time to crisis situations. Local police recently took four minutes to surround a bank which they had been told was being robbed and needed fifteen minutes to find a supposed escape car with the set up of check points. The Wells Fargo robbery of an estimated five million pesos is being investigated as an inside job as the thieves made their way quickly through the Wells Fargo building which had at least three internal security doors. State police are interviewing both current and former employees of the corporation and the local police also. The latter is due to the fact that in January three police cadets tried unsuccessfully to rob a Wells Fargo armored car. The cadets under investigation for the January crime are currently out on bail. The exact amount of money that the robbery netted is not known as Wells Fargo has yet to make a formal statement about the crime to the state police. The stolen money was to have gone for payroll for three maquiladoras (border industrial plants). Wells Fargo has announced a one million peso reward to whomever offers information leading to the capture of the thieves. Crime and measures against it have been reported on frequently during the last two weeks in the Cd. Juárez press especially since the Wells Fargo robbery and the death one week ago of an American woman, Aída Carillo, killed by a stray bullet while at a gas station in the city with her family. These two events have been the main reasons cited behind the establishment of RIMA and the city check points for suspicious people. The check points, which include searches of cars and individuals, are designed to take guns and drugs off the street. Crime statistics cited in El Diario show that Cd. Juárez experiences 2.4 business robberies per day. In 1999 there were 4302 cars reported stolen in the city of which 3205 were recovered. This is approximately twelve cars stolen per day. El Paso, just over the border from Juárez, experiences about five car thefts per day but has less than half of Cd. Juárez's population (but more cars per person also). El Paso authorities seem to recover about the same percentage of stolen cars as their peers in Cd. Juárez. It was also reported over the weekend that 2,741 orders of apprehension from 1991-1993 have not been filled and that all of these people should be in jail awaiting trial for various crimes. That the suspects have not been arrested is due to law enforcement's inability to find the people and the courts' inability to handle their case loads. To end this situation the courts are now working through their case backlog trying to determine which cases are worth pursuing. Police are also establishing a fingerprinting system to help them know if people they have in custody have been previously arrested. These individuals would be unable to request no-prior arrest letters which help them to get out of jail until the time of their trials. Sources: El Norte and El Diario Friday, July 14, 2000 Cd. Juárez's Dirección de Comercio Municipal (DCM) is the section of local government responsible for selling alcohol-vending licenses and enforcing the proper sale of alcoholic beverages. Alejandro Ramírez Guerrero, the young head of the DCM operations planning department, organizes neighborhood inspections of beer and liquor-selling establishments. According to Ramírez, the DCM cannot randomly inspect vending establishments or neighborhoods but must wait and do so only when an inordinately high amount of alcohol-related disturbances and crimes affect one of the city's colonias (neighborhoods). To know where such trends exist, Ramírez uses a sophisticated map and database program of his own design. Yesterday, Ramírez and others in his department went to inspect the northeast colonia Francisco Sarabia after seeing indications that there was a higher than normal amount of alcohol-related crime in the area. Entering the colonia's restaurants, stores and pharmacies, Ramírez would politely introduce himself to the store owner or worker and would ask if alcohol was sold there. If the answer was no, Ramírez would ask if his men could look around to make sure that there was no beer or liquor on the premises. All of the stores owners contacted that day agreed to the search without reluctance and at no point did Ramírez's group find any illegal alcohol holdings. On the way out of the stores, Ramírez would sincerely thank the owners and attendants and would shake their hands goodbye. The people in the stores did not seem bothered by the inspections and seemed quite appreciative of the DCM's politeness. Of the fourteen stores inspected that day, only five had permits to sell alcohol. When Ramírez entered these stores and was told that they did sell alcohol he would ask to see their vending permits. Of the five permit-holding stores, three had their alcohol sales suspended for minor infractions. One store had its beer sales suspended because the store address on the permit was incorrect and the owner of the place had not signed the permit while at the DCM office. Ramírez later promised the store owner that the deficiencies could easily be resolved as early as the next day if she went to the DCM office and had everything corrected. He also reminded her not to sell anymore beer until she had her new paperwork as this could result in a monetary fine and/or arrest. Both of the other stores that had their permits revoked had their papers in good order but had fallen into a problem of another sort: zoning. In colonia Sarabia alcohol vending establishments must be at least 100 meters apart. When the owner of one store complained that new neighbors down the street were much less than the required distance from them, Ramírez quickly sought out a tape measure and found the stores to be only 70 meters apart. He then went and told both stores that they could not sell alcohol until the DCM had decided who on the street had first obtained their permit for their present locations. The store with more seniority would keep its permit but the other would lose its right to sell alcohol. Again, neither store owner seemed bothered by the suspension of its beer sales. While Ramírez and his staff found no clandestine alcohol-vending establishments, other DCM groups found three stores in other colonias that were selling beer with expired licenses. At one point, DCM members hauled over 100 liters of beer from a store's cooler as they explained to the owner that the beer was now forfeited. Again the DCM was very polite and apologetic for its actions but explained that all alcohol-vending stores had to have their paperwork in order if they wanted to sell beer or liquor. They told the store owner that if he wanted to sell in the future he would have to go buy a valid year 2000 permit. His current paperwork was over seven months expired. At the end of the day, Ramírez and others at the DCM commented that they had found far less violators than they had anticipated, especially considering that colonia Sarabia and the others areas that they inspected in the northwest of the city were some of Cd. Juárez's more problematic zones for alcohol-related crimes. The whole day had only netted a few hundred liters of beer whereas previous operations had brought in many times that with Ramírez noting that in the last two years over 100,000 containers of alcohol had been confiscated. And what happened to all the beer at the end of the day? It was brought inside the DCM where it was stacked beside a few hundred beer cans that had been there since a previous operation. As much as the DCM staff might have wanted to take some home after a hot day in the sun, the beer would later be donated to charity. Greg Bloom Thursday, July 13, 2000: After six months of being jailed, Sergio Andrade, former manager of Mexican pop star Gloria Trevi, admitted in a television interview to having sexual relations with both Trevi and back-up singer, Karina Yapor, which resulted in the pregnancy of both women. Andrade and Trevi have both been jailed since their January arrest in Brazil after a year-long international search that resulted from reports of abuse by the women who had informed Mexican police officials. Yapor is a Chihuahua City teenager. Andrade and Trevi are charged with abducting Yapor. Andrade had been having sex with Yapor since she was thirteen years old, he said. Andrade told the Mexican press that by the age of fourteen Yapor had his child. Yapor feared for the safety and future of the child and took it upon herself to abandon the child in a Spanish orphanage--a decision that would later prompt criminal investigations. In addition, Yapor's parents accused Trevi of aiding Andrade by rounding up young women for his sexual pleasure. In order to tell his side of the story, Andrade spoke to the international television network Univision in a one-of-a kind interview. He said that Yapor has continued to deny that she had a baby with him because of her family and those around her. Andrade told Univision that he and Trevi had a baby girl together, however, the infant died shortly after she was born. Andrade told Univision's Primer Impacto news show that he never ran a harem. He also denied any abuse. Yapor declined to comment on Trevi's child with Andrade for fear, she said, of being disrespectful to the memory of Trevi's daughter. Yapor only stated that Trevi's daughter had died prior to her return to México. Trevi and Andrade are awaiting extradition to México where they face charges of corruption, rape, and abduction. In an article in The El Paso Times, Trevi is described as someone who fought for independence through her music, performances, and declarations to run for the presidency in México, however, her "blind submission" to Andrade led her into a world of corruption. Of their relationship, Andrade said, "She was like a friend, a sister, a daughter, a companion and a lover." Sources: El Diario, Norte and El Paso Times Wednesday, July 12, 2000 On July 2 the body of an unidentified Hispanic man between 20 and 30 years old was found in a ravine in a rural area north of San Diego. Police stated that the body had sustained a blow to the head and that the man had been dragged from the road on his face. The body has yet to be identified but he is believed to be a Mexican citizen. Police are currently investigating the case and the man's name is expected to be released soon. Three days later, and less than one mile away, three migrant workers between the ages of 64 and 69 were shot and beaten by eight young, white men with pellet guns and pipes. The young men told the workers to return to Mexico and that they would send immigration after them. The event is being investigated as a hate crime because of the statements made by the attackers, their appearance, the violence of the attack and their familiarity with the area which indicated a planned assault. Some of the victims in the two-part attack were assaulted while walking from work at a nursery to their home, a makeshift camp in the canyons nearby where they live during the summers to save money. The victims said that the attack began when a station wagon filled with young, white men ages 16-20 pulled up next to them. The group then got of the car and began to shoot them at point-blank range. The workers began to run away. One man was shot five times in the back as he fled to hide in the bushes. The assailants then caught up with another one of the workers as he sought to escape and they beat him on the head with a piece of metal rebar and a pitchfork for thirty minutes. They said they wanted money from the workers and one man had his wallet stolen. They also said they were going to come back in three days and that the men had better be gone by then. The attackers then returned to their car and went to the workers' camp. They told the men there to come out but they did not and the attackers again began shooting them at point-blank range. Three of the workers were hit by pellets, one of them repeatedly in the face. These workers then began to flee but two were caught and they were beaten with rebar and a pipe, this time for 45 minutes. After the attackers left it took the workers 30 minutes to reach a telephone. Police responded but some of the traumatized men would not come out of the bushes until the police were able to reassure them that they were safe. Three of the victims were hospitalized but some of the men were left with pellets under their skin. Police currently do not believe to be related the July 2 death and dragging and the July 5 hate assault on the migrant workers although they occurred only one mile from each other. The man found on July 2 had not been shot with a pellet gun nor had he been repeatedly beaten, police said. Police have stepped up their patrols in the area and are looking for leads in both cases. Aid is being provided to the victims by a number of different local agencies. The nursery where the men work has set up a fund to help the victims and their families. Donations can be sent to the Evergreen Victim Relief Fund at the Evergreen Nursery, 7150 Black Mountain Road, San Diego, CA 92130. Sources: San Diego Union-Tribune and North County Times
Tuesday, July 11, 2000 The 122 former-Favesa workers arrested outside of the Lear Corporation, La Sierra facility in Ciudad Juárez on Thursday were freed Saturday. They are now considering filing a complaint against the Cd. Juárez police, police doctors and Cd. Juárez Mayor Gustavo Elizondo. They claim that police used excessive force during the arrests and that it was improper for male doctors to strip search female workers. Those arrested on Thursday claim they are ex-Lear workers because it is their belief that Favesa went out of business when it was bought by Lear. They contend that they should be paid money out of a liquidation fund because Favesa no longer exists. Lear Corporation holds that all 122 people still have their jobs at Lear. Jorge López Molinar, Lear's lawyer, said that the workers have not been fired especially as there is such a great demand for labor in the area. "We are only talking about a name change," he said referring to the issue of continuity of employment, "we continue being the same business, the same corporation. This is not a business that shut down, it was for market reasons only that we made the name change." Victor Anchondo, the general secretary of government, said that Lear is willing to reintegrate the workers back into their jobs as it viewed them as being on vacation until Friday. The arrests began on Thursday when four Lear workers who were not part of the group said that they were injured by the protesters. When police arrived there was a physical confrontation between the group and law enforcement. The 122 protesters were released on Saturday for lack of evidence but the government reserves the right to continue the case and proceed legally after it has determined who is responsible for injuries and damages. The protesters were originally charged with inflicting injury on others, rioting, destruction of property and resisting arrest. Pável Aguilar, a Ciudad Juárez PRD representative, had himself put in jail after the initial round of arrests so that he could be with the 122 arrested protesters. He said that he has knowledge that 30,000 Lear employees throughout the state of Chihuahua would join in a strike in support of Cd. Juárez workers engaged in a dispute with Lear if a fast and favorable response to the workers' demands was not soon reached. He also said that he considered false what Lear Corporation said to the general secretary of government, Victor Anchondo. Aguilar holds that the workers were not on vacation and that when they tried to go into work they were not permitted to do so. To him this means that the protesters are ex-employees of Lear. Luis Nava, director of the Maquiladoras Association (AMAC), said the maquiladora section of Cd. Juárez is indignant over these happenings. They have affected the border's labor climate and have put thousands of jobs at risk. "Our city is affected by a wave of murders, drug trafficking and other crimes and now people seek to further tarnish our image through artificially fabricated labor disputes," he told El Norte. Nava believes that the problem was created for financial gain by a small group of two or four people Jorge López Molinar, the Lear lawyer, also stated to El Norte, that Lear has decided to cancel its investments in Cd. Juárez for the rest of the year 2000. Lear's Mexico president Oswaldo de Falco, through Lear Corporation's US-based public relations told Frontera NorteSur, "Lear Corporation regrets that these kinds of events take place in a wonderful country like Mexico where we have a major presence. However, we must defend our interests and will use the rules of law to do so whenever necessary." Lear did not say anymore about its problems to Frontera NorteSur but its México lawyer López made it clear in the Mexican press that Lear believes this dispute has been fabricated by a few for personal gain. Sources: El Norte and El Diario Monday, July 10, 2000: Aída Carillo, 24, an El Paso, Texas resident was killed by a bullet intended for others. Carillo, who has family in Cd. Juárez, was at a gas station with her three-year old son, mother and uncle when she was struck and killed by a stray bullet to the head. Suly Ponce Prieto, the special investigator of crimes against women in Cd. Juárez, will pursue the case. If there is a link to federal crimes or federal laws were broken, federal agencies will also become involved in the investigation. Police currently say that they believe that the shooting was part of an adjustment of accounts. The person targeted by the shooter was rancher Benjamín Fuentes Licón. Although he has not yet made an official declaration, Fuentes did tell Ponce in a short conversation that he did not know the killers or their motive. Fuentes' niece, whose name was not given, told investigators that she did not see the killers. She added that her uncle owns a ranch but did not know if he had problems with anyone related to his land holdings. A green Ford Ranger truck involved in the killing was reported stolen in El Paso, Texas two days prior to the incident according to Cd. Juárez city police reports. The accidental killing has triggered a crackdown on crime in Cd. Juárez. Police accompanied by canine units at checkpoints throughout the city will stop and search suspicious-looking people in all five of the city's police districts. Families will not be subjected to the searches, however. The checkpoints which began Saturday, will continue indefinitely. Cd. Juárez Mayor Gustavo Elizondo ordered the increased security measures as a way to stop rising violence in his city. Murders are up 250% from this same time last year according to El Diario, with 15 drug-related killings this year. Source: El Diario Friday, July 7, 2000: Five or possibly more bus passengers drowned and others were injured when a Ciudad Juárez bus flipped over in flood water during last Saturday's rainstorm. The number of people killed in the accident has not yet been established as some bodies were washed away by the flood waters. Also,authorities have had trouble identifying the bodies they have found since the flooding and are not sure if the bodies are from the bus or another source or area. In response to the deaths, the victims' families blocked the gates of the city bus dispatch and stopped bus service for several hours as they demanded that the Cd. Juárez Public Transportation Department be held accountable for the fatal accident that left four children orphaned. The victims' family members are also pushing for better and safer transportation that transports maquiladora workers throughout Cd. Juárez. Public records show that only 30 percent of busses meet State Public Transportation requirements. The demonstration took place despite Mayor Gustavo Elizondo's offer to pay for funeral costs and other damages. As a result of the accident the State Transportation Department is asking that Cd. Juárez Public Transportation carry life insurance for its passengers and has given them 30 days to meet the mandatory demand. According to El Norte approximately 60 percent of Cd. Juárez buses are currently operating without a license or insurance. Two Cd. Juárez children, ages 4 and 10, also died from
electrocution after they grabbed a power pole in an attempt to
save themselves from rushing water. Source: El Diario, El Norte and El Paso Times Thursday, July 6, 2000: 3 Agents Suspended for Allegedly Beating Murder/Rape Suspect
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