Frontera NorteSur
June 2003

June 27, 2003
Young Woman's Body Identified near Chihuahua City, Others Missing

The body of a young woman found Monday, June 23, 2003 near the highway between Chihuahua City and Cuauhtémoc has been identified as that of María Teresa Araiza Hernández, age 19. 

Araiza's body was found by state police officers in a ditch or stream bed near the highway. The body was badly decomposed and partially undressed. 

Despite a relatively long absence from her home, Araiza was never reported as missing. A relative, Fermín Rocha, said that Araiza lived with her mother but would often leave home for days at a time without telling anyone where she went. 

On Wednesday, June 25, police were questioning a man they said was Araiza's boyfriend, Ramiro Domínguez. According to state officials, a poem found in Araiza's possession was dedicated to someone named Ramiro. 

Currently, there are at least nine young woman reported missing from Chihuahua City. Six of them disappeared in 2000 or 2001. At least three have disappeared in 2003. 

Neyra Azucena Cervantes, age 20, has been missing since May 13, 2003. Karen Olivia Avila Herrera, age 14, has been missing since February 4, 2003. Claudia Judith Urías Bethaud (no age available) has not been since March 9, 2003. 

Source: El Norte (Cd. Juárez), June 26, 2003. Article by Edgar Prado Calahorra. 

June 19, 2003
Strange Animal Deaths Reported near Ciudad Juárez

One by one the animals on Pedro Beltrán's Juárez-area farm are perishing, according to a June 17, 2003 article in the Ciudad Juárez newspaper El Diario. Over the past two months the man has lost approximately twenty goats and calves, a dozen chickens and a six-foot tall ostrich. The victims are taken from their cages or corrals with no visible signs of violence. This, plus the fact that their bodies are allegedly found bloodless with no external signs of violence except for two one-centimeter holes about 15 centimeters apart, points to only one suspect: the "chupacabras."

"I've been knocking this around a lot in my head . . . even considering the ridiculous 'chupacabras'--I didn't think it existed," Beltrán told El Diario. 

The "chupacabras" or "goatsucker" is a sort of Latin American equivalent to North America's bigfoot, perhaps first reported in Puerto Rico. Like Bigfoot, signs of chupacabras activity are rare and sightings of the chupacabras are even more rare. Unlike Bigfoot, there seem to be no photos of the beast, although hoaxes linked to both fabled creatures are not infrequent.  

Some who claim to have seen chupacabras say that they have red eyes. Others say that they have bright green eyes. Some say the beast has pointy ears, some don't see any ears. Some say the creature has wings while in other versions the creature is flightless. 

Pedro Beltrán has yet to see a chupacabras but wants to install a system of video cameras to see what is happening to his livestock and chickens. Until now finding the appropriate equipment has been the main delay: Beltrán can not get cameras that record all night. 

The latest victim on Beltrán's farm was a normal-size goat with a bad temper that would have fought any attacker, Beltrán said, and yet there were no signs of violence or even strange footprints around the goat's body.

The phenomena began about two months ago the farmer said. He has been on the farm for six years and nothing like this had ever occurred previously. 

At first, Beltrán believed that his guard dogs were to blame. He moved some of them off the farm and killed others but still his animals kept disappearing. 

"Young animals are left with two little holes in the abdomen but larger animals have holes in their throats, as if it sucks their blood because we never find a drop . . . I have not opened their stomachs to check but it appears that they have no blood," Beltrán said. 

Trying to understand what was happening to his animals, the farmer hired a night watchman but, for the twenty days of the man's employment, no animals were killed. However, once he got rid of the watchman another dead animal appeared. 

The animals that have been killed have all been disposed of by a nearby hill, El Diario reported. However, Beltrán did send the ostrich away to have its skinned cured to make boots. 

"I asked them to leave the two holes, so people can see them," he said. 

Source: El Diario, June 17, 2003. Article by Martín Orquiz.

June 10, 2003
Start Your Engines: Half of Juárez Traffic Cops Transferred to Different Work

On June 9, 2003, 197 Ciudad Juárez traffic officers were incorporated into the city police force. This leaves 183 traffic officers--less than one half of the original amount--to patrol a city of at least 1.2 million inhabitants and respond to the city's 1,500 monthly traffic accidents.  

Whereas 70 traffic officers per shift previously patrolled Cd. Juárez streets, Francisco Reza Pacheco, the director of Traffic, says that only 40 officers will now be on the streets at any one time. 

On June 9, after the transfers had gone into effect, Traffic had only 20 officers on the east side of the city. This number was not enough to respond to the vehicular accidents in the area so administrative and investigative staff had to leave their offices and assist with the accidents, Reza said. 

According to the Cd. Juárez newspaper, officials in Traffic and the city police department feel that the two units are being combined as they were from 1992 to1995.

Ramón Domínguez Perea, the city's director of public safety, said that he ordered the transfer so that the city can be better policed. 

A related article in Cd. Juarez's El Norte newspaper noted that there were approximately 1,500 traffic accidents throughout the city in the month of May, 2003.  Of the total number of accidents, Traffic found that 216 were alcohol related. Thirteen people died in the 1,5000 wrecks and 578 were injured. 

Sources: El Diario, June 10, 2003. Article by Javier Saucedo Alacalá.
El Norte, June 9, 2003. Article by Angel Giner.