COUNCIL CLOSES CANTINAS, CAUSES CONTROVERSY
by Michael S. Clifford, Managing Editor

Juárez has long held a reputation for wild nightlife, with Texan and New Mexican teens unable to drink legally in their own country often crossing the border for a night of revelry.

Juárez does have a legal drinking age, however, and city councilors clamped down on bars serving alcohol to minors, and those violating the law in other ways, early this month.

The council voted to ask the state Department of the Interior to shut down more than 35 establishments, some permanently and some temporarily, April 2. The Municipal President of Juárez formally presented a request to definitively revoke the licenses of 15 establishments April 8. The moves brought protests from the chamber of commerce, investigations into the possibility that journalists solicited aid from the city for bar owners, and the formation of a group of liquor-selling establishments by the end of the month.

The businesses the council originally requested the department close permanently were: Mirage, Cash, Aldos, La Perla, Muñeca Rota, Cancholas, Pachangas Centro, Emilio's, Cartier, Harem, Joker, El Puerto, Hot Ladies, Madona's, Ritz, Un Genio, Submarino and Cosmos, according to El Diario.

Those requested to be shut down with the possibility of reopening in the April 2 vote were Maxim, Las Potrancas, Compas, Amadeus, Phantom, Café Luna, Archi's, Diver's, Princesitas, Edén, Hawaian, Conjunto Angus, La Changada, Mexicali, Noa Noa, Viva la Vida, Zaragoza, XO, USA Connection, Tequila Derby, Mamacitas and Charly's Corona, according to a list published in El Diario.

The municipal director of commerce, Ignacio Castro, gave the council the list of businesses he said violated the law. The allegations included staying open after hours, allowing minors inside the establishments, "immoral acts," presenting pornographic videos and nudity, and functioning without proper documentation. Some businesses had licenses to operate as bars, but instead were functioning as dance halls, according to the accusations.

Some councilors accompanied inspectors to the bars, and found serious violations, according to Martha Adriana Durán, Panista coordinator in the council. They caught many businesses in violation repeatedly. For example, inspectors found Cash open after hours 12 times, six times presenting "immoral acts, " and allowing minors inside three times, according to Adriana Durán. Even after the administration acted on these violations, Cash had 17 instances of recidivism, the councilor told El Diario.

The council used reforms to the "Ley de Alcoholes," the law regulating the sale of alcohol, to justify its power to act in these cases, according to El Diario. Although the law was passed in 1993, according to reports in Norte de Ciudad Juárez, the Official Periodical of the State published the reforms Oct. 22, 1997, according to El Diario.

After citing "danger for the tranquility, security, morality or public salubrity," among the reasons for revoking licenses, the law, as quoted in Diario, said:

"The city council will be able to temporarily close the establishment and to formulate the request, properly based and approved by the two third parts of the members of the Town Hall, before the Department of Interior, which will initiate the revocation procedure and will really solve on the origin."

The moves brought swift protest from the local chapter of the national chamber of commerce, Canaco.

"It is very strange that at this point of the administration the Town Hall decides to put itself to correct anomalies of which it did not take care before," president of Canaco Martín Alonso told El Diario.

"Although it is certain that the number of failures committed by the establishments at issue is great, these have been committed also during a very long period, that is, during the three years of the present administration," Alonso continued.

Representatives of the closed establishments asked the authorities for an open dialogue to clearly explain the violations and measures to correct them in an emergency meeting with the leader of Canaco April 3, according to El Diario.

He could prove with documentation that there was no reason to close two of the bars, Pachanga's and El Puerto, Alonso told the paper. Alonso also emphasized the economic impact of the closings, saying 200 employees worked at the closed bars directly, and triple that number indirectly. He also raised the possibility that customers of those bars would turn to El Paso businesses instead of Juárez establishments.

In total, the nightlife industry in Juárez generated an annual economic impact of $2,844,000 US, according to figures Alonso gave Norte de Ciudad Juárez. Each of the 5,849 employees in the industry generated an average of $487 in taxes annually, according to Canaco figures.

While Canaco listed 348 bars and cantinas, 111 beer sellers, and 40 discotheques and dance halls, figures from the state government listed 250 bars and cantinas, 300 beer sellers and 1,040 discotheques, hotels and other businesses authorized to sell beer, in Juárez.

The Canaco leader also accused the municipal government of acts of corruption. Without specifying the acts, Alonso asked why some bars with repeated violations were tolerated for so long before April's closings. The discretional powers in the law also invite corruption, he said.

Meanwhile, councilors and the municipal president defended their actions.

"We are not against the establishments in the line of alcoholic beverages. They are like any other businesses; it is allowed if an adult goes to enjoy himself and to ingest alcoholic drinks, but not if he serves minors," acting municipal president Enrique Flores Almeida told El Diario.

"The consumption of alcohol is not bad, the abuse is bad," Flores Almeida told the paper. When asked why action had not been taken previously, he said that what was good is that they acted when they did, according to El Diario.

Flores Almeida revealed an investigation involving alleged favors journalists solicited for bar owners from the city Directorate of Commerce, in a press conference on April 21. Certain journalists had asked the directorate to allow the businesses to remain open after hours and to reduce their fines, according to secretary of City Hall, Hernán Rivera Rodriguez. They would not reveal the names of the reporters supposedly involved.

The Director of Commerce denied the charges, however.

"Nobody has approached to request that type of favor, neither reporters nor employees of different mass media to request such a thing, " Ignacio Castro Velázquez told Norte de Ciudad Juárez.

"We are not going to tolerate that he defames us or makes unfounded accusations," President of the Association of Journalists of Juárez, Fernando Medina, told Norte.

Meanwhile, liquor business owners joined together to work with the city government to find a solution to the problem facing business owners affected by the operations of the Commerce Directorate.

"We will try to work within the law and we will propose the co-participation of the same authorities," Jaime Rodriguez, legal advisor to the newly-formed Association of Border Merchants of Beer, Wine and Liquor, told Norte.

At a meeting that included the directors of Canaco, representatives of wine and liquor businesses, and city officials, April 22, the local government agreed "not to bother" those businesses now working with a provisional license, but without official licenses (known as tarjetones) from the state Department of the Interior, according to Norte de Ciudad Juárez.

"It is not the fault of those whose tarjetones have not arrived," Rivera Rodriguez told Norte. Many businesses had changed owners or locations, so the paperwork had not yet arrived, he said.

A magistrate judge also ordered the reopening of El Joker bar April 27, according to Norte.

Sources: El Diario, Norte de Ciudad Juárez