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December 5, 2001
TB on the Texas-Mexico Border
The tuberculosis (TB) rate in the Texas-Mexico borderlands
is three times higher than it is in other parts of Texas, according
to an article on the disease in the Ciudad Juárez newspaper
El Diario. Luis Ortega, an epidemiologist with the Pan American
Health Organization (PAHO), said that the cause of this phenomena
is due to various elements. He said that high population growth
on the border means that health services are always one step
behind. The highly mobile nature of the border also means that
people often do not finish their TB treatments.
Rogelio García, interim director of the Laredo Department
of Health, told El Diario that TB is curable although contracting
the disease is easy. Tuberculosis can spread through the air
when someone coughs or sneezes and can infect anyone. Common
symptoms include frequent coughing, sweating at night, fever,
tiredness, loss of weight and appetite.
Source: El Diario, December 5, 2001. Article by Rubén
Terrazas Sáenz.
November 29, 2001
Four Cd. Juárez Men Abducted, Murdered--Possible Police
in Involvement
The bodies of four men who were abducted in the early morning
hours of Tuesday, November 20, 2001 were found on Saturday, November
24, 2001. The victims, all discovered naked and bearing signs
of torture, were identified as Eduardo Ramírez, age 32,
Oscar Barraza, age 33, Raúl Varela Vega, age 24 and Juan
Antonio Chávez Santacruz, age 28.
The men ran into trouble after one of the group asked a woman
to dance at a Cd. Juárez bar called "Hooligan's".
The woman said that she was with a date and refused. Later, a
bar employee warned the men to leave quickly because "they
did not know who they were messing with." The woman's alleged
date then returned and stared down the men who decided to leave
the establishment so as to avoid any problems.
According to witness David Chávez Santacruz, the brother
of murder victim Juan Antonio, the four men got in their car
and drove to one of their homes. The men were followed be Cd.
Juárez police car number 743 which waited outside the
house, said David Chávez. The police car then left and
five vehicles and ten men armed men pulled up to the house. The
men said they were federal police officers and then took away
the four victims. David Chávez said that he survived because
he was struck in the face with the butt of an AK-47 and collapsed
to the ground.
Authorities were originally investigating the ten men as if
they were federal agents but David Chávez said that he
doubted the men were police officers.
The two city police agents from car 743 have been placed on a
ten-day, unpaid leave while they are under investigation.
Source: El Diario, November 25 & 27, 2001. Articles by
Roberto Ramos, Pedro Torres and Alejandro Quintero.
November 27, 2001
Woman Accuses Cd. Juárez Murder Suspect of 1996 Rape
A 37-year old woman, identified only as "Luz,"
testified in front of Chihuahua state police and media that she
was raped in Ciudad Juárez in 1996 by Víctor Javier
García Uribe, one of two suspects arrested two weeks ago
for the recent rape and murder of eleven women in Cd. Juárez.
The woman said that she recognized García when she saw
him on television.
In tears as she spoke, the woman gave a long, graphic description
of how on July 5, 1996 she was forced into a car by García
as she waited for a taxi when her car broke down. The woman testified
that once in the car she was beaten by García and threatened
with a pistol. She was raped and then fought off García
and escaped from the vehicle. Unable to see because of blood
in her eyes, the woman hid under a car while García looked
for her. An approaching car lit up García with its lights
and García fled in his car, according to the woman's testimony.
A criminal case was started but the woman never testified
because she feared reprisals. The woman said that she had left
her purse and her house and car keys in the vehicle that García
drove and she feared that he could find her. Fearing for the
life of her children, the woman remained quite about the crime
until she saw García on television claiming his innocence
in the eleven recent rape and murder cases.
Source: El Diario, November 26, 2001. Article by Armando Rodríguez.
November 21, 2001
Two Cd. Juárez Bus Drivers Charged with the Murders of
11 Women--Suspects Claim They Were Tortured
Arturo González Rascón, the Chihuahua attorney
general, said that the testimony of an unidentified person led
to the arrest of bus driver Víctor Javier García
Uribe for the rape and murder of eleven women in Ciudad Juárez.
García, age 29, had been arrested in 1998 along with other
bus drivers suspected in the rape and murder of other women in
the city. Also arrested and charged with the rape and murder
of the eleven women was García's alleged accomplice, bus
driver Gustavo González Meza, age 28.
Both Meza and García say that they were tortured and intimidated
into confessing to the crimes. Photographs published in the Cd.
Juárez newspaper El Diario show three cigarette burns
on García's stomach and wounds to Meza's leg. Meza's lawyer
said that his client also has three burn marks on his penis and
chest wounds from electrical shocks as well. The Attorney General's
Office (Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado) said
that the wounds were self inflicted.
Meza said that upon being arrested he was first taken to a private
home and beaten. Later, with a gun pointed at him, he confessed
into a tape recorder, he said. After the confession, Meza stated
that he was told that his wife and some of his family members
would be killed if he spoke of his torture.
El Diario reported that the men were charged with the eleven
murders solely on the basis of their self-incriminating confessions.
According to the Attorney General's Office, García and
Meza knew the names of their eleven victims. Police have so far
released the names of ten of them:
1. Guadalupe Luna de la Rosa, 19 years old, university student,
disappeared September 30, 2000;
2. Véronica Martínez Hernández, 18, worker,
disappeared October 19, 2000;
3. Bárbara Araceli Martínez Ramos, disappeared
December, 2000;
4. Mayra Juliana Reyes Solís, 17, disappeared June
25, 2001;
5. Laura Berenice Ramos Monárrez, high school student,
disappeared September, 2001;
6. Claudia Ivette González Banda, 20, Lear worker,
disappeared October 10, 2001;
7. Brenda Esmeralda Herrera Monreal, 15, worker, disappeared
October 29, 2001;
8. María de los Angeles Acosta Ramírez, worker
and student, disappeared April 25, 2001;
9. Amparo Guzmán Caixba, 17, worker, May 31, 2001;
10. Liliana Holguín de Santiago, 15, student, March
13, 2000; and
11. One more victim whose name has not yet been revealed by police.
The first eight women listed above were found November 6 and
7, 2001. The other three women's bodies were located earlier,
according to El Diario.
Across Cd. Juárez the victims' families and NGOs have
stated that they have serious doubts about the guilt of the García
and Meza. "I don't trust them [the police], I don't believe
it, they will do the same thing they always do. It can't be that
they [the police] have suddenly become so efficient," said
Gabriela Acosta Ramírez, sister of María de los
Angeles Acosta Ramírez who disappeared April 25, 2001.
The mother of Guadalupe Luna de la Rosa denies that her daughter
was among those found on November 6 and 7, she told El Diario.
El Diario also reported that the family members of other victims
have expressed doubts about the arrests.
On Monday, November 19, El Diario reported that more than ten
Cd. Juárez NGOs issued a statement against violence against
women and against the irregularities that they saw in the police
investigation of the recently murdered women and the arrests
of García and Meza. The following groups signed the letter
of protest: Pastoral Penitenciaria Católica, Hermanas
de Angel de la Guarda, Casa Migrante, Pastoral de las Trabajadores,
Centro de Estudios y Taller Laboral A.C., Centro de Derechos
Humanos Paso del Norte, Campo Obrero, Hermanitas de Jesús,
Centro de Mujeres Tonatzin A.C., Pastoral Juvenil Obrera, Hermanas
Misioneras de María Dolorosa, Comunidades Eclesiales de
Base and the Centro de Apoyo al Migrante.
Meanwhile, as García and Meza remain in custody, other
rapists and killers are at work. The body of Alma Osorio Bejarano
was found on Monday, November 19. Police state that she was strangled
to death. Finally, since the past weekend, other men in Cd. Juárez
have been arrested for abducting and raping women that have managed
to escape their captors.
Source: El Diario, November 12-21, 2001.
November 20, 2001
A Horrible Monday: Bodies Found in Both El Paso and Cd. Juárez
The nude body of five-year old Alexandra Flores, who was
abducted from an El Paso Wal-Mart store on Sunday, November 18,
2001, was found early Monday morning in an El Paso alley. Shopping
in the Wal-Mart with her parents, the girl was taken from the
store by a man wearing a green shirt, according to El Paso police
who looked at tapes from Wal-Mart security cameras.
At 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, Wal-Mart employees began an in-store
search for Alexandra. Police were called to the store at 6:10
p.m. and at 6:30 the store was evacuated to help in the search
for the girl. At 9:45 p.m. police activated the Maria Alert system
which uses the mass media to alert the public to look for a missing
child. Police called off the alert shortly after Alexandra's
body was discovered the following morning.
The El Paso Times reported that police are awaiting the results
of an autopsy to know the time and cause of death and learn if
the girl had been sexually assaulted. Captain Larry Wilkins,
commander of criminal investigations for the county sheriff's
department, told the El Paso Times that he could not think of
a case of a child abduction-murder in El Paso in recent memory.
Another body found in Ciudad Juárez
The body of an unidentified woman was found at 9:40 p.m.
on Monday, November 19, 2001 in the Juárez neighborhood
of Cd. Juárez. Estimated to be between 25 and 30 years
old, the woman was wearing only pants and a shirt. Investigators
believe that the woman died approximately 12 to 18 hours before
she was discovered. El Diario reports that there were no obvious
signs of violence on the body.
Sources: El Paso Times, November 20, 2001. Article by Louie
Gilot.
El Diario, November 20, 2001. Article by Luz del Carmen Sosa.
November 9, 2001
Authorities Look for More Women's Bodies in Cd. Juárez
The Attorney General for the state of Chihuahua, Arturo González
Rascón, stated that police have begun looking in other
parts of Ciudad Juárez for the bodies of missing women.
González also stated that he may request FBI help if the
situation warrants it, according to the Cd. Juárez newspaper
El Diario.
The newspaper also reported that investigators from the Attorney
General's office have begun using heavy machinery to look for
graves in the area where eight bodies have been found since Tuesday,
November 6, 2001.
On Thursday, November 8, members of Cd. Juárez NGOs protested
at the offices of the Fiscalía Especial para la Investigación
de Homocidios de Mujeres (Special Prosecutor for the Investigation
of Murdered Women). In front of the offices, the demonstrators
lit candles and posted a pink cross in memory of the murdered
women.
Dressed in black, the protesters entered the building and posted
a sign on the Fiscalía's door that read, "Clausurada
por incompetencia," (Closed for incompetence), according
to El Diario. At some point, Zulema Bolívar, the new director
of the Fiscalía, invited one or two women inside to talk
with her but the protesters refused because they all demanded
to be invited to speak with her.
Bolívar later agreed to the demand and once inside Esther
Chávez Cano, the director of Casa Amiga (the only rape
and abuse crisis center in Cd. Juárez), said that people
have been demanding a good investigation of the Cd. Juárez
murders for nine years but authorities have yet to provide one.
Chávez told Frontera NorteSur that she is worried that
the investigation of the eight bodies will lead to a "witch
hunt." She is worried about the human rights of suspects
and is worried that people will be tortured into confessing to
the crimes.
In previous years, some suspects have said that they were
tortured into signing confessions and last year police were investigated
after allegedly beating a suspect at the Police Academy. The
agents said they took the suspect in a disappearance to the Police
Academy because they wanted a quiet place to interrogate him.
Anonymous sources in the Attorney General's Office told El
Diario that González Rascón gave instructions to
investigate Abdel Latif Sharif. Sharif was arrested in 1995 in
connection to the rape and murder of six women.
Police later linked Sharif to more killings saying that he
financed from prison other rapes and murders. Police allege that
Sharif paid a gang known as "Los Rebeldes" to kill
women in his style so as to throw police off of his case. Los
Rebeldes were arrested in 1996. When the killings continued in
1999, police arrested a group of bus drivers and linked them
to Sharif.
Many people have criticized the poor quality of these investigations.
Of the 14 Rebeldes arrested in 1996, only 5 remain in prison.
Some of these men say they were tortured into confessions.
Among women's activists in Cd. Juárez, Frontera NorteSur
has yet to find anyone that believes in the police's conspiracy
theory. These activists think that the police use this theory
so as to neatly wrap up and close many cases.
Sources: FNS & El Diario, November 9, 2001. Articles by Armando
Rodríguez and Pedro Torres.
November 8, 2001
Bodies of Five More Young Women Found in Ciudad Juárez
The bodies of five more young women were found on Wednesday,
November 7, 2001 in Ciudad Juárez. The women's remains
were located in an area described as a dry canal or drainage
ditch. This area is approximately 500 yards from where three
women's bodies were found on Tuesday, November 6, 2001.
While none of the bodies have been officially identified, the
Cd. Juárez newspaper El Diario reports that authorities
believe that the remains of Claudia Ivette González, age
20, and Brenda Esmeralda Herrera, age 15, were among those found
over the two-day period. The newspaper also stated that family
members of the two women recognized their daughters' clothing
at the crime scene. Police took blood samples from these women's
family members to perform DNA tests and perhaps match them to
the remains.
Since 1993, the bodies of nearly 300 young women that were raped
and murdered have been found primarily in desert areas outside
of Cd. Juárez. However, women's bodies have recently been
found in the city's urban, commercial and industrial areas.
On February 22, 2001, the body of Lilia Alejandra García
Andrade, a 17-year old mother of two, was found in a vacant lot
across from the Plaza Juárez Mall. García, mother
of a two-year old girl and a five-month old son, had been missing
since she left the maquiladora where she worked on February 14,
2001. Police estimated that García had been held alive
for 42 hours before she was strangled to death.
The eight bodies found on November 6 and 7 were located just
200 yards from the offices of the Asociación de Maquiladoras
(AMAC).
Officials have now revised the time of death for two of the three
women found on Tuesday, November 6. Yesterday it was reported
that one woman had been killed within the last 10 to 15 days
and that the other two women had died six months ago or earlier.
Now, officials have reaffirmed that one woman died 10 to 15 days
ago but said that the second woman was killed three or four weeks
ago and the third, four or five weeks ago.
Irma Josefina González, the mother of Claudia Ivette González,
told El Diario, "When I saw these mothers [of other missing
women] suffer, I felt for them and felt their pain but I never
believed that I would live something like this, that this would
happen to one of my three daughters . . . And now I don't know
what to think or say."
Source: El Diario, November 8, 2001. Article by Armando Rodríguez.
November 7, 2001
Bodies of Three Young Women Found in Ciudad Juárez
On the morning of November 6, 2001, the naked bodies of three
young women were discovered near a canal in Ciudad Juárez.
One victim was estimated to be 15 years old. The other two women
were estimated to be between 25 and 27 years old. None of the
women have been identified.
State police said that one woman was killed within the last 10
to 15 days. The other two women were murdered at least six months
ago. The women's bodies were found about three meters from each
other. Police believe that the women were murdered where they
were found.
Manuel Ortega Aceves, an assistant prosecutor with the State
Attorney General's Office, said that it is presumed that the
women were sexually assaulted due to the manner in which the
bodies were found. One woman was found with her hands tied behind
her back, police officials said.
Ortega said that the murders are the work of a serial killer
since the killer began returning to the same spot when the first
body was not discovered. However, police also said that they
are not ruling out the possibility that there was more than one
killer.
Source: El Diario, November 7, 2001. Article by Armando Rodríguez.
November 5, 2001
Central Americans Detained in Northwest Chihuahua
An Instituto Nacional de Migración (National Migration
Institute, INM) operation resulted in the detention of 62 undocumented
migrants in northwest Chihuahua. The operation began on Friday,
November 2, 2001 at 5:00 a.m. and was carried out by 13 INM officers.
All of those arrested were originally from Central American nations.
The operation was ordered by the Chihuahua head of the INM, Adalberto
Balderrama.
In the area between cities like Janos, Casas Grandes and Buenaventura,
the agents searched for undocumented migrants in hotels, restaurants
and some private homes where undocumented migrants are known
to stay. The INM officers also looked for undocumented migrants
that were traveling highways and other roads in the area.
Thirty-four of the 62 undocumented migrants were discovered in
hotels. The rest were detained while traveling on trucks of foreign
origin.
Balderrama said that those detained may be sent back to their
countries of origin as early as Monday, November 5, 2001.
Source: El Diario, November 5, 2001. Article by Pedro Torres.
October 31, 2001
Another New Police Chief for Juárez, Military to Guard
Maquiladoras
Late in the week of October 22, 2001, the interim mayor of
Ciudad Juárez, José Reyes Ferrer announced that
Guillermo Prieto Quintana would replace Ramón Domínguez
Perea as head of the city police department. Reyes explained
the change by saying that Domínguez was more of an administrator
than an operations person and that the job, on closer examination,
required someone with operational strengths.
Guillermo Prieto Quintana, the new city police director, previously
held the position during the administration of Mayor Jesús
Macías Delgado (1989-1992). Domínguez described
Prieto as "a career police officer" and mentioned that
there was only one robbery of a Cd. Juárez bank--which
was solved in just a few hours--during Prieto's previous administration.
Domínguez, who was the head of the Cd. Juárez police
for less than three weeks, ordered drug testing of most police
officers and fired 77 of them for failing a series of drug tests.
Domínguez also had social workers inspect the homes of
police captains to make sure they were living within their means.
The social workers also interviewed the captains' neighbors to
see how the men interacted with them.
After announcing the change in police directors, Reyes asked
Domínguez to be his personal advisor and the City Council's
representative to the Instituto Municipal de Seguridad (Municipal
Security Institute). Prior to running the Cd. Juárez police
department, Domínguez had a career in federal law enforcement
and intelligence.
Prieto, the new police director, began his law enforcement career
in Cd. Juárez in 1972 with the city police. Later, he
advanced through the state police.
Talking about the on-going investigation of the city's police
captains, Prieto told the Cd. Juárez newspaper El Norte
on October 28, 2001 that he was not watching anyone in particular
at this time for signs of corruption. However, he stated that
he had indicated what captains were supposed to be working on
and if any of them did something wrong he would fire them.
In a separate story, Juan Carlos Olivares Ramos, the director
of the Asociación de Maquiladoras (Maquiladora Association,
AMAC), told the Cd. Juárez newspaper El Diario that Mexican
Army units will guard the city's high-technology maquiladoras
against terrorist attacks. AMAC and the local Army general, Armando
Arturo Núñez Cabrera, will decide which companies
will receive this protection. Olivares also stated that the Army
is developing prevention and response strategies to incidents
that could endanger industries and their workers.
Sources: El Diario, October 27 & 30, 2001. Articles by
Horacio Carrasco and Rocío Gallegos.
El Norte, October 29, 2001. Article by Juan de Dios Oliva.
October 25, 2001
Juárez Police to Patrol Maquiladora Workers' Transportation
Routes
After a series of meetings between the Ciudad Juárez
police and the Asociación de Maquiladoras (AMAC), Ramón
Domínguez Perea, the new city police director, announced
that his force will change its patrol routes so as to better
cover the routes and bus stops that maquiladora workers use to
get to work.
On October 11, the day that Domínguez took over the city
police, Claudia Ivette González, age 20 and a maquiladora
worker, was reported missing. González was last seen leaving
the maquiladora where she worked. She had arrived late to work
that afternoon and was not permitted into the plant. She had
a six block walk to her bus stop from the maquiladora.
Since 1993, nearly 300 Cd. Juárez women have been found
after being raped and murdered. Many of these young women were
maquiladora workers.
Domínguez also announced that parents should not take
their children to El Paso for trick-or-treating because, "the
neighboring country is at war." Typically, many Cd. Juárez
families go to El Paso to participate in Halloween. Domínguez
also said that parents should only take their children to homes
they know to be safe.
Sources: El Norte, October 24, 2001. Article by Juan de Dios
Oliva.
El Diario, October 25, 2001. Article by Alejandro Quintero.
October 23, 2001
Two Children Die from Carbon Monoxide while Waiting to Cross
to US
Late Sunday night, October 21, Erika Valenzuela, age 13,
and her brother Daniel Valenzuela, age 6, died from carbon monoxide
asphyxiation in the covered back of their parents' pickup truck.
The truck was stuck in traffic for approximately 90 minutes while
waiting to cross the Zaragoza bridge into El Paso from Ciudad
Juárez, according to the Cd. Juárez newspaper El
Diario. The deaths have been ruled accidental and are attributed
to carbon monoxide having entered the truck through holes rusted
in its bed. The long wait on the bridge may have been due in
part to heightened security at the US border.
The children's parents found the Erika and Daniel unresponsive
in the back of their truck when they arrived to their El Paso
home. They called an ambulance but the children were pronounced
dead upon arriving at the hospital. Francisco Valenzuela, the
children's father, said that he had left a window open in the
camper. The couple's other daughter, age 7, survived because
she was upfront in the truck's passenger cabin.
While at the port of entry to the US, the agent on duty there
decided to let the children continue sleeping when he inspected
the car. El Diario reported that the agent did not attempt to
awaken the children.
Speaking about the deaths, INS spokesperson Leticia Zamarripa
told El Diario, "This is a tragedy. We recognize it."
However, Zamarripa expressed that the INS has to help guarantee
national security because of the current crisis. She also told
El Diario that the death of the children will not change recent
federal policies.
Source: El Diario, October 23, 2001. Article by R. Terrazas,
R. Gallegos & L. Sosa.
October 19, 2001
Seventy-Seven Juárez Police Agents Fired after Failing
Drug Tests
Seventy-seven Ciudad Juárez police agents were fired
after they failed a second round of drug tests.
New city police director Ramón Domínguez Perea
ordered the drug testing of all city police agents within hours
of entering office on October 11, 2001. Approximately 1,500 agents
were tested. Five hundred agents that work weekends or have special
assignments were not tested.
Of the 77 agents, the Cd. Juárez newspaper El Diario
reported that 30 tested positive for cocaine, 35 tested positive
for methamphetamines and 11 tested positive for anti-anxiety
drugs and tranquilizers (benzodiazepines).
José Reyes Ferriz, the new Cd. Juárez interim mayor,
said that the city will not launch investigations into the fired
officers. However, as in the case of all retired, resigned or
fired law-enforcement officers, the names of the agents and the
reason for their firing will be sent to a Mexico City database
maintained by the Secretaría de Gobernación.
On October 18, 2001, Cd. Juárez police director Domínguez
said that in an effort to rid the police force of corrupt elements,
there will be an investigation of the lifestyles of all agents.
Specifically, the Internal Affairs department will go to agents'
homes to see if agents are living beyond their means.
The Cd. Juárez newspaper El Norte reports that it is
well known that some agents live in luxurious homes that are
well beyond the purchasing power of their incomes. The average
city police agent earns about the equivalent of US$300 per month.
Sources: El Diario, October 19, 2001. Article by Horacio Carrasco
and Alejandro Quintero.
El Norte, October 18, 2001. Article by Juan de Dios Oliva.
October 16, 2001
Cd. Juárez-El Paso Health and Environmental News
The El Paso Times reports that US Health and Human Services
Secretary Tommy Thompson has said that he will make a strong
effort to get $25 million from the US Congress for border health
programs. Thompson and Julio Frenk Mora, the Mexican Secretary
of Health, are in El Paso where they are co-chairs of the US-Mexico
Border Health Commission. Tuberculosis, AIDS and diabetes are
among the health problems being discussed by the commission,
according to the El Paso Times.
Gonzalo Bravo of the Comisión de Cooperación Ecológica
Fronteriza (Border Environment Cooperation Commission, COCEF)
told the Ciudad Juárez newspaper El Diario that US$3.4
billion in financing is necessary to save delayed US-Mexico border
environmental projects. Bravo said that border-wide needs include
projects in the areas of drinking water, sewage and solid-waste
management.
Of the US$3.4 billion, US$1.384 billion are required for Mexican
projects in the areas of sanitation, drinking water and solid
waste disposal, according to Bravo. US border-county environmental
projects need nearly US$2 billion in financing.
Finally, on October 10, 2001, El Diario also reported that the
illegal shipment of Freon to the US has been in a steady decline
for years. Freon, a refrigerant, is a source of chlorofluorocarbons
(CFCs) and is a threat to the ozone layer. It has been banned
from production and use in the US since January 1, 1996.
El Diario quotes US Customs, El Paso-area spokesperson Roger
Maier as stating that in 1998 area Customs agents decommisioned
13 Freon shipments. In 1999, Customs seized 5 shipments of the
refrigerant. Last year there were 3 seizures of Freon and this
year there have been none, according to Maier.
Sources: El Diario, October 10 & 15, 2001. Articles by Rubén
Terrazas & Miguel Gallardo.
El Paso Times, October 16, 2001. Article by Tammy Fonce-Olivas.
October 11, 2001
PRI Returns to Power in Ciudad Juárez for First Time in
Nine Years
Due to the annulment of the July 2, 2001 election which would
have given the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) its fourth
consecutive win in a Ciudad Juárez mayoral race, the Partido
Revolucionario Institucional has returned to power in that city
for the first time in nine years. The interim Cd. Juárez
mayor is José Reyes Ferriz, a lawyer and son of a former
Cd. Juárez mayor. Reyes was elected to the position by
the PRI-controlled Chihuahua Congress and was one of three names
proposed to the Congress by Chihuahua Governor and PRI politician
Patricio Martínez.
New mayoral elections must be held within six months. The
cost of the elections could be as high as 45 million pesos (approximately
US$4.7 million).
A number of city cabinet positions and offices have already
been filled with PRI appointees. The most significant of these
announcements until this time has been the appointment of Ramón
Domínguez Perea as the head of city police. Domínguez,
who had a previous career in federal law enforcement and intelligence,
replaces Jorge Ostos Castillo.
Upon entering office, Domínguez was quick to announce
that he would clean up the city police force. In recent weeks
the police department has been shaken by the disappearance of
two police captains. According to stories in the Cd. Juárez
newspaper El Diario at least one of these officers may have had
some sort of relationship with the city's major heroin ring.
Source: El Diario, October 11, 2001.
October 9, 2001
Juárez Elections Annulled, Interim City Government to
be Appointed
With a 4-3 vote, a federal election court in Mexico City
(Tribunal Electoral del Poder Judicial de la Federación)
upheld an August 20, 2001, Chihuahua election court decision
to annul the July 2, 2001 Ciudad Juárez city election.
The Partido Acción Nacional (National Action Party, PAN)
candidate Jesús Alfredo Delgado Muñoz had won that
election by a wide margin. His election would have been the PAN's
fourth consecutive win in the city.
An interim mayor is to be appointed Wednesday, October 9,
2001 by the Chihuahua Congress. It is expected that a member
of the PRI will be chosen to fill that post as the Chihuahua
Congress is controlled by the PRI. New elections will be held
within six months at a cost of 45 million pesos (approximately
US$4.7 million).
The four members of the federal court that voted to uphold
the annulment said that they hold current Cd. Juárez Mayor
Gustavo Elizondo responsible for the situation. Both courts found
that Elizondo campaigned during a pre-vote period of reflection
in which there was to be no more campaigning before the election.
The members of the court also found other election irregularities
including city-directed police interference with voters and PRI
representatives on the day of the election.
El Diario also reported that high-ranking members of the PAN
city government where seen vacating their offices on the night
of October 8, 2001. Elizondo's government and term ends on October
10.
Source: El Diario, October 9, 2001. Articles by César
Cruz Sáenz, J.M. Cruz & C. Coria.
October 1, 2001
Border Crossing Cards Known as "Micas" Expire
The old border crossing cards known as "micas"
expired on Sunday, September 30, 2001. The cards have been replaced
by biometric cards commonly known as "laser visas."
City officials in both countries fear traffic flow problems
on October 1 when Mexican drivers may arrive at US points of
entry only to be told they can no longer enter the US on their
old documents. Indeed, one lane on the Paso del Norte bridge
into El Paso from Ciudad Juárez has been reserved for
return traffic, according to the Ciudad Juárez newspaper,
El Diario.
US business owners are worried that many Mexican shoppers
will not be able to enter the US. Business is already off on
both sides of the border following the September 11 attack on
the US. Since then tighter security measures at US ports of entry
have meant waits of up to two to three hours despite a drop in
crossing traffic. Many consumers appear to be unwilling to put
up with such waits.
For weeks the border press has speculated that there would
be no mica extension because of the September 11 attack on the
US. However, some US politicians are still pressing for an extension,
according to El Diario.
El Diario also reports that in the state of Chihuahua there
over 500,000 micas that have not been replaced with laser visas.
The new laser visas are valid for ten years and allow people
to travel up to 40 kilometers into the US for periods of up to
three days. The new visa costs US$45.
Source: El Diario, October 1, 2001. Article by Lorena Figueroa.
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