St. Valentine's Day in Juarez

buckweaver · Sep 3, 2009

Holy crap. Shades of Capone. :'(

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) -- Neighbors mopped blood from the sidewalk outside a drug rehabilitation center Thursday, cleaning up the carnage after gunmen lined up patients against a wall and then riddled them with bullets, killing 18.
It was the third attack on a drug treatment center in Ciudad Juarez. Chihuahua state authorities said Thursday they were investigating reports that the centers have turned into hideouts for drug smugglers being sought by police and hit men from rival gangs.
Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna, Mexico's top law enforcement official, said rehab clinics were also being used as recruiting and training centers by drug cartels.
He told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview that a recently detained drug suspect belonging to the La Familia cartel oversaw various private, nonprofit drug rehab centers across western Michoacan state. The suspect Rafael Cedeno claimed to have trained 9,000 recruits for the cartel in 2008.
"We're checking to see if there is a link with what we've found (in Michoacan)," Garcia Luna said.
Garcia Luna said in Michoacan, Cedeno's rehab centers held retreats to train members, and if addicts did not cooperate, they were executed. He said the La Familia gang preferred recovered addicts because they were less likely to touch the drug loads.
Mexico's burgeoning drug trade has fed a growing drug abuse problem, particularly in border cities where gangs have a heavy presence. Scores of rehabilitation centers have opened their doors in recent years, some out of the homes of recovered drug addicts with checkered pasts.
Most of the centers are not guarded or regulated.
Patricia Gonzalez, the prosecutor of Chihuahua state, where Ciudad Juarez is located, said Thursday that the centers have become hide-outs from police or rival gang members.
Bloody footprints tracked from the door of the humble cinderblock Aliviane center remained on Thursday, as federal police and soldiers stood guard. El Paso can be seen just across the U.S. border.
At 7:15 p.m. Wednesday, about eight gunmen broke down a door at the center, lined their victims against a wall and shot them dead, authorities said. Gonzalez said one man died Thursday and another remained hospitalized.
Little information about the victims was available. Sobbing mothers and wives gathered outside the prosecutors' offices to demand answers and find out whether their loved ones were among the dead.
Elisabeth Quintero, 32, said she lost her son, 16; her younger brother, 28; and her cousin, 21. Another woman gently braided her hair, comforting her outside the Chihuahua state prosecutor's office.
"They have said nothing," Quintero said. "Just that somebody killed them."
Quintero declined to give details about her relatives' addiction problems, saying only that the men checked in to straighten themselves out. She called her teenage son "delinquent."
Jaime Valle was at a loss as to why his 17-year-old son, Jaime Saul Perez, was gunned down just as he was trying to turn his life around by seeking help for marijuana abuse.
He said his son had never been in trouble, except for smoking pot, and had been expected to finish his treatment and return home this weekend.
"I want justice!" Valle yelled. "Kill those ungrateful dogs that are going around killing innocent people. Justice! I want justice!"
Ciudad Juarez, Mexico's deadliest city, has seen the worst of the nation's drug violence with more than 1,300 deaths this year. The bloodshed has continued despite a buildup in troops since March.
The city is home to the Juarez cartel, which has been fighting other drug gangs for lucrative drug routes into the United States.
In June, five men were killed in an attack at another rehabilitation center, while 50 patients scrambled over a back fence to escape. In August 2008, gunmen barged into a pastor's sermon at a rehabilitation center and opened fire, killing eight people. Authorities have yet to say whether the attacks are related.
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JackReacher · Sep 3, 2009

I called my brother, who is stationed in El Paso, today. He hadn't even heard about it. But wasn't surprised when I told him.

buckweaver · Sep 3, 2009

That's the ONLY reason this isn't getting more play.

The murders do indeed happen all the time. But not "St. Valentine's Day Massacre"-style, and not 18 like that.

Cadet · Sep 3, 2009

Newsweek had a great article on border violence in Juarez last November:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/171251/page/1

But here's my question: Where is all the media attention and outrage for the more than 400 unsolved murders of women in Juarez since 1993?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_homicides_in_Ciudad_Ju%C3%A1rez

The victims of these crimes have preponderantly been the state of young women, between 12 and 22 years of age. Many were students, and most were maquiladora workers. A number were relative newcomers to Ciudad Juarez who had migrated from other areas of Mexico. The victims were generally reported missing by their families, with their bodies found days or months later abandoned in vacant lots, outlying areas or in the desert. In most of these cases there were signs of sexual violence, abuse, torture or in some cases mutilation.
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This situation is a sidebar for the LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-juarez-missing9-2009aug09,0,4357807.story

Bubbler · Sep 4, 2009

A bit of irony from the Juarez tourism site ...

"So you are ready to party! Just remember you cannot come to modern Juarez, Mexico thinking you are legal to run wild and howl at the moon. The days of Billy the Kid riding in and shooting up the town are long gone ..."

I've never been there, but there cannot be a more murderous hellhole on Earth.

Football_Bat · Sep 4, 2009

Damn, now I can't go to the donkey show.

NoOneLikesUs · Sep 4, 2009

Anyone read any good blogs on the ongoing drug war?

Bob Cook · Sep 4, 2009

buckweaver said:

Holy crap. Shades of Capone. :'(

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (AP) -- Neighbors mopped blood from the sidewalk outside a drug rehabilitation center Thursday, cleaning up the carnage after gunmen lined up patients against a wall and then riddled them with bullets, killing 18.
It was the third attack on a drug treatment center in Ciudad Juarez. Chihuahua state authorities said Thursday they were investigating reports that the centers have turned into hideouts for drug smugglers being sought by police and hit men from rival gangs.
Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna, Mexico's top law enforcement official, said rehab clinics were also being used as recruiting and training centers by drug cartels.
He told The Associated Press in an exclusive interview that a recently detained drug suspect belonging to the La Familia cartel oversaw various private, nonprofit drug rehab centers across western Michoacan state. The suspect Rafael Cedeno claimed to have trained 9,000 recruits for the cartel in 2008.
"We're checking to see if there is a link with what we've found (in Michoacan)," Garcia Luna said.
Garcia Luna said in Michoacan, Cedeno's rehab centers held retreats to train members, and if addicts did not cooperate, they were executed. He said the La Familia gang preferred recovered addicts because they were less likely to touch the drug loads.
Mexico's burgeoning drug trade has fed a growing drug abuse problem, particularly in border cities where gangs have a heavy presence. Scores of rehabilitation centers have opened their doors in recent years, some out of the homes of recovered drug addicts with checkered pasts.
Most of the centers are not guarded or regulated.
Patricia Gonzalez, the prosecutor of Chihuahua state, where Ciudad Juarez is located, said Thursday that the centers have become hide-outs from police or rival gang members.
Bloody footprints tracked from the door of the humble cinderblock Aliviane center remained on Thursday, as federal police and soldiers stood guard. El Paso can be seen just across the U.S. border.
At 7:15 p.m. Wednesday, about eight gunmen broke down a door at the center, lined their victims against a wall and shot them dead, authorities said. Gonzalez said one man died Thursday and another remained hospitalized.
Little information about the victims was available. Sobbing mothers and wives gathered outside the prosecutors' offices to demand answers and find out whether their loved ones were among the dead.
Elisabeth Quintero, 32, said she lost her son, 16; her younger brother, 28; and her cousin, 21. Another woman gently braided her hair, comforting her outside the Chihuahua state prosecutor's office.
"They have said nothing," Quintero said. "Just that somebody killed them."
Quintero declined to give details about her relatives' addiction problems, saying only that the men checked in to straighten themselves out. She called her teenage son "delinquent."
Jaime Valle was at a loss as to why his 17-year-old son, Jaime Saul Perez, was gunned down just as he was trying to turn his life around by seeking help for marijuana abuse.
He said his son had never been in trouble, except for smoking pot, and had been expected to finish his treatment and return home this weekend.
"I want justice!" Valle yelled. "Kill those ungrateful dogs that are going around killing innocent people. Justice! I want justice!"
Ciudad Juarez, Mexico's deadliest city, has seen the worst of the nation's drug violence with more than 1,300 deaths this year. The bloodshed has continued despite a buildup in troops since March.
The city is home to the Juarez cartel, which has been fighting other drug gangs for lucrative drug routes into the United States.
In June, five men were killed in an attack at another rehabilitation center, while 50 patients scrambled over a back fence to escape. In August 2008, gunmen barged into a pastor's sermon at a rehabilitation center and opened fire, killing eight people. Authorities have yet to say whether the attacks are related.
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St. Valentine's Day in Juarez

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St. Valentine's Day in Juarez

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