Blog dedicated to reporting on Mexican drug cartels
on the border line between the US and Mexico
.

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Disappearance of Woman who was Border Town's Last Cop Raises Alarm

On Christmas day Borderland Beat was one of the first to report on the disapearance of a young lady who became the only police officer of Guadalupe, Chihuahua. Her name is Ericka Gandara. Not much information out on the outcome of her disapearance. The issue of insecurity in Mexico takes us right in to 2011.
Here is another piece:

The Associated Press

Erika Gándara joined the Guadalupe Police Department in June 2009. An officer was shot dead the same week. Since then, the other seven officers that constituted the police force have all resigned. Gándara is now the only officer in the small town in the Juárez Valley. But she forges on. "I am better off alone than in bad company," she said.

The last remaining police officer in the Mexican border town of Guadalupe has disappeared, and prosecutors in northern Chihuahua state are searching for her.

Twenty-eight-year-old officer Ericka Gandara held out despite the desertions and resignations that left her as the only officer in the Juarez Valley town, which was served by eight police a year ago.

But Gandara hasn't been seen since Dec. 23. While some local media have reported Gandara was kidnapped, prosecutors' spokesman Arturo Sandoval said her relatives have not filed a kidnap complaint.

Sandoval said the search was started this week as a missing-person case.

The same day she disappeared, assailants also set fire to the home of a Guadalupe town councilwoman.

The Sinaloa and Juarez drug cartels have been battling for control of the Juarez Valley, leading many residents to flee across the border to Texas or to other Mexican cities.

Most police officers, outgunned by the drug cartels, have resigned and officials say few people are willing to take their place.

The burden of law enforcement has increasingly fallen on a few women.

In the neighboring town of Praxedis G. Guerrero, a 20-year-old woman was sworn in as police chief in October. The man who previously held that office had been gunned down in July 2009 and the town had been unable to find a replacement for more than a year.

The drug gangs are trying to control the valley's single highway, a lucrative drug trafficking route along the Texas border.

In another northern state, Nuevo Leon, police found the severed head of a federal police officer Tuesday, said Jorge Domene, the state government's security spokesman. The officer's abandoned and bullet-ridden car was found on a highway the previous day. The motive for his killing is unknown.

Nuevo Leon and neighboring Tamaulipas state have been torn by a bloody turf war between the Gulf and Zetas drug gangs.

13 comments:

  1. ATTENTION AMERICAN EX-WAR VETERANS WHO WANT TO HELP IN MEXICO CONTACT THE MEXICAN CONSULATES OFFICE:
    AUSTIN 512-478-2866
    BROWNSVILLE TX. 956-542-4431

    COMBAT VETERANS , LETS GIVE OUR MEXICAN FRIENDS A HAND WITH THIER CARTEL THUG PROBLEM. ADVISE YOUR BUDDIES AND JUMP INTO THE ACTION..
    DO IT FOR OUR AMERICAS SECURITY AND FOR OUR MEXICAN BROTHERS AND SISTERS.
    THE ACTION IS VERY, VERY DANGEROUS, JUST LIKE THE AMERICANS LOVE IT!!! GOD BLESS YOU AND AMERICA!! ITS THE RIGHT THING TO DO!!!
    DFL

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  2. DFL, before you show up with guns blazing, ask first if they want you there.

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  3. If the Cartels are fighting for a single highway, why can't the Army at least control that 1 hwy?

    How thin is the Army spread?

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  4. WE WILLL BE INVITED IN- WATCH!!!
    DFL

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  5. Yea why don't you ask the cartels if they want you there? Or--you could take a vote with the policia? Maybe everyday citizens? Oh, I know, lets start a census. What percentage would justify it?

    Better yet, maybe we should just stay away...

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  6. "DFL, before you show up with guns blazing, ask first if they want you there."

    Ya, lets do what they want. Its worked well so far...

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  7. Its the Mexican goverment that will alllow these mercenaries in. Who cares what the police or the cartel fucks want. They will be on a mission for the goverment and will be welcome with open arms by the mexican citizens who have been terrioized by these hoodlum losers.
    They are fed up with this stupid shit and are more than willing to have someone come in and offer protection and security.
    If you people from Mexico have a problem with it then join your own Militay and fight for your country or shut the fuck up.
    President Calseron has big balls .
    All of mexico should rally and stand with him in his honorable fight against these cow shit eating thugs.
    DFL

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  8. To Anon @ 5:54 who stated: ATTENTION AMERICAN EX-WAR VETERANS WHO WANT TO HELP IN MEXICO CONTACT THE MEXICAN CONSULATES OFFICE

    How about you check out the BB sponsor (Secure The Border) who is doing great work on THIS side of the border in TX. http://www.texasbordervolunteers.org/home.php

    I'm sure Sheriff Joe in AZ would love to have well trained, ex-military to join his volunteer teams as well.

    We can't fix MX (unfortunately) by going in with force, but we can and should, as citizens, protect our country even if DC refuses to.

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  9. Obviously there are some real US lunatics reading BB. Homer Simpson going in! It would be comical in a way if it didn't show us how prospects are so dim even for us here in the US.

    Ernest1

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  10. CARTELS ARE HUGE INFLUENCES IN THIS COUNTRY, its poor and there is no fixing it unless we do what we did with Escobar, You have to go to the head and take it down.. the people of mexico cannot save themselves everyone is living in fear which is truley bullshit!!! I really feel for them.. However There was a futuristic show stating what could happen how the boarders will be flooded with a rush of mexicans trying to flee there very own country out of fear,desparation of salvation in our country where we do have FREEDOM in a sence which is unknown to them.. our military is not our police, our military is not payed off by Cartell, where children can have a childhood and not feel as if adulthood should start so immediately.. A woman is strong and can stay steady in place of men that flea as part of the police. however to know that there is certain death around the corner because to the cartel you are one person against an army.. I commend her for staying but can you really make a difference? its hard to say.. As we see this one hwy someone needs to blow it up!! if its one hwy cannot someone figure out the weakness!! to shut it down for a moment to expose the ememies weak point? and I AGREE THE PRESEDENT OF MEXICO should be the one to raise the moral of the country he is leading !!!! and take the bull by the horns and take a fuckin stand!! NO MORE !! SUFFERING OF HIS PEOPLE!!! how can you stand there and say your doing everything you can ?? THERE IS ALWAYS A WAY!!! YOU CHOOSE YOUR BATTLES !! CHOOSE TO CARE !! CHOOSE.. CHOOSE TO LIVE AND YOUR PEOPLE THAT LOOK AT YOU CANT EVEN SEE YOU TRYING TO CARE!! instead they sit on the way side looking and watching the devistation of its people WTF!! I can tell you this... WE COULD NEVER JUST SIT AND WATCH THIS HAPPEN WE ARE THE PEOPLE !!.. if this happend in the us believe me someone would have to answer questions and make the call !! people are loosing their lives and THE PRESIDENT OF MEXICO IS REALLY NOT GIVIN A SHIT ! THAT TO ME IS A BUNCH OF CRAP!! THESE ANIMALS NEED TO BE TAKEN CARE OF LET THEM SLEEP WITH THE FISHES !!! the young will suffer...

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  11. GOD HAS A JUSTICE SYSTEM NO MAN WILL ESCAPE FROM ! AND THAT IS A PROMISE

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  12. This girl had the 'guts' 'courage' to make a stand for what's right. The difference of making a difference is that she had more balls than those drug-cartel, king-pin, so called leaders who say they care about the people, and use the money generated from the 'drugs; to bribe or seduce people to do their evil deeds and carry on the agenda. She STANDS OUT and she gave her life up. Selfless Action Here. Shes a good example of courage and she didn't just complained, she acted alone, and her price for it was her life. Some would say that it a waste, but maybe she'll make some impression on the heart of someone, and they will follow the example she made. "Las Manianitas" famous song, song in Mexico and here in New Mexico And others was written on behalf of "King-David, 'a man with courage and a heart for the people and God. I wonder if maybe she didn't come from the bloodline of "King David". You people from Mexico, alot of you come from that bloodline. Wake Up!. If you dare, and make a stand'

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  13. Has there been any news on Ericka Gandara who has been missing since December 23rd?

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