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

Friday, March 30, 2012

Mexico’s Ciudad Juarez Not World’s Deadliest, Mayor Says

The mayor of this Mexican border metropolis rejected a U.S. official’s suggestion that Ciudad Juarez is the world’s most dangerous large city.

“We’re not the world’s most dangerous city by a long way, nor Mexico’s, and we can prove it,” Hector Murguia said at a press conference.

Ciudad Juarez, home to approximately 1.3 million people, “is today the most dangerous city in Mexico and I think it’s the most dangerous city in the hemisphere, if not the world,” William Brownfield, assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, told a U.S. congressional panel on Thursday.

His comment came in response to a question from a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs concerning the shooting deaths of five police officers Wednesday in Juarez.

Murguia said his administration’s records indicate that 116 homicides were committed in the city in January of this year, 69 in February and 69 in March, down from 269, 173 and 268 murders, respectively, in those same three months of 2011.

The mayor said the U.S. official’s remarks were “irresponsible” because they “drive away tourism and (adversely) affect the advances achieved to date in terms of security.”

He also invited Brownfield to visit Ciudad Juarez “so he can see for himself that this is a community that’s trying to move forward, in spite of his comments.”

On Thursday night, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico issued a statement applauding and expressing support for the efforts of President Felipe Calderon’s administration, the state government of Chihuahua and Murguia’s administration to tackle drug-related violence.

“The impact of these efforts can be seen in (Juarez’s) crime statistics, which show a significant reduction in homicides,” the embassy said.

“U.S. assistance, in coordination with our Mexican counterparts, has focused on training and equipping police to give them greater capacity to combat the threat posed by transnational criminal organizations to local communities,” the statement said.
The embassy said that as bilateral efforts under the Merida Initiative – a U.S.-funded regional plan to battle drug cartels and organized crime – “shift in focus from federal to state police forces, Chihuahua state and the city of Juarez have become key priorities.”

“We will continue to provide support, particularly in areas most affected by crime and violence, in partnership with the government of Mexico, its security agencies and its citizens.”

Ciudad Juarez remained Mexico’s deadliest major city in 2011 with nearly 2,000 homicides, or roughly 148 murders for every 100,000 residents, although that figure was down from the previous year, when 3,100 people were murdered.

Authorities attribute most of the violence in the gritty metropolis just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, to a territorial conflict between the Juarez and Sinaloa drug cartels.

According to a recent report from the Citizen Council for Public Safety and Criminal Justice, a non-governmental organization, the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula has surpassed Ciudad Juarez as the world’s most violent metropolis.

Mexico’s government said 12,903 people died in drug-related violence between January and September 2011, bringing the drug war death toll since December 2006, when Calderon took office, to 47,515.

The country’s murder total has grown every year of the federal government’s military offensive against the well-funded, heavily armed drug gangs.

Unofficial tallies published late last year by independent daily La Jornada put the drug-war death toll at more than 50,000.

Source: EFE

20 comments:

  1. He must be an idiot or in denial can't he see all the violence happening around him?? narcos with paramilitary weapons beheadings,torture, grenade attacks, kidnappings etc. They are one of the many things that is wrong with that country.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Who is he trying to bullshit ?

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a complete waste of time, who cares if Juarez is no 1 or no 10 ?? Now the reduction in murders and other crime under the Loysola or whatever police chief thats a story!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Leyzaola es UN pinche corruptote x que crees que Les andan matando policias. El bato llego a darle contra Los de Juarez y tenian una red con Los del cereso que dejaban salir a presos de sinaloa y mexicles y doble a matar gente del cartel de Juarez de noche.. Por eso andubieron matando guardias y policias uno diario x que El teto traiciono a Juarez y apoyo a leyzaola acabar con la Linea.. Aora Los andan matando de Nuebo x q an de aver quebrado El trato y aparte la Linea trae muchos chotas en la municipal y Juarez esta casi completamente manejadas x picaderos y redes de prostitucion que manejan los aztecas.. areas manejadas x sinaloa son Las colonias de mecicles y doble as pero son pocas. No le conbiene a Juarez tener una municipal que favore Al chapo asi que cuando agarran gente de Juarez Les matan polis para que patruyen con miedo y no interfieran. Van a seguir dandole mate a policias x que son unos marranos. y no ah bajado Los homicidios por eso, mucha gente del cartel Juarez se a ido a chuhuahua y cuahtemoc ya que El chapo trae su gente por todos lados peleando Mexico x lo tanto hay menos gente matando en Juarez pero hay bancazos, rinas, extorsiones, ejecuciones, car jackings con violencia asaltos a diario q no ablamos

      Delete
  4. If it's so safe in Juarez why does the mayor live in El Paso?

    ReplyDelete
  5. He lives in EL paso cause hes the biges chicken of them all fucking lier.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You see why some kind of peoples revolution is needed?Here is an elected representative talking absolute nonsense.What has this man done to alleviate the problems people face.He lives in a protected bubble of moneyed ignorance,in a different country.Pathetic.We realize,it seems there is not a better way to run authority's and government,other than by people elected by the people.But in every country on this planet,politicians are enriching themselves off the back of this process.And that is wrong.The whole of Europe,the US,Asia,how many millionaires are politicians?Its wrong man.

    ReplyDelete
  7. He's worried about tourism? Who the hell is going there on vacation? I wouldn't even drive on a highway through there.

    ReplyDelete
  8. 13 people shot in 6hours... not in juarez but chicago. Violence is everywere

    ReplyDelete
  9. Yah, it's the US and their lies that are driving away tourism. All it takes is one shootout in the middle of town, and your tourism dollars vanish. These genius cartel guys haven't figured out that their current "plan" to extort the local business is only making a fraction of what they could. If they stopped hanging bodies and BS signs around town, stopped shooting at each other in downtown, if they minded their own business and stopped worrying who was driving loads through their "plaza", they would make a shitload more money. And so would the rest of Mexico. I USED to spend thousands a year down there, but no more. It's not worth it. And it's no ones fault but their own.

    ReplyDelete
  10. "house appropiation subcomitee" thats a good one. Sounds like a fancy term for "department of overpaid assholes who sit around with their thumbs up their asses.

    ReplyDelete
  11. All these alcaldes (mayors) are wankers they're all liars and slimy gets mayors and politicians be it Americans, Mexicans, Europeans, Asians, Africans, Arabs, etc... This guy from Juárez lives in Texas well so does the governor from Nuevo León Rodrigo Medina that's how safe Juárez y Nuevo León are

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wat an idiot. Wat a maroon. The only times it's not dangerous is if you're already dead.

    ReplyDelete
  13. JUST HEARD SOME SHOTS GO OFF RIGHT DOWN THE STREET ..SOUNDED LIKE AN AR15...GOOD OLD MEXICO .NEVER A DULL MOMENT

    ReplyDelete
  14. Mexican leaders live in denial...and blame others for their problems...Stubborn/Proud = Foolish MOFO....they need to wake up

    ReplyDelete
  15. April 1, 2012 9:32 PM .
    Ten cuidado hermano,those caps don't care who they hit.

    ReplyDelete
  16. This PENDEJO is so full of shit u gotta wear rubber boots around him.

    ReplyDelete
  17. You guys are ridiculous.. i think some of you read what you want or dont read the article at all just the headline. Fact number one.. San pedro sula is number 1 in murder. Fact 2.. crime has gone down... what is wrong with a mayor using the media to counter such a power statrmrnt that the city he governs is the deadliest city of all? And number 3.... Juarez is a border city... like Tijuana.. people go for thr clubbing.. thr ethnic food.. no taco bell there... and for the cheaper products.. its just different. Tourism was a big part of their economy. Shit may not be great.. but it used to be worse.. some people are dissuaded from going just from one headline.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I know I'm a bit late for this conversation, sorry.

    13 people shot in six hours isn't that big a deal, maybe for Chicago it is I don't know.

    Brownfield's right about last year if excluding war zones like Mogadishu, Juarez *did* have a higher murder rate than San Pedro Sula in 2011. Unfortunately this widely-believed mistake is universally accepted pretty much.

    ReplyDelete
  19. in the last year 35000 people have been killed in ciudad juarez... it got to be the most fu"#ed up place om earth that has not been recogniced as a warzone or a zoneunder dictatorship

    ReplyDelete

Comments are moderated, refer to policy for more information.
Envía fotos, vídeos, notas, enlaces o información
Todo 100% Anónimo;

borderlandbeat@gmail.com