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Sunday, February 19, 2012

Calderon Touts Sharp Drop in Homicides in Ciudad Juarez

President Calderon glancing at a large sign "No More Weapons" directed to the US.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon said the number of homicides in Ciudad Juarez has fallen 57 percent since the launch of a security and community development strategy in the violent border city two years ago.

“If we take into account exactly two years of the ‘We Are Juarez’ strategy, through January of this year, homicides in Juarez fell 57 percent,” Calderon said during the inauguration of a job fair on the second day of his visit to the city, located across the border from El Paso, Texas.

The president did not indicate how he calculated that percentage, although the Chihuahua state Attorney General’s Office reported that 1,974 people were killed in the city in 2011, down 36 percent from the 3,100 murdered in 2010.

President Calderon reading to students in a school in Ciudad Juarez.

Calderon said one of the key components of the program, which saw the completion of 160 projects dealing with business promotion, jobs, health, education and social development in 100 days, “has been and must be the rebuilding of the social fabric.”

“And to do that, job creation and putting people who need work in a position to find it is essential, which explains the encouraging results that the ‘We Are Juarez’ strategy has had thus far,” he said Friday.

The job fair, where 44 companies are offering some 2,300 jobs to Juarez residents, is part of that strategy.

Calderon said 51,000 new jobs were created in Mexico in January and – according to the “maquiladora,” or export-oriented assembly plant, industry, which is mostly concentrated in border cities – 7,200 jobs were created that same month in Ciudad Juarez.

He added that 42,000 new jobs were created nationwide in the first two weeks of February and “if the same rate (seen in January) were to continue, we’d be talking about more than 5,000 (jobs) in Juarez.”

Calderon added that more than 5 billion pesos ($392 million) has been spent on the “We Are Juarez” program since its inception in early 2010 to bolster security, education, sports, health, social development and employment in the border city, which was the world’s deadliest between 2008 and 2010.

President Calderon reviewing a parade in Ciudad Juarez along with the Governor of Cihuahua to his right.

The initiative was launched after the massacre of 15 youths attending a birthday party in the city’s Villas de Salvarcar section on Jan. 31, 2010.

On Friday, Calderon met privately with the victims’ families to hear their demands and gather information on the situation in that neighborhood.

The mothers said they have been in mourning since the day of the massacre in Villas de Salvarcar, where playing fields, a park and a memorial garden for the victims have been installed.

“We thank the president for the support he’s given us and for the things installed in the neighborhood, but our mourning persists. We haven’t forgotten our children, nor will we,” said Esther, a mother of one of the slain youths.

“The neighborhood has changed a lot and we truly hope that the situation improves, not only here but throughout the city,” she added.

However, other relatives of the victims said recently they are still living in fear of drug traffickers and feeling exposed two years after the massacre.

Luz Maria Davila, whose sons, Marcos and Jose Luis Piña Davila, were among those killed on that fateful day, said last month the situation in the neighborhood was “the same” and people were still afraid.

“The government has not done anything. Everything’s the same here and the same stuff as always keeps happening,” said Davila, who made headlines when she confronted Calderon during one of his previous visits to the city to demand justice.

“The park and the playing fields are all really pretty and covered with federal government logos, but it’s a shame because we can’t enjoy them. Not long ago, some young men were killed on the soccer fields,” a woman who testified at the trial of the men convicted of the massacre said last month.

Five men convicted in connection with the Villas de Salvarcar massacre got 240 years in prison.

Since the Jan. 31, 2010, killings, there have been two other massacres in the area.

On Jan. 23, 2011, seven young men playing soccer on a field built as part of the federal government’s “Todos Somos Juarez” program were gunned down. Gunmen killed 15 young men on Oct. 23, 2010, at a house in Villas de Salvarcar.

During his visit to Juarez this week, the president inaugurated a public library in Villas de Salvarcar and also attended baseball, soccer and American football games in the neighborhood and a concert given by a youth orchestra made up of elementary and high school students.

Despite the drop in homicides last year, Ciudad Juarez remained Mexico’s murder capital with 148 killings for every 100,000 residents.

Authorities attribute most of the violence in the hardscrabble metropolis to a territorial conflict between the Juarez and Sinaloa drug cartels.

Source: EFE

21 comments:

  1. Calderon is lucky that Rapido y Furioso gun trafficking by the Obama administration was exposed at a result of Brian Terry's death. That is why violence was so high in 2009 and 2010 then dropped significantly in 2011 after Rapido y Furioso was stopped.

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    Replies
    1. The weapons from FF are a drop in the bucket compared to the arsenal the cartels get from South America and Russia. Keep grasping those straws

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  2. Could it be that the new police chief had something to do with it, DO YOU THINK?? Don't you always love the politicians, remember Obama in El Paso last year trying to toot his horn and suck up to the Mex/american voters, funny thing is much of the public actually is moved by these stunts. Melting down guns for his sign??

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  3. why can;t u calderon stop the drugs u know why cause u r send it over here

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    Replies
    1. you make no sense .......walk your ass into oncoming traffic

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  4. President Calderon always blames the U.S. for the drug violence and all that goes with it. Saying that it's the U.S. drug demand that causes all the problems!

    Well if Mexican organized crime didn't send the drugs north, there wouldn't the demand. What came first the chicken or the egg.

    And Mr. Calderon is always complaning about all the guns that make it south of the border ! What is Calderon doing to stop the guns going south (other than blame the U.S.) ??

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  5. It went down because no one wants to join the NCJ

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  6. Nice chapo is winning juarez

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  7. everyone talk shit on Calderon but I could respect the man more .. think of the bigger picture trying to stop the cartels from murdering everyone man I feel for this guy

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  8. Am I the only smart guy here who knows who will be the winner of this war at the end of course the sinaloa cartel because they have the help from the federal govenment as simple as that , there is no criminal organization that can be sucessfull without the help from the govenment. Zetas and the other cartels have local and state govenment help but not the most powerfull the federal one so please zetas quit this shit while you can your not going to win this war at the end if you keep on fightting only 2 things you will get be killed or get locked up

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    Replies
    1. you are real smart by the way fighting is spelled wrong but you are smart

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  9. if i were in charge all those weapons would be used to outfit citizens that volunteer to exterminate the cartels, kidnappers and extortionists.

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  10. Calderon has it backwards - there need to be more killings, not less. A lot more. How many cartel members are there in Mexico? A 100,000? That's how many need to be killed. You add in their extended families, their pets and we're probably talking half a million. START KILLING!

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  11. POR FAVOR CALDERON!!
    ES COMO SI TE DIJERAN A TI "NO MORE BRIBES" NO MAS MORDIDAS....

    Echandole la culpa a otros, asi es mi Mexico.

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  12. I agree that any drop in crime in Juarez can be attributed to chief of police Julian Leyzaola, who has hit the leadership of La Linea hard, combined with Gente Nueva wiping out the guys on the ground.

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  13. Calderon should seal off the border. He should make it to where no american can enter Mexico without special permission from the Mexican government. Mabey even build a fence. :)

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  14. En juaritos no para la violencia, segun que menos muertes pero lo que enrealidadse vive son extorsiones, robos con violencia, secuestros, rinas, de todo a diario.. Ayer fueron 3 muertos, segun que VA ala Baja, a quien tratan de enganiar esas ratas del municipio.. Quien le cree Al teto si ese es nada mas que una rata asquerosa.. Quien le cree al leyzaola, la gente lo defiende pero pura gente que no sabe en lo absoluto nada de juarez y las porquerias que ase ese sin verguenzaque segun que El cartel de Juarez no tiene fuerza, pero la gente de Juarez sabe que en Juarez Las calles estan controladas por elLos.. Los de la gente nueva no se aparecen para nada y ya tiene UN rato asi, aora usan ala policia municipal para que ellos agan sus fanfarronadas y al leyzaola para taparles sus mamadas, ya an dejado de ser utiles ala cuidadania.. Que se dejen de mentiras esos corruptos politicos

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  15. Calderon should seal off the border. He should make it to where no american can enter Mexico without special permission from the Mexican government. Mabey even build a fence. :)
    February 19, 2012 11:54 PM
    Man,i give it to you.This has got to be the most hysterical comment on here Calderon put a fence up?Now go get me a pair of women's knickers to put on your head.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I had a feeling people where going to attack calderon right away, first of all drugs are transported north because in the US the demand is high. If the US didn't have some many addicts Mexico wouldn't had the need to traffic drugs. And to lways say we Mexicans blame us for everything how about you search us history and check why Mexico been so poor since the time of the american- Mexican war. When US made through aggression nd war so Mexico had to sell parts of the north. I bet most of ya didnt know this. Then the us was the one who helped porfirio diaz win presidency n to sty in power for 70 years america owns most of mexicos industry that's why we poor, because corporations exploit and make war for our people, since they know Mexico has the potential to actually be stronger then the us. Don't like my statement ? Suck it up because is the truth . Read your history and prove me wrong. Most of the shit going on around the world is actually caused by the us.

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  17. EL NUEVO CARTEL DE JUAREZ SE SIGUE FORTIFICANDO.SABEMOS QUE LAS MUERTES HAN DISMINUYIDO PORQUE EL CHAPO YA NOP ESTA MANDANDO TANTA GENTE A JUAREZ,YA QUE NO LA PODIDOO ARMAR CONTRA EL CARTEL JUARENSE.A PERDIDOO MUCHA GENTE EL CHAPO,PUES LAS DOS PANDILLAS,MEXICLES Y AA NO LOGRARON CUMPLIR LA META,EXTERMINAR A LOS DE LA LINEA,AL CONTRARIO,LA LINEA,LOS AZTECAS,SON LOS QUE ESTAN A PUNTO DE EXTERMINAR A LOS DE MEXICLES Y AA Y HAN MATADO MUCHA GENTE DE LA MENTADA GN,TANTO QUE EL CHAPO YA NO A MANDADO SU GENTE A JUAREZ COMO ANTES...EL CHAPO SACO SU GN Y A DEJADO QUE LOS DE MEXICLES Y AA SOLOS,Y PUES SOLOS NO SON NADA CONTRA LOS AZTECAS,MUCHO MENOS CUANDO LA LINEA APOYA A LOS AZTECAS...ESTOO DANDO EL RESULTADO QUE EL CHAPO SE ESTA APOYANDO CON EL LEYZAOLA PARA ATACAR A LOS AZTECAS,QUE ENN REALIDAD SON LOS VERDADEROS GUERREROS DE VICENTE CARRILLO FUENTES...PERO ESTOO VA CAMBIAR Y PRONTO.EL CHAPO TUBOO SU OPOTUNIDAD,APOYO DE POLICIA FEDERAL,MILITARES,POLICIA UNICA,ALGUNOS MUNICIPALES,SU MENTADA GENTE NUEVA,LAS PANDILLAS DE MEXICLES Y AA...Y QUE PASO???NO HAN PODIDO DESDE EL 2008!!! TODOS VAN A QUEDAR SORPRENDIDOS COMO VA QUEDAR TODO ESTO!!! EL CARETEL JUARENSE,"NCJ",NUNCA SE VA DESPLASAR...YA LO VERAN,LOS HECHOS HABLAN POR SI MISMOS...

    ReplyDelete

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