Mayor Talks in El Paso About Violence in Juarez

Juarez mayor tells UT crowd about challenges of drug wars

American-Statesman

Speaking Monday at the University of Texas, Juárez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said his city is no longer a crossing point for large shipments of drugs because of a troop buildup.

Jose Reyes Ferriz had no idea what he was getting into when he was elected mayor of Juárez in 2007. A few months after winning, his city plunged into the most brutal drug war Mexico has ever known.

Entering its third year, Juárez's bloody conflict has seen nearly 5,000 murders, dozens of businesses torched by extortionists and residents worried that neither a rebuilt police force nor thousands of Mexican soldiers can protect them from the violence.

Ferriz offered a glimpse behind those grim headlines Monday, speaking to an overflow crowd at the University of Texas in a talk sponsored by the school's Latin American studies program.

The visit featured an unusual amount of security for a university talk: two police officers checking bags as people entered. Ferriz has faced numerous death threats, the latest found next to a severed pig's head a few weeks ago after he fired several corrupt Juárez police officers.

While it's often characterized as a fight between powerful drug cartels, Ferriz said the current violence is the result of battles between the city's three main street gangs, who are fighting for control of the city's drug trade.

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"Two Weeks Left to Live:" Mayor

"Juárez officer slain; mayor gets threat: '2 weeks left to live'

Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua - A police officer killed, a threat against the mayor and an attack on a family were parts of the latest violence in Juárez.

Police officer Luis Alberto Adame Rubio was off duty when his car was sprayed with gunfire by men with assault rifles Wednesday afternoon in the Jilotepec area, a Juárez city spokesman said. Adame died at the scene.

Adame, 32, was a patrol officer who had joined the police department a year ago among recruits intended to replace corrupt officers.

The cleansing of the police department could be a motive behind a death threat made against Juárez Mayor José Reyes Ferriz.

City officials said that the mayor's security team was looking into the threat and that security had been increased.

"We know the topic of cleaning up the police to have a trustworthy department is something that has affected a lot of criminal interests and we take very seriously these" threats, Reyes said in a statement.

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Juarez Mayor Asked Why He Hasn't Resigned

Renowned journalist Jorge Ramos of Univision Interviews the mayor of Ciudad Juarez José Reyes Ferriz. The interview was from Miami, Florida to the neighboring city of El Paso, Texas where the mayor of Juarez lives.

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Drug Violence Rooted In Mexico's Social Ills

Juarez Mayor: Drug Violence Rooted In Mexico's Social Ills.

Jose Reyes Ferriz, the mayor of violence-plagued Ciudad Juarez, said the drug cartel war gripping his city is rooted in social decomposition such as broken homes.

CNN

Ciudad Juarez, Chih - Jose Reyes Ferriz, the mayor of violence-plagued Ciudad Juarez, said the drug cartel war gripping his city is rooted in social decomposition such as broken homes.

The president of Mexico made a major announcement on social intervention in response to the drug violence, which in 2010 has killed close to 1,000 people throughout the country, says Reyes.

President Felipe Calderon visited the city on the U.S. border across from El Paso, Texas, on Thursday.

"We have been working during the last couple of years on cleaning up and reinforcing our police department," Reyes said in a phone interview with CNN this week. "Having done that, it is time to go to the root of the problem. The root of the problem is a social problem that we did not anticipate. We need to work on that."

Also this week, in what is seen widely as a symbolic gesture in response to last week's house party massacre that killed 15, the Chihuahua state government on Monday temporarily moved its main offices to Juarez, Reyes confirmed.

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Massacre Between Gangs, Mayor Says

Juarez Mayor claims massacre was between gangs.

Ciudad Juarez, Chih - The mayor of Ciudad Juarez, Jose Reyes Ferriz, said that the massacre of 16 students was the result of gangs fighting with each other in this case the Aztecas and the "Doblados" or "Double AA" for "Artistas Asesinos" or "Artists Assassins."

To this date there has been no evidence presented that any of the young students had any ties to any gang or organized crime.

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Alleged Picture of Student Armed with Long Gun

The mayor of Ciudad Juárez, José Reyes Ferriz, argues that one of the victims has links to organized crime for allegedly having a picture of himself in his cell phone armed with a long gun, although the mayor admits that he has not personally seen the picture.

José Reyes Ferriz, mayor of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, said "at least one" of young massacred in Villas de Salvarcar in Ciudad Juarez by an armed commando "had illicit activities."

According to El Universal, the proof that Mayor Reyes Ferriz offered in making this accusation is that a victim's cell phone had a photograph of the young man armed with long gun. But Reyes did admit that he had not seen the picture personally.

He also said that so far there is no evidence that the remaining 16 victims were involved in a gang.

According Reyez Ferriz the alleged picture in the cellular shows a long rifle with ammunition and magazines (cartridges).

"So these are the type of weapons that are not used by a young man, not even a petty criminal, these are the type of weapons that are being used by more experienced criminals, that is why there is the connection, but it is only a connection to this particular person," he added.

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Mayor of Juarez on Legalization

Jose Reyes Ferriz, Mayor of CIudad Juarez, on Legalization

This is what the mayor of the worlds most violent city, due to drug related violence, had to say about legalization of drugs.

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Too Many Guns Fuel Violence

Too many guns fuel violence, Juárez mayor José Reyes Ferriz says

El Paso Times

Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz sits in his office this week to discuss his expectations for Juarez in the coming year and what his administration has done to quell the violence in the city. Reyes said one of the steps his administration took was to clean up a corrupt police force. Reyes also said that violence was a problem for both Mexico and the United States.

Juarez, Chih -- Most big-city mayors live in a pressure cooker, but none faces the duress of Juárez's elected leader, José Reyes Ferriz.

Runaway violence has damaged Juárez's once-thriving economy. Its neighborhoods have turned from vibrant to mournful. And its streets have been stained with the blood of 2,580 people, all of them homicide victims of 2009. In contrast, El Paso, half the size of Juárez, has had 12 homicides this year.

Reyes, 48, a man of medium height with a soft voice, stands at the forefront of the government's attempt to stop the violence and save the city.

Once a trade attorney, Reyes studied international law at the University of Notre Dame. He had been in office for two months when crime rampages became the norm in his city of 1.5 million.

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Living the Life of a Police Target

Hours after the killing of a commander of the Municipal Public Security Ministry, officers of all police agencies were threatened by a message written on the wall of an elementary school. The message threatened retaliation against police officers for working with the army and allegedly supporting the cartel of Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.

The lawman, identified as Noel Rosales Martinez, 35, was shot dead yesterday morning with high-powered weapons, as he drove his truck down the avenue Francisco Villarreal Torres, at the intersection of Sorgo Street.

The incident alerted police agencies, especially the city police whose officers were instructed to "keep their guard up" to prevent further attacks.

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Light at the End of the Tunnel, or is it?

Has Ciudad Juarez become lost to the drug cartels?

In Juarez you don't have to wait long for the next casualty, just sit long enough on a taco stand and violence will creep up so fast, you will not have time to order another round. Last week the city had a day without any executions and everyone was confused, wondering what was wrong.

Beheadings and amputations. Iraqi-style brutality, bribery, extortion, kidnapping, and murder. Shoot-outs between federales and often against better armed and trained drug cartels. This is modern Mexico, whose president, Felipe Calderón, has been struggling since 2006 to release his country from the grip of four powerful cartels and their estimated 100,000 foot soldiers.

New figures released by Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz indicate the death toll for this year has already surpassed 2,000 homicides, over 450 more than the total count for 2008. Nowhere has the bloodshed been worse than in Ciudad Juarez with 2065 homicides reported just this year. No other city has suffered so much, has witnessed misery so much, has been battered so much as has Ciudad Juarez.

The Stats:

303 homicides in October as repoerted by El Diario.

307 homicides in September.

315 homicides in August.

2,094 homicides in 2009 so far and as of Ocober 31, 2009.

1,607 homicides in 2008.

The gangland-style violence has left no corner of Ciudad Juarez untouched. Drug-related slayings take place in houses, restaurants and bars, at playgrounds and children's parties, and in car-to-car ambushes. It's nerve wrecking.

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