Category Archives: Ciudad Juárez

CSUN journalism professor José Luis Benavides interviews Charles Bowden

Cal State Northridge, journalism professor, José Luis Benavides, interviews journalist and author Charles Bowden, April 22, 2013.

Over the last twenty years Bowden has authored several books on the violence occurring on the border between the United States and Mexico, focusing on Ciudad Juárez. Benavides and Bowden discuss the factors that led to his decision to start writing about the atrocities that Mexico’s powerful and, well-connected, elite carry out against the poor citizens of the country. At the forefront of his decision were the local street photographers that he encountered during a murder story he was investigating in Juárez in 1995. Bowden continues to tell the true story of why such an overwhelming amount of violence exists in Juárez.

After writing a piece about the exceptional work of the Juárez photographers, he discusses the origins of his friendship and collaborative working relationship with Juárez photographer, Julián Cardona. Bowden and Cardona have collaborated on several books. In “Juárez: Laboratory of our Future” Bowden shares how “American generated poverty in factories owned by American companies that pay slave wages,” are not enough for Mexican citizens, working in maquiladoras (foreign owned factories along the US/Mex. border), to survive. The book “Exodus/Éxodo” documents the emigration of Mexican citizens.

494,000 Juarez residents live in poverty or extreme poverty

A study from the Colegio de la Frontera Norte (COLEF) has found that Juarez now has nearly 500,000 residents living in poverty or extreme poverty.

The figures from the study show 432,000 poor and 62,000 extremely poor. This represents at least 37 percent of the population of the city who are unable to meet their basic needs. The poorest sector of the city is the southwest (el surponiente). These figures are based on the population of the city estimated at 1,335,000. Cesar Fuentes, the economist who conducted the study, said that since 2000, the levels of people living in poverty in the city have increased.
For a long time, Ciudad Juarez was not considered a zone of poverty due to the high levels of employment, even though most of the jobs in the city pay very low wages. The majority of the workers are in factory production lines and they earn only 700 to 800 pesos per week (between $57 and $66).

Violence in Michoacan, Guerrero, Juarez…

I have been less than systematic in reporting deaths from homicide in Ciudad Juarez and I also find myself relying on (and doubting) these new reports from the Mexican government. Several people I trust who live in Mexico have responded to me privately that they believe the government is purposefully under-reporting homicide numbers.  So, the evidence we have from the press is sporadic and partial, as are my efforts to find this evidence and share it with the list.  I was away from the computer most of the day yesterday as I sat for hours in a waiting room at the ICE Detention Center in El Paso, waiting to testify about the violence in Juarez and in Mexico generally as background information in an asylum case.

During the course of the day, I received several reports from list members about confrontations with large numbers of deaths. The first report was from Guerrero where shootings in several different places left 7 people dead.

Bloody morning in Guerrero… From Proceso Online…5 people were killed in the capital of Chipancingo despite (or because of?) the fact that some 3000 federal agents had been sent to the city to keep order during a demonstration by members of the Movimiento Popular de Guerrero. Also, in Acapulco, another two people were killed. 

When I got home last night, I saw an article in El Diario (from El Universal) of confrontations in Michoacan that left at least 17 people dead. The Guardian also reported these killings, contrasting the events with the government’s announcement of a 14% decrease in killings since the same period last year (Dec-March)…  

And in Juarez yesterday there were 2 separate killings reported and today, two men were shot in an electrical shop and another person injured.

At least 11 people murdered in Juarez since Saturday night…

A lot of people have been killed in Juarez during Saturday and Sunday… Follows are the stories I’ve found more or less in reverse chronological order.  The first story in the list reports that an armed group executed 3 men in the Granjas de Chapultepec neighborhood. Two men were killed immediately in the drive-by shooting. Another man was injured and died later.  Witnessed report that it took 40 minutes for ambulances to arrive. This multiple homicide occurred at about 6 pm.

Earlier today, the body of a woman was found inside a house in the colonia Toribio Ortega. She had been raped and beaten to death.  I think the next incident took place late Saturday night, but the fiscalia reported it today. Two men died in a shooting at the Pool Bar Bachacas and 5 more people were injured.
Also on Saturday night, a doctor was murdered in a pharmacy, reportedly for not paying extortion fees. Also, a bus driver was shot and died later at a clinic.
And in another incident late Saturday night, a couple were murdered in their house in Rinconada de las Torres.  The house was also robbed. The killers apparently locked the couple’s children (aged 8 years and 3 months) in a separate room while they removed valuables from the house. Since the house was located in a gated neighborhood, the thieves forced the woman to accompany them on various trips to and from the house as they removed items so that they could pass the guards without being questioned. When they finished taking the belongings from the house, they returned and murdered both adults. In the morning, a neighbor heard the children crying and when he went to investigate he found the parents murdered.  Also, a man who worked as a watchman at a hotel in La Playa neighborhood was found dead this morning, his body hidden behind a stairwell.
I am not sure that I have found all of the reports in the press, but it looks like there have been at least 11 people killed between Saturday night and Sunday evening, so far.  molly

Commentary on “How Mexico Got Back in the Game” T. Friedman

Yes, just what we have been waiting for! Economic Flat-Earth-Society guru Thomas Friedman says Mexico is ALL RIGHT! No mention of 125,000 murdered people and 27,000+ more missing in the past 6 years…  Why mention it when the outcome and outlooks (according to Friedman) are so rosy?  I would love to know what PR bill-of-goods Mr. Friedman is buying and who is selling it.  I hope there will be an investigative report soon on the Mexican government’s rebranding campaign and how it is being run.  I have no doubt that it is growing bigger and is getting more and more success every day as business reporters and columnists swallow the happy pills.  Thanks to Ed for sending this one…

Meanwhile, killings continue this weekend in Ciudad Juarez.  At least 2 more today since my early morning report…
WAIT WAIT THERE’S MORE!!! Tony Garza is a former US Ambassador to Mexico and now a big investor, profiting from free trade… Not that there’s anything wrong with that.  But, to be fair, there is something wrong with all this economic jingoism completely ignoring the human toll of more than 100,000 murdered Mexicans in the past 6 years…  And the increasing rate of poverty in the country. What kind of economic success leaves more than 50% of the country in poverty or EXTREME poverty? molly

Federal and state police destroy house in Mexico of mother of missing girl…

In Juarez, Federal and state officials are said to have bulldozed the house of Karla Jocabeth Castaneda, mother of 13 yr old Cinthia Jocabeth Castañeda who has been missing since 2008. Karla participated in the recent march of mothers of missing women from Juarez to Chihuahua, calling on the government to do more to solve the cases of their disappeared children. This latest action by the police is seen as an attempt to intimidate the mother and activist. Here is an article about the march to Chihuahua featuring statements by Karla Castaneda… At El Diario is a photograph of the destruction of Karla’s house. molly

 

Hand of U.S. Is Seen in Halting General’s Rise in Mexico- NY Times

I think it is interesting that this NYTimes article mentions only General Garcia Ochoa and that the DEA suspicions of him stem from reports of events back in 1997. That was the same year that another top Mexican General and “drug czar,” Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, was discovered to be working directly for the Carrillo-Fuentes (Juarez) Cartel. In fact, the NY Times has many stories on General Guitierrez Rebollo at this link.

Not all of the articles are available, but just a scan of the headlines and dates will give you an idea. For more links, see:

It seems quite a missing piece in today’s article that the name of General Gutierrez Rebollo is not mentioned at all… But the article is well worth the time. Just leaves me with more questions than answers.  Considering recent killings in Coahuila, we might wonder what General Garcia Ochoa was really up to there… molly

72 killed in Mexico state in 24 days… 2 killed yesterday in Juarez

Reforma reports that there have been 72 homicides in the state of Mexico in the first 24 days of 2013… Here is a summary from Animal Politico. Estado de Mexico is the home state of President Pena Nieto–he was governor there before winning the presidency. In Juarez yesterday, two men were executed in a street shooting but the paper reports the sicarios were arrested later. It was also reported that one of the guns used in the attack had belonged to a municipal policeman killed in October 2011.

 

 

Sandra Rodríguez Nieto presenta su libro “La fábrica del crimen” en Los Ángeles/Sandra Rodriguez Nieto Presents her Book The Factory of Crime in Los Angeles

El Nuevo Sol periodista, Manuel Morfin escribe sobre la presentación de Sandra Rodríguez Nieto de su libro, “La Fábrica del Crimen”. Puede leer el artículo completo haciendo clic aquí.

“Sandra Rodríguez Nieto, periodista investigativa de Ciudad Juárez, presentó el jueves su libro La fábrica del crimen en la Universidad del Estado de California, Northridge (CSUN) en Los Ángeles, y habló sobre el proceso periodístico que realizó a lo largo de varios años y que culminó en la publicación de su obra, una historia que narra el trágico final de Vicente, un adolescente de Ciudad Juárez que mató a sus padres y hermana con la ayuda de dos de sus amigos y con la firme convicción de que nadie lo notaría…”

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GOOGLE TRANSLATION:

El Nuevo Sol reporter, Manuel Morfin writes about Sandra Rodriguez Nieto’s presentation from her book, “La Fabrica del Crimen.” You can read the full story (in Spanish) by clicking here.

“Sandra Rodriguez Nieto, investigative journalist in Ciudad Juarez, on Thursday introduced her book The Factory of Crime in the California State University, Northridge (CSUN) in Los Angeles, and talked about the journalistic process conducted over several years and culminated in the publication of her work, a story that chronicles the tragic end of Vincent, a teen in Ciudad Juarez that killed his parents and sister with the help of two of his friends and with the firm conviction that no one would notice … “