June 28, 2008
The deadly cartel war responsible for dozens of deaths a week in Juarez is liable to go on for another two years, the El Paso’s Border Patrol Chief Victor Manjarrez said at Saturday’s El Paso Press Club Meet the Press forum.
UTEP Professor Tony Payan blamed the former governor of the state of Chihuahua and former mayor of Juarez for allowing the lawless atmosphere that led to the armed struggle between the Juarez and Sinaloa cartels for control of the Juarez drug trade and corridor in to the north.
“The political authorites are definitely responsible for what is going on,” Payan said, adding that former Gov. Patricio Martinez could have and should have demanded federal assistance.
Payan also said the inability of Juarez police to solve murders may be leading to a new series of women’s murders.
“Last week, a few young women’s bodies were found in the same condition as the murders that took place from 1993 to 2003,” Payan said, referring to a killing spree that took more than 300 lives.
About 45 people attended the press club event at Kinley’s House Coffee & Tea.
The FBI’s Special Agent in Charge in El Paso David Cuthbertson said when the Juarez cartel war started, it was largely confined to those directly involved in the drug trade, but it now is spreading into new areas of crime, such as kidnapping and Mafia-style extortion, in which innocent citizens are the victims.
Payan said the reason may be that the conflict has reduced drug trafficking and income for the criminals, so they are turning to other forms of crime.
The panelists agreed that the main reason the violence has not spilled across the border into El Paso is because of the strong law enforcement presence here that makes capture, conviction and imprisonment far more likely that in Mexico.
But Manjarrez said Mexico's federal police agency is becoming another story because it is attracting the best and brightest new officers.