March 30, 2009
Editor's note: In alphabetic order, prepared testimony from: The deputy assistant director of the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, William McMahon and the special agent in charge of the DEA in El Paso, Joseph Arabit; a former ambassador to the Organization of American States, Harriet Babbitt; El Paso County District Attorney Jaime Esparza; and UTEP Professor Howard Campbell.
Testimony can be viewed via links below, or by clicking on hotlinked names.
******************************************
Chairman Kerry, Senator Lugar and Members of the Committee, we appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to discuss the Department of Justice’s (the Department) role in addressing the alarming rise of violence perpetrated by warring Mexican drug trafficking organizations in Mexico and the effects of that violence on the United States, particularly along our Southwest Border. We want to share with you the Department’s strategy systematically to dismantle the Mexican drug cartels, which currently threaten the national security of our Mexican neighbors, pose an organized crime threat to the United States, and are responsible for the scourge of illicit drugs and accompanying violence in both countries.
***
Babbitt
I am here today to urge ratification by the Senate of what can be an important tool in our common fight, the Inter-American Convention against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, and Other Related Materials. This convention is commonly referred to by its Spanish acronym, CIFTA, and I will refer to it as CIFTA today.
***
Campbell
These homicides—the result of a power struggle between the Juarez and Sinaloa Cartels-- have occurred in broad daylight. They included acts of horrific torture, decapitation, and mutilation. Policemen, laborers, lawyers, college students, journalists, housewives and children are among the victims. Massacres have taken place on main streets, in bars and restaurants, and close to the international bridges between El Paso and Juarez. Dozens of El Pasoans, i.e., American citizens, have died or disappeared as a result of the drug war.
The damage to Mexican society is profound. The cultural trauma is equivalent to that experienced by residents of war zones in Iraq or Afghanistan.
***
We should focus on the real issues that have resulted from this situation and not speculate on what might or might not occur. In spite of the disturbing events in Juarez, much like other U.S. cities along the Texas-Mexico border and elsewhere, El Paso has not experienced spillover violence. For example, the crime rate in our city and in other Texas cities did not fluctuate in accordance with what was happening in Mexico. The statistics below attest to this fact.