JUAREZ, Mexico (Border Report) – A streak of violence that left 22 people dead in a 30-hour span targeted drug distributors throughout the city, Juarez’s public safety secretary said on Friday.
“All of this is related to the sale and distribution of drugs, a dispute over crystal (methamphetamine) sales,” said Cesar Omar Muñoz, head of the municipal police. “Some of these (murders) happened in homes, places we have detected drug sales, where we have arrested people before.”
The Wednesday and Thursday attacks, including several home invasions, left residents of south and southeast Juarez neighborhoods shaken. It also prompted some businesses to tell their employees either not to come to work or to avoid using public transportation, as in the past, buses have been hijacked and burned during confrontations between rival drug gangs.
The city police on Thursday arrested eight suspects, and the Chihuahua state police on Friday announced the arrest of two more in possession of guns allegedly used in at least some of the murders.
Muñoz on Friday insisted that the violence had been contained, that several perpetrators were in custody, and that every available police officer was on patrol.
The violence was apparently sparked by the transfer of 120 reputed members of the Artistas Asesinos, or Doblados, gang from Juarez’s Cereso No. 3 prison to other facilities in Chihuahua. Juarez officials said the attacks took place in neighborhoods where the gang had influence.
Although Muñoz hinted that members of the same gang might be fighting for leadership of the group, the Chihuahua state police on Friday identified two suspects as members of the rival Mexicles gang.
“We want to tell citizens that we are on top of these situations,” Muñoz said. “There is coordination with the army, the National Guard, the state police, and prosecutors to make arrests and turn (suspects) over for prosecution.”
He said there was no reason for residents to fear going about their business.
Juarez Mayor Cruz Perez Cuellar echoed that message.
“All the information we have indicates this is about drug sales, particularly the sale of crystal,” he said. “We are working very hard to contain this, and that this remains just an issue between organized criminal groups.”
Perez Cuellar said he regretted the loss of life, but did not believe the violence would spill onto the community at large.
“They were asking me earlier about public events planned for this weekend. We have no reason to believe those will be affected. I insist, this is an issue strictly between organized criminal groups,” he said.
But residents in Calle Camaleon, where one of the murders took place on Thursday, remained in fear.
“I hope this does not get as bad as in 2008,” said “Julio,” a resident in his 50s who declined to be identified or recorded. “This brings back bad memories.”
He was referring to Juarez’s most violent period, when the Sinaloa cartel violently displaced the then-dominant Juarez cartel, with thousands of people dying in a three-year period.
Other residents said they found it hard to believe local authorities did not see the violence coming and criticized what they characterized as a slow response.
“They had the helicopter right above us after the first shooting, and they couldn’t see that other people were being shot?” commented a resident of Pavo Real street in south Juarez, where two fatal shootings took place within minutes of each other.
Muñoz praised the response of his officers to the two-day crisis and said calm now reigns on the streets of Juarez. “I would like to tell the citizenry not to be alarmed,” he said. “We hear situations of maquiladoras urging people not to use public transportation, not to go out. In truth, the city is safe. We have identified what is going on; we are sure we will quell this issue.”
(ProVideo contributed to this report.)
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