EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Another string of multiple killings was reported in the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua this past weekend.
On Saturday, three men and a woman were shot dead in the northwest Juarez neighborhood of Anapra that is adjacent to the U.S. border wall. The victims were pulled out of a vehicle, lined up against a wall and killed in a hail of gunfire, a local newspaper reported.
The neighborhood across the border from Sunland Park, New Mexico, is known as migrant-smuggling springboard into the United States. No arrests had been made as of Monday morning.
Also on Saturday, in Nuevo Casas Grandes, the bodies of four men – bound and showing signs of violence – were found piled on top of each other in the PRI neighborhood of that city a two-hour drive west of Juarez.
Local news reports state the victims had been reported missing by friends or relatives just a day earlier. No arrests have been made.
On Sunday, three men were shot dead inside a home in the Valle Verde neighborhood of Juarez. No arrests have been reported.
Chihuahua Public Safety Director Gilberto Loya on Monday told reporters most of the victims had a criminal record and objected to some news outlets characterization of the multiple killings as “massacres.”
“We find that word scandalous,” Loya said. “We did have those homicides. We had those four bodies abandoned in a neighborhood in Nuevo Casas Grandes. We are working and soon we will find those responsible.”
Loya said the number of homicides in Juarez is substantially down in the first 10 days of August compared with the first 10 days of July. The latter included a spate of 23 murders in an 18-hour period, which police attributed to a one-time event: The transfer of 120 gang members from the Juarez prison to jails in other parts of Chihuahua.
“True, these things happen, these peaks of violence. It is a response to the pressure (criminals organizations) feel from the police, from the National Guard,” Loya said. “But also important to note that all homicides, practically, all these people had a criminal record. They were involved in criminal activities, which makes it difficult to prevent this activity (the murders).”
The state police chief commented that cartel violence has cross-border implications, which is why Chihuahua authorities have partnerships with state and federal law enforcement agencies in the United States.
He said he welcomed additional cooperation to combat the binational nature of organized criminal activity. When asked how he feels about U.S. President Donald Trump’s rhetoric that he wants to bring cartel leaders to justice wherever they are hiding and send troops after them abroad, Loya said U.S. troops were already in Mexico.
Two-hundred and twenty American soldiers were in Juarez last year for a joint disaster exercise. A contingent of Green Berets also were in the southern state of Chiapas training Mexican special forces. A U.S. warship docked in Veracruz on a patrol of the Caribbean and Atlantic.
Loya said he welcomes such help as long as the soldiers have been invited and their presence strictly follows Mexican law.
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