Pubdate: Wed, 17 Mar 2010
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2010 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: Ana Campoy
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/topic/El+Paso
Bookmark: http://mapinc.org/topic/Juarez

IN EL PASO, MEXICAN VIOLENCE IS NEVER FAR

Texas Residents Press for Measures to Reduce Homicides in Sister City 
of Ciudad Juarez, Where Two Americans Were Killed Saturday

EL PASO, Texas - Only one person has been murdered here this year. 
Across the Mexican border in Ciudad Juarez, more than 500 have been 
killed. Against that backdrop, El Paso residents welcomed the pledge 
this week by President Barack Obama to help solve the fatal shooting 
of two Americans in Juarez. But some city leaders say the federal 
government must increase attention to their violence-prone neighbor.

El Paso residents Lesley Enriquez, a worker at the U.S. consulate in 
Juarez who was four months pregnant, and her husband, Arthur Redelfs, 
were slain Saturday by people believed to be connected to Mexican drug cartels.

Jorge Alberto Salcido, a Mexican citizen who was also married to a 
consulate worker, was killed the same day. No arrests have been made 
in the case. El Paso and Juarez, which are separated by the Rio 
Grande River, used to operate essentially as one community, with many 
of their residents shuttling back and forth.

But the violence is hurting businesses on the Mexican side of the 
border and causing anguish among El Paso residents, many of whom hail 
from Juarez or have relatives there. "I don't go there anymore," said 
Claudia Paz, an El Paso programmer and developer, who still has 
family in Juarez and was a friend of Ms. Enriquez and Mr. Redelfs. 
Some, like Jose Manuel Porras, whose mother lives and works in 
Juarez, say they can't avoid the visits, but they cross the border 
with trepidation. After witnessing an execution in Juarez, the 
28-year-old moved in with his father, an American citizen residing in El Paso.

So far, such scenes of violence have mostly taken place on the 
Mexican side, with some 4,800 people killed in Juarez in the past 
couple of years. Beto O'Rourke, an El Paso councilman, said Tuesday 
that "Obama and [Secretary of State Hillary] Clinton are outraged, 
which is good, because we want them to focus their attention on this 
crisis and on a resolution to this." He added, "But you wonder why 
almost 5,000 people had to die in this border community for them to 
finally notice and commit to doing something."

U.S. State Department officials said Tuesday there were no quick 
fixes to the border violence, adding that they were working very 
closely with the Mexican government to improve security. "You're 
talking about violence fueled by drug use that produces vast sums of 
money," said a spokesman. "That produces significant capabilities 
that could rival the strength of any army."

The consulate-related murders prompted Texas Gov. Rick Perry to 
activate on Tuesday a state contingency plan that increases 
surveillance along the border to fend off any potential spillover 
violence from Mexico.

El Paso's close-up view of drug violence along the border has caused 
local officials to try to force the federal government to step up its 
efforts against the violence, even if some of the city's measures 
have been little noticed or have proved impractical. The El Paso City 
Council passed a resolution in February urging President Obama and 
Mexican President Felipe Calderon to meet at the border and come up 
with a joint strategy "to bring an immediate end to the drug violence 
in our community."

They also called for an evaluation of current federal drug policy, 
and for more economic and social aid to Mexico to reduce the pool of 
potential recruits for drug dealers. However, a request for the 
legalization of marijuana, which some supporters hope would tamp 
demand for Mexican drugs, was withdrawn from the resolution because 
it lacked enough votes. Mexicans, and some Americans, have criticized 
the U.S. government for not doing more to slow demand for drugs on 
U.S. soil. It is the demand for drugs, and their illegality, that 
creates huge profits that attract Mexicans into the drug business.

The U.S. has also struggled to slow the flow of guns and money from 
the U.S. to Mexico that helps keep the drug business going. 
Democratic U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, from El Paso, who opposed the 
resolution to legalize marijuana, called the $1.4 billion that the 
U.S. has pledged Mexico for drug-cartel-fighting purposes "an 
embarrassment," in light of the significantly larger amounts the U.S. 
government has spent in Iraq. However, Mr. Reyes said, there are 
practical issues to consider when thinking about reformulating U.S. 
drug policy, including the fact that Mexico is a sovereign country. 
"Any assistance that we give them, they have to ask for," he said, 
adding that the U.S. has been providing various forms of aid to 
President Calderon, ranging from intelligence and training to 
helicopters. Despite recent efforts on both sides of the border, 
there are few signs that the violence is waning.

Some 117 people were killed in drug-related violence across Mexico in 
the three-day period from Saturday to Monday. Still, many El Paso 
residents continue to commute to Mexico for work every day, because 
they need the job or they refuse to be shut out by fear. Mark Earley, 
the chief financial officer of a company that helps manufacturers do 
business in Juarez, crosses the border two or three times a week for 
work. Mr. Earley says he drives his wife's Chevy Malibu instead of 
his own Suburban to avoid drawing attention to himself.
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake