Pubdate: Tue, 02 Nov 2010
Source: El Paso Times (TX)
Copyright: 2010 El Paso Times
Contact: http://www.elpasotimes.com/townhall/ci_14227323
Website: http://www.elpasotimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/829
Author: Maggie Ybarra

2010 US-CITIZEN KILLINGS IN JUAREZ OUTPACE 2009

The killing of a Bowie High School student Saturday in Juarez adds to
the dramatic increase in the number of Americans killed there this
year.

More than 35 Americans died in Juarez between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31 of
this year, while 39 Americans died there in 2008 and 2009 combined,
according to U.S. State Department records.

Among those killed in October in Juarez were Bowie High School student
(Luis) Jose Carlos Araiza, 15, and Joanna Herrera, 27, of Oregon. The
two were shot and killed while traveling in a 2001 black BMW sport
utility vehicle near the Zaragoza international bridge Saturday about
11:30 a.m., said an official at the U.S. Consulate in Juarez.

The official said October was one of the deadliest months for
Americans in Juarez since the cartels began to battle for key
drug-smuggling corridors in 2008. Twenty Americans were killed in
October, the official said.

Earlier this year, U.S. consulate worker Lesley Enriquez, 25, and her
husband, detention officer Arthur Redelfs, 30, were killed by gunmen
near the Juarez city hall building between the Paso del Norte and
Stanton Street international bridges. In addition, popular Irvin High
School teacher James Patrick Barnes was shot in the back in a small
colonia across the border from the University of Texas at El Paso on
Aug. 6, and 19-year-old UTEP student Alejandro Ruiz Salazar was shot
by gunmen on May 23.

Their murders have yet to be solved.

Chihuahua state officials said more than 6,800 people have been killed
in Juarez since 2008.

Nicole Thompson, spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, said the
department has a comparison on its website that shows three times as
many people have been killed in Juarez than in the rest of Mexico since 2006.

The department does that to highlight the danger that the city poses,
she said.

"That's not so much to scare people or to put Ciudad Juarez down but
to ... make sure that American citizens are aware of the history in
that region of the country before they go there," she said.

Chihuahua state officials said there were 1,587 people killed in the
city during 2008, 2,643 killed there in 2009 and more than 2,500
killed there so far this year.

Mario Rodriguez Alvarado, a 24-year-old El Paso Community College
student, said the rising number of deaths and the ongoing drug war do
not prevent him from visiting his father, a U.S. citizen, and other
family members in Juarez about twice a month. That's far fewer than
the five times a week he used to go there to see them, he said.

Rodriguez Alvarado said he worries about encountering violence when he
crosses the border but takes precautions to avoid becoming a victim.
He does not drive and does not carry anything more than $10 and his
passport, he said.

"I try not to dress too nice so I don't attract attention," Alvarado
said. "Everywhere I go, I always look over my shoulder. I mainly worry
about my family over there getting hurt."

EPCC does not have a policy regarding student travel to Mexico, said
EPCC spokesman Javier Sanchez. UTEP, however, suspended and prohibited
all university-related travel to Mexico in late April, citing a recall
by UT System Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa.  
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