Thursday's attacks: Ciudad Juarez, Mexico City, Jalisco.

Ciudad Juarez



Ciudad Juarez

Another attack against the innocent public occurred in the Valle de Juarez area just south of the city of Juarez during the early morning hours of Thursday.

This time the attack occurred at 1 AM against vulnerable, low wage maquiladora sector workers who were travelling in 3 buses to their homes in the municipality of Guadalupe after leaving the night shift at the Eagle Ottawa automobile leather upholstery plant.

Three female workers were killed in the attack and a wounded male worker was abducted by gunmen who had blocked the Juarez-Porvenir highway, forcing the buses to stop at an area known as Casetas. At least 15 other workers were wounded in the attack.

According to the public prosecutor Jorge Gonzalez Nicolas, survivors reported that at least two gunmen entered the buses and shot indiscriminately at the passengers. Gonzalez Nicolas stated that the abduction of the male worker was the motive behind the attack.

Survivors also reported to the local media that a Mexican army patrol were the only authorities that responded to aid the wounded and provide security to the survivors. Repeated calls to municipal, state and federal police and ambulance services were ignored.

After an hour of waiting for the police and ambulances and rendering aid, the soldiers loaded the injured onto one of the buses and transported them to a Juarez IMSS hospital. Two of the three fatalities occurred during the journey to the hospital as the victims died of their wounds en route.

There were unconfirmed reports that the owner of the bus line was abducted and murdered a week ago for being unable to pay the extorsion fee to operate his bus line.

The state Attorney General’s office reported that municipal and federal police authorities would soon begin to provide security for maquiladora operations, especially during the night shift.


Mexico City



What the Mexican Government has feared now appears to have begun as the bloody wars between rival criminal groups for control of the “narcomenudeo” in the nation’s capitol has now seen its first mass homicide.

Narcomenudeo is the term for local retail drug sales and control of the lucrative and growing domestic drug consumption, in particular cocaine and methamphetamine, is a primary cause of much of the violence in cities such as Monterrey, Torreon and Ciudad Juarez.

Now the relative peace that Mexico City has lived in comparison to other parts of the country may be ending as criminal gangs seem poised to battle for domination of the nation’s most lucrative domestic drug market.

Early Tuesday morning six youths were murdered and one seriously injured by gunmen in the notoriously crime-ridden area of the capitol known as Tepito. Authorities have stated that all 7 victims were known to be involved in street level sales of drugs.

The primary suspects in the slayings are a violent street gang known as “los Perros”, which deals in drugs, car theft, arms sales and contract hits. They are known to be allied with Los Zetas.

There are other street gangs allied to drug cartels and La Familia Michoacana has been known to have made inroads into Mexico City.

Much of the fighting between rival criminal groups such as the CPS (Beltran Leyva remnants), La Barbie’s group, Zetas and LFM in the states of Guerrero, Morelos and Hidalgo are for the control of the flow of drugs into the Mexico City market.

The population of the Mexico City metropolitan area is over 20 million inhabitants and has combined police forces of between 80,000 to 90,000 officers.

Jalisco

Thursday morning a large heavily armed group of gunmen ambushed a patrol of 20 Jalisco state police officers along a rural area in the municipality of Jilotlán, on the border with the state of Michoacán.

Nine police officers are reported dead and one missing. The other ten officers were injured but succeded in repelling the attackers.

The 20 officers of the Jalisco State Rural Police were on patrol in the southeastern region of the state in response to various reports of criminal cells operating in the area.