Massacres return to Cd. Juarez - seven women and one man killed

On Thursday around 7:20 p.m. a heavily armed group of men entered a bar Las Torres "The Towers" and massacred seven women and one men in Cd. Juárez. This deadly attack added to the already violent day that left 17 people dead.

This deadly attack at De la Torres and José Reyes Estrada streets in the suburb known as Torres del PRI, occurred just 400 meters (less then 1/4 of a mile) away from the Public Municipal Security Secretariat's office.

"The group of heavily armed men burst in into the bar and began discriminately shooting at specific people who they had selected," informed a witness. Police officials who arrived soon after the massacre were said to have been surprised by the large number of women killed.

The El Diario Newspaper of Juárez claimed that among the victims was the bar owner's wife, they believe that the other six women were employed at the bar and that the man who was also killed was the manager of an adjacent business.

Two other women and a man were transferred to a nearby medical center hemorrhaging from the serious bullet wounds throughout their body, according to Carlos González a spokesman for the State's Public Prosecutor 's office.

Friends of the victims confirmed that the owners of the bar were paying their " cuota" or so called revolutionary tax of 15,000 pesos monthly ($1200.00 US) to a cartel so that they would be allowed to keep their business open. The attack also forced other businesses to shutter their doors.

Every day you see more businesses closing due to the ongoing extortion threats. “Either you pay or they kill you, that is what they come to tell us. We have few options - we can negotiate a lower rate or refuse to pay. These are the consequences for refusing", said a retailer in the same commercial strip.

Officially six of the victims were identified as Saraí Martinez Grove, 21 years; Maria Manuela Dozal Silva, 35; Dawn Liliana Favela Favela, 18; Anabel Medina Márquez, 31; Yadira Domínguez Hernandez, 20; and Alexandra Chavarría Saldaña, 25 years of age.

A man and another woman also killed have not been identified, informed a the Public Prosecutor General's office in an official communication. The investigative document also mentioned that at the scene of the crime they found 25 spent casings, calibers ranging from 9mm, 40mm round and 7.62 x 39 mm. There were four abandoned vehicles apparently belonging to the deceased.

The cars were a 1991 Honda Civic with national plates; a 2003 blue Dodge Neon, with national plates; a white Ford pick up with national matriculation; and a light colored 2004 Dodge Durango  without plates.

Friday morning personnel from the Decentralized State Interior's Office permanently tagged and closed the business. This bar had already been the scene of another violent attack in which two men were killed and had only recently reopened its doors.

In the same commercial complex there is a tattoo shop, a grocery store, a blacksmith shop, this bar and to the right of it stands a mechanic's repair shop. As of Saturday morning all five businesses appeared to be closed, it is rumored that they have closed their doors permanently.

“All of us here, there isn't a single retailer who has not been a victim of extortion. Some of us pay, others don't, those like the people at this bar probably did not want to pay and they were killed for refusing”, commented the owner of a small food stand near the bar.

He further commented that no extortionist had bothered him up to this point. “Maybe they have not bothered me because they can see just how "jodido" screwed I am. Many of my neighbors tell a different story, these people have made life impossible for them and many ended up closing their businesses. Problem is that more employment sources are being lost and now with the media coverage that they will give to this massacre, we are going to see even less customers”, the unidentified man complained.

Officially there have been no apprehensions. The state's Public Prosecutor General's office said that the investigation is ongoing and the main line of investigation is extortion. It also mentioned that the employee from the blacksmith's shop was visiting his neighbors at the bar at time of the brutal attack. It appears that he had also been threatened by the unknown extortionists.

Sources: El Diario de Juarez
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