The government of this violent Mexican border city has dismissed some 400 police officers since last October on suspicion they had ties to organized crime, Mayor Hector Murguia Lardizabal said.
He told a press conference the dismissals were carried out as part of a housecleaning coordinated by new public safety chief Julian Leyzaola, who said the Ciudad Juarez municipal force had been infiltrated by criminal elements.
Juarez, located just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, has 3,000 police officers.
Eighty cops were slain in the city last year and municipal authorities recently decided to issue guns to Juarez traffic cops after a series of “aberrant and cowardly” attacks on the officers.
Ciudad Juarez is Mexico’s murder capital, with more than 8,500 homicides since early 2008. Authorities blame the carnage on a brutal turf war between the Juarez and Sinaloa drug cartels.
Source: EFE
Shorty guzman fired them THIS IS CHAPO LAND YOU WORK FOR ME OR NOT AT ALLLLLLLL
ReplyDeleteThis, by accident or design, hurts the Juarez group, a lot more then Sinaloa, as the consensus has been mainly Federal police are loyal to GN, while municipal to La Linea.
ReplyDeleteThis is the 3rd time in 4 years this has occurred in Juarez. Leyzaola did this in Tijuana to level the playing field for the Sinaloa Cartel with the support of Calderon. And by the way, in Tijuana, they were all arrested and incarcerated for 8 months, then released for lack of evidence. It is actually an attack on the state and local governments there.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is, it will make pure criminals out of those fired and strengthen the La Linea. Wow, label a man a thief and see if he doesn't become one. This was a bad move. Expect a retaliation and 200 deaths in the next 6 weeks in Juarez. This is an outright crime against the people of Juarez.
Obviously he does not remember when the federal police there arrested their superiors because they were insisting the officers support Sinaloa even while they were getting picked off like flies for doing so. But our dumb ass right wingers will talk about what an awesome job this is. I have said it many times, they will not get rid of the Juarez Cartel. They my friend are a "different bread."
God bless the poor souls that have to tolerate this ignorant leadership at the cost of so many lives and so much pain.
TRC
400 Ex-cops now ready to integrate the cartels...
ReplyDeleteNext we'll hear that Julian Leyzaola has tortured a significant portion of these 400 cops, I guess? And then we'll be told that he has 'cleaned up' a bad situation by doing so.... and that Ciudad Juarez is once again safe to stroll around in for the sunshine, just like Tijuana. And then we'll later discover that nothing much has changed there in those 2 cities.
ReplyDeleteBut they will be right, too. Colombia's murder rate will be double that of Mexico's and Honduras will have 4 x Mexico's homicides. Oh but only if the top policing units in those 2 countries had also used torture on their internal suspects like Mexico's Leyzoala is known for using! Oh wait! They did. But usually on just the general public.
What do you think they should do instead of fire them? You sound so smug you and TRC but you have no better idea than anyone else.
ReplyDelete400 unemployed trained in deadly force set loose in an environment where it's kill or be killed. I hope they took their uniforms away at least. Looks like the cartels will have a middle management hiring spree.
ReplyDeleteI agree, where else is there to go for a local fired policia? Definitely will go to the cartel
ReplyDelete@May20 8:37 AM....
ReplyDeleteI have many ideas and I have been following this phenomenon since Calderon took office and also have a good understanding of Mexican politics. I do not want to come across smug, and I am sorry if I did.
I am tired of watching Calderon repeating the same mistakes in Juarez and for that matter Mexico. He refuses to admit he is off tract and I certainly do think that his primary purpose is not Mexican citizens. I personally see his decisions are for his own financial gains and to leave his legacy in history which will be a very poor one.
About solutions, I have given them many times but this is about big money and 2 governments that are both corrupt and have their elite in mind.
My point in this article is that if the federal police and army would back out of state business, and let the cartels fight, a truce and peace would occur. They keep interfering with Sinaloa and Juarez and continue to heat up that plaza.
Don't take me wrong, they need to continue a consolidated effort directed at the Zetas. But damn, give Juarez some peace, leave that city alone. Calderon is stomping in to many ant beds.
You have read the articles, you cannot be an honest police officer there and survive, "O Plato O plomo." The silver or the lead is how it is. He keeps trying to infiltrate his people in state and local government and it will fail again.
Again, the Juarez Cartel is a different bred and they have strong leadership and a strong backbone.
@ 2:55 I see your points and I see where many of Calderon's moves have made things worse. But let's stay with the local police forces. It may seem counterintuitive but it can be a mistake to take too broad of a view.
ReplyDeleteYou have to have local police and they have be committed to serving the public - only. They cannot be loyal to criminal behavior and protect the public. You have to confirm that the police are only loyal to the public they serve. When you discover officers that are not - what do you do with/to them? Allow them to be crooks? That approach is the reason Mexico is at war with itself. Fire them. If they decide to be crooks they will end up dead or in prison.
It's not plata o plomo anymore. That is how it used to be. Now you have to decide. Things have changed. They will continue to change. Now the police in Mexico have to behave like police - not criminals.
Hell with the Juarez cartel and the rest of the cartels. A crook is a crook and more of them are dying every day. Why so sympathetic to the Juarez cartel? They are not helping or protecting anyone. Marisela Reyes for example.
No it's not about the two big governments and their crooked politicians and all that conspiracy stuff. It's about Mexico having no rules. It's about Mexico having no unity. I've heard all that about sovereignty and mi querido Mexico. The fact is Mexicans have an infinitely higher tolerance for pain and suffering and "that's just the way it is" than in the US or Canada. Nonetheless, Mexicans are rapidly losing their tolerance. Watch out.
TRC, like what you said, good post. But, if Leyazola and Calderon did that in Tijuana to help Sinaloa, why was Leyazola accused of favoring Ingeniero? People can't have it both ways.
ReplyDeleteWhat the Hell is up with being a Cop in Mexico?? Why Cant they develop a screening system,internal affair or something to get these people STREIGHT??
ReplyDeleteCorrupted cops firing corrupted cops? Let's see now? Is the problem solved yet?
ReplyDelete@4:43 I respect your points of view and sincerely hope you are right. My view is on a broken system that continues to fail. "O Plato O Plomo" is most certainly alive and well. I wish the Mexican Army would publish how many deserters they have. You would be amazed. They make $500 a month and are given beans and potted meat. A cartel will pay them $2000 to start, a sign on bonus, and a vehicle. The local police get $600 a month and don't even get to carry their gun home with them. The cartels pay them $1000 in addition to their salary to be the eyes and ears of the cartel. This is why you see transit cops getting killed all over Mexico. The other cartels want to cut of movement information.
ReplyDeleteI do point at this as a governmental problem because I was influenced by an incredible book about the cartels in the 90s that gave me a very good understanding about how involved the government and the military are with drug trafficking. "Down by the River" by Charles Bowden exposes the Military with drug trafficking in Mexico and takes it all the way to President Salinas as his brother was arrested and convicted for laundering $600,000,000 through City Bank Chicago to a Swiss Bank account.
Am I sympathetic to the Juarez Cartel? Yes and no. They have always been extremely ruthless committing horrendous murders and untold violence. When I use to go to Juarez, it was common knowledge that you didn't discuss the Juarez Cartel in public and you damn sure didn't say La Linea. But they did keep peace and Juarez functioned in a normal fashion and people prospered.
I am frustrated that the feds keep interfering trying to create an unleveled playing field for Sinaloa. The outside cartel cares nothing for the locals and this is very well evidenced by the way they treated locals in the Juarez Valley.
You have valid points too my friend. This site is good for the exchange of information.
@ J I saw the Tijuana Cartel favoritism as propaganda as they were the ones arrested and killed there. And remember the propaganda type threat toward Leyzoala from Sinaloa when he first came to Juarez, it is just a smoke screen in my opinion to throw the media off.
This is all just one mans opinion though.
TRC
Thanks TRC
ReplyDeleteBowden was close to being right about a lot of things but I think a lot has changed since he wrote that book. It was about the Mexico of the PRI. Fox did not deal with the cartels at all. He just let people make (or remake) their plaza deals. So the cartels just went to town. By the time Calderon got elected everything was totally out of control so he had to do something or watch the criminals take over.
Juarez has been the murder capital for a long time. Especially women. They have run a kill-a-woman racket (like buying a hooker only different) for years. They do nothing for Juarez or Mexico except mass murder. CDJ should be exterminated.
One thing none of the criminals understand at all is how to handle the media. They think intimidation, news suppression, murder and a few planted stories equal media management. The problem is that the media is completely cowed. They are eager to cooperate with the cartels.
Last year Calderon fired 4,000 PF. Now that takes balls. I don't see him giving up or giving in. All the criticism and pressure has not backed him off. He does not have a choice and he knows it. It is not going to go away. It is not going to stop unless Mexicans stop it. You cannot deal with criminals. They don't want a deal they want everything you have - everything you have.
Ardent - thank you for yet another very clever contribution. You are so skillful with words. You can go dry up now.
Saludos TRC. Look forward to more exchanges.
1:17