Border Slayings' origins, effects are far-reaching

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This is the Monday selection of newspaper articles of life across the border here in El Paso. It gives a glimpse of what life is like living in a border city directly across an American city. A city gripped by a drug war fueled by the drug consumption of Americans. If drugs use were to go away, this would not even be an issue. But that will not happen of course, we have as a society failed to curb the ferocious appetite for drugs. And this country, which a a second class society in comparison, will always have those willing to take a chance and become involved in the potential to profit. This affects not just the Americans, with many even in law enforcement on this side being arrested for involvement, but the the same thing as well is happening on the sister city. Corruption is ever present on the Federal, state and city levels on both sides. The head of the FBI here not long ago was removed and charge for his involvement with an organized crime figure in Juarez.

There are no easy answers.

Slayings' origins, effects are far-reaching

El Paso Times staff
Article Launched: 06/01/2008 09:54:04 AM MDT

If judged solely by its brutal and brazen killing spree, Juárez has become a cauldron of death that is now stirring unaccustomed fear on the U.S. side of the border.

As is the case with many U.S.-Mexico issues, the story is not as simple as life and death. Instead, it is as complex as the Rio Grande is starved for water.

It is a story that has its roots in the dangerous combination of poverty and the lure of easy money. The story has been sensationalized by warring drug cartels, stoked by revenge and facing a crackdown from a Mexican government that promises to reduce the cartels' power. The story then escapes close inspection at the U.S. border before winding more than 1,500 miles to Chicago or Indianapolis or any corner along Main Street USA where the appetite for illegal drugs seems unending.

They are all chapters in the same story, and in a six-part series beginning today, the El Paso Times will begin connecting the dots in a way that will explain why the story is important to all of us and what can be done about it.

Articles today and tomorrow will focus on how the drug war has impacted life in Juárez, who is to blame and what Mexican and U.S. authorities think should be done about the drugs and the violence. Other stories will examine how what's happening in Juárez will impact El Paso and what is and isn't being done to stem the flow of illegal drugs to the U.S.




Juárez police hindered by shortage of weapons


Officer shot to death inside police station

Reputed Juárez cartel leader arrested; killings continue

County wants drug-war patient access clarified

Thomason CEO seeks help after 3rd lockdown

Juarenses increasingly requesting U.S. asylum

Juárez says crime sites are not for children

Intruders kill officer in Juárez home

Buried body, 8 new slayings add to rising toll in Juárez

Prevent drug use, lawmaker says

New U.S. Consulate in Juárez, among largest in world, to open in fall

Senior official says Zetas are battling for Juárez

Slayings' origins, effects are far-reaching