Monday, August 18, 2008

Grim statistic from the drug war.

The homicides in our sister city of Juarez, Mexico, as reported in today's El Paso Times, have now exceeded 800 for the year. In comparison, El Paso, a city approximately 1/2 the size of Juarez, has recorded 12 homicides so far in 2008. (That's one less death for the year than the 13 recorded in Juarez last Wednesday.)

2 comments:

Billie Greenwood said...

People I talk to in the Midwest have no concept of this reality. We're going to do a few presentations this month on the Border, a Paul Revere couple trying to spread truth. Meanwhile, the news media reports on the latest celebrity stupidity. WTF?

D.K. Raed said...

I recall hearing about high #'s of deaths in Juarez years ago, but at the time it seemed to be mostly young women, usually late at night, taking public transportation home from border jobs & getting raped & murdered as they trudged from the bus stops along the unlit streets back to their homes. Bodies kept being found in the desert. The numbers were high enough that it was all over the news in San Diego. The new maquilladora plants were blamed for attracting workers, many from rural areas who were simply unequipped to handle the dangers of citylife. And it was definitely young women being murdered.

But jeez, Dada, *800*? And it is now mostly young men, drug/crime related, do I have that right? This sounds far worse than the wild west ever was. It's probably cut way down on the tourist traffic there, which in turn will further depress their economy & drive more into the drug/crime life. A vicious circle.