We Watch While Juarez Bleeds, Dies

Three homicides on New Year's Day: our sister-city began 2009 just as it ended 2008, the most violent year in memory. Extortion, street shootings and beheadings a commonplace--almost daily--reality, set off by a drug cartel war fueling this wave of gore.

A final tally of the 2008 homicides isn't yet official, but unofficially it tops 1600. Yes--1600 assassinations in one city, in one year, an average of over four per day. An easy 30 minute stroll from my front door in neighboring El Paso brings me right into downtown Juarez. The blood runs close enough to smell. We watch, we worry, and we grieve.

Juarez faces an unparalleled public safely crisis. In response, last year they fired 300 untrustworthy city police officers and expanded the force to over 1600 officers. The federal government also stepped in, sending them firearms and 2,000 soldiers. So far, nothing has stopped the bleeding.

The corrupting power of organized crime triggers a security threat that's also felt on the El Paso side of the bridge over the Rio Grande River separating El Paso from Juarez. This week the El Paso City Council will review a resolution condemning the violence in an effort to 1) show solidarity with the Juarez populace, 2) support law enforcement and 3) urge bi-national federal governments to "examine the nation's policies on drugs with a focus on rehabilitation rather than incarceration."

The violent upheaval between Mexican drug cartels was perhaps initiated by a feud between the Sinaloa cartel and an organization with old ties to the Juarez cartel, according to recent published intelligence.

This analysis, published by the Stratfor firm which specializes in geopolitical intelligence, stated that there is no indication of an end to the violence in sight. Further attacks on government forces "seem all but inevitable."

According to the Dallas Morning News, a U.S. Border intelligence official warned that U.S. officials, businessmen and journalists will also "become targets, if they're not already."

He suspects that anything is possible because, as he stated, "...the more pressure you apply on the cartels, the bolder these thugs become."