CIUDAD JUAREZ — The day was dubbed “Black Thursday” as violence, fear and panic engulfed this Mexican border city, across El Paso, leaving 11 dead.
On Friday, the city of some 1.5 million people stood eerily quiet as schools switched to online teaching. Some gas stations closed. Others stayed open but with reduced hours. Some convenience stores and supermarkets shut down, a day after several were sprayed with bullets or Molotov cocktails, killing employees, and customers.
The bloodshed here followed similar attacks in the central state of Guanajuato, a region that has big family, economic and cultural ties to North Texas. There, cartel members believed to be part of the Nueva Jalisco Generation cartel, known for their vicious practices, torched 25 OXXO stores, which are part of Latin America’s largest operator of convenience stores.
Mexico’s central region, known as El Bajio, has long been one of the country’s most economically productive areas. It’s also dubbed the heartbeat of automotive and aerospace, with intricate ties to Dallas, that, among other brands, include General Motors, Toyota and Honda.
On Wednesday, the U.S. Embassy updated its travel advisory for Mexico, issuing alerts to Guanajuato, a popular tourist destination, citing “arson of buildings and vehicles” and said that “U.S. citizens are reminded to reconsider travel to Guanajuato state due to violence.”
That same night, in the western city of Guadalajara, buses, trailers and cars were set ablaze to block major roadways around the city. The violence essentially paralyzed municipalities throughout the country, particularly Ciudad Juárez, once dubbed as one of the most violent cities in North America. But the violence this week represents a new challenge, as it wasn’t just a clash between warring cartels, but a deliberate, direct attack against civilians on the streets.
‘A failed state’
“Black Thursday” included the deaths of four employees at a popular radio station. They were gunned at as they were taking part in a promotional event outside a pizzeria. Among the dead, a popular radio host, Allan Gonzalez. The National Chamber of the Radio and Television Industry condemned the attack against the media employees and called on the government to take action.
During his regular Friday morning news conference, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador spoke of the situation in Juárez as he also criticized the media for “attacks,” taking out popularity polls to show his approval rates among Mexicans.
“It’s something that had never happened before and that will hopefully not happen again because innocent civilians were attacked as a kind of retaliation,” he said. “It wasn’t just the confrontation between two groups, they eventually started shooting civilians, innocent people, that’s the most unfortunate thing.”
Security experts and journalists on both sides of the border criticized Lopez Obrador, and his soft approach to criminal groups, calling his policy, “Hugs, not bullets” a joke.
“If this is not a failed state, I don’t know what is,” said Adrian Lopez, publisher of the Noreste newspaper in Culiacan Sinaloa, “The president’s policy is absurd, a lie, a joke. This is narcoterrorism, plain and simple.”
Sinaloa is the birthplace of the Sinaloa Cartel whose former leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, is in a U.S. maximum federal prison in Colorado. His sons remain largely in control of what many consider to be the most powerful and sophisticated criminal organizations in Mexico, including in Ciudad Juárez.
“To be fair,” said David Shirk, chairman of the Department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of San Diego and director of the Justice in Mexico program, which annually issues a report on crime and violence in Mexico, the Lopez Obrador government inherited “the highest level of homicides” from his predecessors.
But, Shirk explained, the “real problem is that he hasn’t been able to make much progress bringing the violence down, despite his supposedly softer, gentler approach of “hugs instead of gunfights.”
Shirk added the reasons are complex, but “in simple terms, it has to do with the fact that violence in Mexico has become more widely distributed and less concentrated in a handful of places, due to the splintering and proliferation of more regional and local criminal organizations, and the greater diversification of criminal activity, moving from drugs to predatory crimes that are more life-threatening to ordinary citizens.”
Rival gangs
Ciudad Juarez is an example of the new cartel war. Some 12 splintered criminal organizations operate in the city, analysts say. The current violence pits a group known as Los Chapos, allegedly aligned with the Sinaloa Cartel and Los Mexicles, aligned with La Linea, or Juárez cartel, or both, given the fluidity. Both La Linea and Sinaloa remain the dominant organizations in the region. The skirmishes between the two were largely limited to small, targeted outbreaks of violence, until about a month ago, when massacres again became the norm.
On Thursday, a prison dispute between rival gangs spiraled out of control, leading to street violence in Ciudad Juárez and the deaths of 11 people, including civilians. Among them was a 12-year-old boy. Up to 20 were injured. The reason for the latest burst of violence remains unclear, though new internal leadership often leads to new rules that aren’t immediately adhered to, experts said.
“The criminal group ‘Los Mexicles’ began to undertake actions of disturbance and aggression against the civilian population in Ciudad Juárez,” said Ricardo Mejía Berdeja, assistant secretary of public safety in Mexico. “Part of the groups that were generating these criminal events in different parts of Ciudad Juárez have already been detained. They have been identified as part of the Mexicles group and have already been turned in to the corresponding authorities.”
Critics remain skeptical.
Rocio Gallego, 53, editor of the Juarez online publication, La Verdad, said what she witnessed Thursday was the result of “14 years of failed policy, which brought back dark memories,” referring to the drug war in Juárez which started in 2008. “This is the result of impunity. No one, but the residents of Juárez, pay a price.” Gallegos has been a reporter in Juarez for 28 years.
Mexico’s impunity rate remains at more than 95%, meaning that in less than 5% of all crimes there is accountability.
Empty streets
Friday in Juárez felt like a Sunday. Very few cars roamed the streets as thousands of workers stayed away from maquiladoras, threatening the supply chain. Childcare centers shut down. The ramifications were felt across the border in El Paso, as the private school Lydia Patterson closed until further notice. The school is popular with students who commute daily from Juárez.
“I deeply regret the loss of human lives in this heinous event against Ciudad Juárez,” said Chihuahua Governor Maria Eugenia Campos Galvan, in a statement.
On Friday, Campos met with government and nongovernmental security officials, from local to state and federal, including members of the military and national guard.
Campos said she ordered “operatives to be deployed immediately in the city. The entire state police force, together with federal and municipal forces, are focused on restoring order and peace. Juarenses are not alone.”
Officials said some 300 fresh troops were expected to help restore peace in the city.
Meanwhile, the routines of Juarenses drastically changed Friday. Gardeners and maids living in Juarez called in to their employers in El Paso and asked for the day off. Said Ruth Martinez, who cleans homes in El Paso’s West Side, “Criminals reminded us who’s really in charge: them. We’re at their mercy.”
And weekends, which are typically busy for event venues around the city, changed. Some businesses decided to close their doors to the public.
“Due to the horrible violence happening in our city, we will close our doors tomorrow and until further notice,” reads a release posted by Pirros Playground, a kid’s party venue in Ciudad Juárez.
Alma Nélida Márquez, a dentist originally from Colima, has lived in Juárez for almost 38 years. She spent weeks planning her grandson José's second birthday party that was supposed to take place Friday. Jose’s first birthday was canceled because of the pandemic. His parents live in Dallas, but had arrived this week in El Paso to prepare to celebrate, Márquez said.
“It’s very sad, but not because of the party. The child is two years old, so it doesn’t matter,” Márquez said. “It’s sad for our country. All our principles and culture are being lost. We’re losing. Nobody deserves to live with so much fear.”
Special contributor Marisol Chavez contributed to this report from Ciudad Juárez.
