Another key move was the withdrawal of the army and the scaling back of the federal police. Corrupt elements in both forces were blamed for carrying out extrajudicial killings, and participating in drug trafficking and kidnapping.
The army, deployed to Juarez in and gradually phased out over , had been strongly criticized for committing abuses and contributing to the city's most violent era. Tougher policing also may have played a role in reducing the crime rate. The local police force, under the command of Chief Julian Leyzaola, has been credited with implementing a more effective citizen security strategy, as Al Jazeera reported last year. Police divided the city into quadrants and focused on bringing down crime levels section by section.
Still, the force continues to struggle with corruption and abusive officers. There are other theories that the decrease in violence in Juarez had little to do with the actions of the security forces or government. As outlined in a report released last October by Southern Pulse , the peace was arguably achieved because the Sinaloa Cartel took control of the city.
Violence first began to surge in after the Sinaloans attempted to take over Juarez's highly prized drug trafficking routes. Local enforcer gangs like La Linea and the Aztecas fought a bitter war, often using unrestrained violence that targeted civilians and drove up the murder count. Southern Pulse argued that these local gangs will likely continue fighting over turf, but the larger conflict between the Sinaloa and Juarez Cartel has already come to an end.
And as Molloy argued to Proceso magazine , Juarez's murder statistics may not be telling the whole story. The homicides registered by the State Attorney General do not always account for victims found in mass graves. He pointed out that kidnappings have been eradicated.
In the last 27 months, there have been no reported kidnappings, he said. There were at least 76 kidnappings reported in , according to the state attorney general's office statistics. Lorena Figueroa may be reached at ; lfigueroa elpasotimes. Facebook Twitter Email. Thousands of people have fled the city in the wake of the violence.
Ciudad Juarez is situated just across the border from El Paso, Texas, a city with one of the lowest murder rates in the Unites States. On Monday, hundreds of doctors and health workers in Ciudad Juarez went on a hour strike in protest at the high number of threats and attacks they are subjected to. This year, three medical workers have been killed and 11 kidnapped. A total of 7, people have been killed in Ciudad Juarez in the past three years.
Ciudad Juarez is situated just across the border from El Paso, where the murder rate is low.
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