CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - Suspected drug hitmen killed six people in Ciudad Juarez in northern Mexico on Tuesday, the latest in a killing
spree that has left 41 people dead in the city since the start of the weekend, police said
In separate attacks before dawn, gunmen killed six men, including a father and son, and dumped the bodies of two other victims in the trunk of an
abandoned car, police said.
"They came for the father and the son tried to protect him and it cost him his life," a police spokesman said.
It was the fourth day in a new wave of gruesome shootings in the city bordering El Paso, Texas, that saw gunmen kill 17 people on Sunday alone.
Tuesday's murders take the death toll to over 500 people in Ciudad Juarez since the start of the year, making it the most deadly city in Mexico's drug
war, despite a large deployment of well-armed troops and federal police.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon, whose military-led crackdown on drug cartels has only increased bloodshed, said on Tuesday the surge in killings in
places like Ciudad Juarez was due to local gangs battling over ever smaller smuggling turf.
More than 4,000 people have been killed in drug violence since December 2006, when Calderon began sending out some 25,000 troops and federal police to
tackle drug cartels around the country. More than 1,600 people have been killed this year alone, a faster rate than in 2007.
The surge in killings this year comes as Mexico's most-wanted man, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, is locked in a fight with Vicente Carrillo Fuentes, boss
of the Juarez cartel, for control of Ciudad Juarez and its lucrative smuggling corridor into the United States.
A breakdown in Guzman's alliance of cartels from the Pacific state of Sinaloa has caused turf wars to flare, and tensions between Guzman and his
former allies have erupted in a fight for Sinaloa, the northwestern states of Durango and Chihuahua and the western city of Guadalajara, Mexican and
U.S. anti-drug officials say.
According to the Mexican daily El Universal, Monday was the deadliest day in the country's drug war this year, with 38 drug-related murders, almost
half of those in Ciudad Juarez.CaboRon - 6-26-2008 at 07:18 AM
Same old story,
Maybe the Mexican army should actually invade the border region and occupy .... a couple of battalions should do it ....
CaboRonELINVESTIG8R - 6-26-2008 at 08:54 AM
Ay Chihuahua...Woooosh - 6-26-2008 at 09:27 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by CaboRon
Same old story,
Maybe the Mexican army should actually invade the border region and occupy .... a couple of battalions should do it ....
CaboRon
They already have! See below...
Police reports show that three men arrested in a Phoenix home invasion and homicide Monday may have been active members of the Mexican Army.
While on the J.D. Hayworth show, Phoenix Law Enforcement Association President Mark Spencer said that the men involved were hired by drug cartels to
perform home invasions and assassinations.
The Monday morning incident at 8329 W. Cypress St. resulted in the death of the homeowner. Between 50 and 100 rounds were fired at the house.
Spencer said a police officer told him that one of the men captured said they were completely prepared to ambush Phoenix police, but ran out of
ammunition.
He added that all were all dressed in military tactical gear and were armed with AR-15 assault rifles. Three other men involved in the invasion
escaped.
Click Here to listen to Mark Spencer's entire interview on the J.D. Hayworth show.
However, Phoenix Police have not confirmed the men were Mexican Army members.
Sgt. Joel Tranter said one suspect revealed that he had "prior military training," but "no credible evidence" that any of them were active in the
military.Woooosh - 6-26-2008 at 09:30 AM
Or Mexico can just buy the USA back... one foreclosure at a time
June 25 (Bloomberg) -- More than a century and a half after Mexico lost Texas to the U.S., Virgilio Garza wants a piece of it back.
A ``Texas for Sale'' sign and cowgirls in boots and white hats greeted Garza at the Convex center in Monterrey, Mexico, earlier this month. A
Monterrey developer and investor, Garza was in search of foreclosed U.S. property to buy.
``Texas is like our home,'' said Garza, 45, who joined hundreds of Mexicans poring over lists of Texas properties at the four-day event. Garza, who
owns manufacturing sites and other land in Mexico, said he and five partners may invest as much as $8 million in Texas. ``We believe there can be some
opportunities.''
A rising peso and an economy growing faster than the U.S. have given some Mexicans the buying power to take advantage of the housing slump in Texas,
which the U.S. annexed in 1845 after Texans gained independence from Mexico nine years earlier. A three-year war followed and ended with Mexico ceding
about half its territory, including Arizona, Nevada and California, to the U.S. under an 1848 treaty.
The peso has gained 5.9 percent against the dollar since the beginning of the year. The Mexican currency today was little changed, slipping less than
1 centavo to 10.2952 pesos per dollar at 9:43 a.m. New York time. The economy, which rose 2.6 percent in the first quarter from a year ago, is
expected to grow 2.6 percent this year, according to a central bank survey of 31 economists in May. The U.S. economy is forecast to grow 1.4 percent
in 2008, according to a Bloomberg survey of 57 economists.
Marco Ramirez of McAllen, Texas, is among those trying to sell foreclosed Texas homes to Mexicans. Ramirez's company, called Now! Co., has bought 32
Texas properties and has options on 88 more. His best prospects are Mexican buyers, especially in Monterrey, 150 miles from the Texas border, he said.
`Great Time to Buy'
``Many of these people have children who are studying in the U.S.,'' Ramirez said. ``They've been renting or leasing and now it's a great time to
buy.''
Mexico is better known for providing the U.S. with cheap labor than investment. The U.S. is home to an estimated 12 million Mexican-born residents,
about half of them living there illegally, according to the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington.
Sales of existing U.S. homes in April fell 18 percent to an annual pace of 4.89 million from 5.93 million a year ago as banks shied away from making
new loans, according to the National Association of Realtors in Washington.
Rising Foreclosures
The slump in demand pulled down the median price of an existing U.S. home in April to $202,300 from $219,900 a year ago, according to the association.
While Texas hasn't been hit as hard as California and Florida, where the housing boom drove up prices the most, existing home sales in Texas fell 12
percent from a year ago in the first quarter.
Foreclosures in Texas rose 29 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, with one of every 274 households in the foreclosure process, according
to RealtyTrac Inc., a seller of default data based in Irvine, California. The Texas foreclosure rate ranked 17th in the nation, according to
RealtyTrac.
Garza and other Mexicans with money to invest believe the time is right to buy, Ramirez said. ``These are very sophisticated businessmen,'' he said.
``They realize what's going on in our country. Everybody needs cash right now and Monterrey has lots and lots of cash.''
Victor Gonzalez, 48, who owns a Monterrey print shop that employs 40 people, wants to use his savings to buy a $250,000 house in a gated community in
the South Texas community of Mission.
`Ready to Go'
``This is exactly what we've been looking for,'' said Gonzalez, who was wearing a black Harley-Davidson T-shirt. ``We're ready to go.'' He said the
price is $50,000 less than he expected he would have to pay.
Gonzalez said he plans to turn over the shop to his children in five years and retire to Mission, where the traffic is lighter and the crime rate
lower.
The only requirement for foreigners purchasing residential and commercial property in the U.S. is a valid visa to enter the country, said Jose
Cuellar, a realtor with Houston-based Cornerstone Mortgage Co. who caters to Mexican clients.
Raul Fabela, owner of McAllen, Texas-based Construction, Ltd., came to Monterrey looking to sell 42 rental properties of four apartments each, double
his normal inventory of available properties. U.S. buyers have dried up, he said.
Mortgages Scarce
``We've had a slowdown since October,'' said Fabela, whose company builds rental properties and luxury homes priced at more than $1 million, said. ``I
can't find mortgage companies that want to finance at 10, 15 percent down.''
He said 26 people filled out credit applications in Monterrey. ``It turned out a lot better than we thought.''
For Garza, the U.S. real estate slump has opened the door to diversifying his holdings. Garza's company, Grupo Vigia, owns five industrial parks and
600 hectares (1,483 acres) of land earmarked for housing development near Monterrey.
``We think there's opportunity to buy right now at reasonable prices,'' Garza said. ``We want to keep the properties two or three years until the
market turns around and then begin to develop them.''
To contact the reporter on this story: Thomas Black in Monterrey, Mexico, at tblack@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: June 25, 2008 10:19 EDCaboRon - 6-26-2008 at 10:01 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by CaboRon
Same old story,
Maybe the Mexican army should actually invade the border region and occupy .... a couple of battalions should do it ....
CaboRon
I was saying they should invade their own border towns ... not our side of the border ....
