MEXICO: Car Bomb Kills 4 In Cd. Juarez Trap.

AP/     A drug gang used some 22-pounds of explosives to kill four, including a police officer and a doctor lured near the bomb, in a trap close to federal police headquarters in Cuidad Juarez. Reportedly, an injured man dressed as a police officer was dumped on the street to lure police before the bomb was detonated with a cellphone.

MEXICO: Drug Ties Don't Seem To Hinder Candidates; What Can You Do For Us Is More Important.

LAT/    The front-runners in Sinaloa state and Ciudad Juarez have been linked to drug gangs but voters seem to care only about what services they'll provide as narco gangs continue their steady penetration into Mexican political power. "Narco-politics is the greatest threat to Mexico's incipient democracy," said federal congressman Manuel Clouthier Carrillo, who represents Sinaloa for the National Action Party, or PAN. "If federal authorities don't fight it now, the damage will be irreversible."
   "People don't look at the ethical or moral origins [of a candidate] but at the services they can receive," said pharmacy owner Lauro Melendrez, and Vizcarra supporter. "We don't have the luxury to demand pie-in-the-sky ethical values. A society in crisis is less demanding."  (Foto of Jesus Vizcarra Calderon)

MEXICO: Police Say 30,000 Juarez Residents Now Live In El Paso.

LAHT/   The recent influx of an estimated 30,000 residents from neighboring Cuidad Juarez, Mexico to El Paso, Texas is worrying the police department there. It is seeking authorization to buy 1,100 M4 assault rifles for police personnel because it is not known "who the people are who are establishing themselves in the city coming from Mexico or from whom they are fleeing."

MEXICO: Was Juarez Massacre The Tipping Point For Drug War?

LATIMES/   The January massacre in Ciudad Juarez of 15 youths with no drug connections is stirring the nation. Twice the victims parents have challenged President Felipe Calderon with protests, demanding a new strategy. Calderon finally conceded that the military campaign against drug gangs has largely failed. He admitted his strategy neglected important socioeconomic factors.

MEXICO: 15 Dead At Party In Juarez; Police Blame Victims.

LATIMES UPDATE: AM/ 05 Feb/
Fifteen died after attending a party in Cuidad Juarez where attackers fired indiscriminately. Eight of the dead were younger than 20, and at least 12 were wounded. Police recovered at least 82 bullet casings.
 "The men drove up in four SUVs, they were well-armed. They went into the house and shot at everyone, you could hear the gunfire all around," reported a neighbor.
"There is no logical explanation, a concrete reason for this event. This is something that worries us, gratuitous or random criminal acts," said Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz. Now police are blaming some of the victims, claiming drug connections after a suspect was arrested. But family members blew-up and police retracted their theory. The Juarez case has become a political hot potato, with parents of the victims calling for the resignation of President Felipe Calderon.

MEXICO: Big News In Juarez...Nobody Was Murdered Today!

AP/MIAMI HERALD/ Long Feature/
On October 30, Cuidad Juarez's biggest newspaper headlined: "Not one person murdered," the first time in 10 months without a slaying. Yet by the end of that day, 9 people were killed. Ciudad Juarez is now among the deadliest cities in the world with about 2,250 killings this year, or 173 per 100,000 residents. That compares with 37 per 100,000 in Baltimore, the U.S. deadliest city. Violence began in early 2008, when Sinaloa drug boss Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and Juarez drug leader Vicente Carrillo Fuentes began a fight over drug routes their organizations had once shared. Now violent death is part of everyday life there despite a massive infusion of troops.

Mexico Closes Juarez Drug Rehab Centers.

AP/
Officials have closed 10 unregistered drug rehabilitation centers in Ciudad Juarez because they believe the centers serve as recruiters for drug trafficking gangs.
28 people have been killed just this month at two rehab centers in Ciudad Juarez in separate attacks perhaps in a struggle between rival drug gangs.

Growing Opposition To Calderon's Nominee For Attorney General.

LAHT.
Activists in Ciudad Juarez, the border city known for the murder of hundreds of women, charge that the man nominated to be Mexico’s next attorney general did nothing about the “femicides” when was the top law enforcer in the northern state of Chihuahua.
Many of the 500 slayings of women and girls that happened in Juarez since 1993 occurred when Chavez was serving as deputy attorney general and then attorney general of Chihuahua.

18 Slain In Juarez Rehab Center.

AP.
Masked men broke into a drug rehabilitation center in Cuidad Juarez and mowed down recovering drug addicts and alcoholics. Eighteen were killed and two seriously injured. It was the third rehab attack in Juarez.
Juárez had the most violent month in its history in August, with at least 326 killings, almost half the murders in all of Mexico. Juárez, Mexico’s most violent city in 2008 with 1,600 killings, may exceed that figure in 2009.

Clinics In Cuidad Juarez Refuse Treating Gun Shot Victims.

LAHT.
Representatives of the private clinics in Cuidad Juarez, Mexico told authorities that they would no longer treat gunshot patients because hit men have sometimes entered hospitals to finish off rival drug members who survived attacks.