Last weekend's gruesome massacre of students in Ciudad Juárez adds to the city’s notoriety as the most violent in the Americas. It is also the most potent symbol to date of the federal government’s powerlessness.
First we witnessed the murders of hundreds of women, which horrified the world both for their cruelty and for the impunity of the perpetrators. Now we have the war of the drug cartels. The government’s strategy has been a military response, but beyond the capture of a few drug kingpins, the public's safety has not improved.
Paramilitaries are a new force on the Juarez scene, adding to the perception that many of the slayings are targeted executions rather than deaths resulting from clashes. The civilian population feels trapped and asks how convoys of pickup trucks filled with armed men can patrol the city streets without being stopped by the army.
The residents’ desperation has led some to call for a proclamation of a state of emergency and even to seek the presence of United Nations peacekeeper troops.
Calderon’s response has been to acknowledge that the current strategy is not bearing fruit. He asserts that it is the city’s citizens who must be at the core of a successful approach to repairing the "social fabric" of Juarez. The idea may have some logical appeal, but in the current moment, it sounds more like government impotence. While some logistical victories have been won in this war on drug trafficking, no progress has been made in stopping the violence. On the contrary, it continues to escalate.
The newspaper El Universal estimates that in the first month of this year, 229 died in Juárez; and 1,000 executions took place across the nation in just 34 days. Another murder happens every 48 minutes!
We are deeply concerned by the Mexican government's inability to effectively address this problem. The same can be said about the opposition, which offers only criticism, but no solutions to a challenge that extends far beyond partisanship.
Last weekend's gruesome massacre of students in Ciudad Juárez adds to the city’s notoriety as the most violent in the Americas. It is also the most potent symbol to date of the federal government’s powerlessness.
First we witnessed the murders of hundreds of women, which horrified the world both for their cruelty and for the impunity of the perpetrators. Now we have the war of the drug cartels. The government’s strategy has been a military response, but beyond the capture of a few drug kingpins, the public's safety has not improved.
Paramilitaries are a new force on the Juarez scene, adding to the perception that many of the slayings are targeted executions rather than deaths resulting from clashes. The civilian population feels trapped and asks how convoys of pickup trucks filled with armed men can patrol the city streets without being stopped by the army.
The residents’ desperation has led some to call for a proclamation of a state of emergency and even to seek the presence of United Nations peacekeeper troops.
Calderon’s response has been to acknowledge that the current strategy is not bearing fruit. He asserts that it is the city’s citizens who must be at the core of a successful approach to repairing the "social fabric" of Juarez. The idea may have some logical appeal, but in the current moment, it sounds more like government impotence. While some logistical victories have been won in this war on drug trafficking, no progress has been made in stopping the violence. On the contrary, it continues to escalate.
