July 18, 2010
Juarez Car Bomb Ambush - Drug Gangs Terrorize Mexico
An Associated Press dispatch from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico -- printed in The Washington Times and many other American newspapers – “has revealed a new level of cold-blooded planning that is forcing that border city and security forces to change the way they confront violence.”
Police said Friday that the La Linea drug gang – the same group blamed for the March killing of a U. S. Consulate employee and her husband – lured federal officers and paramedics to the site of a car bomb. They dressed a bound, wounded, man in a police uniform and called in a false report of an “officer shot.”
The gang then exploded a car bomb holding as much as 22 pounds of explosives. It killed the decoy, a rescue officer and a federal officer.
The gang promised -- by graffiti painted on the wall of a shopping center – to strike again: “What happened is going to keep happening against all the authorities. We have more car bombs.”
CHANGE PROTOCOLS
Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said city authorities “will have to change the way we operate. We’ve started changing all our protocols to include bomb situations.”
He fears such attacks could hit the morale of his already over-worked police force. “Having direct attacks on the police department creates the possibility of police just retiring or quitting.”
The city has a police department of about 2,800 officers. Ferriz said at least 14 officers -- or other law enforcement officials -- have been killed in the last few weeks in and around the city.
“They are backed up by as many 5,000 federal police – one of whom died in the Thursday car bombing. The security situation has shifted for them too.”
Ciudad Juarez – across from El Paso, Texas – has become one of the most dangerous cities in the world – with more than 4,000 people killed since the beginning of 2009.
On Friday -- in the northeastern border city of Nuevo Laredo -- 12 people were killed and 21 wounded in running gun battles between soldiers and cartel gunmen. Three of the seriously wounded were children apparently caught in the crossfire.
Federal authorities warned American citizens in the city to remain indoors.
The dead included nine suspected gunmen, two civilians and one solder.
Drug cartel battles have resulted in the deaths of about 25,000 people in Mexico since late 2006.
IMPORTANT STATISTIC
In closing, the latest news information above, your host -- Sunday Morning Report -- adds an important statistic.
Mexico is third-largest trading partner of the United States of America, with an annual sales exchange of $305.5 billion. Canada leads with $429.6 billion. China is second with $366 billion.
In addition to sales of goods, Mexicans pour across our southern borders illegally -- in untold numbers – at California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas to do grunt-work shunned by Americans who qualify for government handouts.
Having a good name is better than being rich. It is tax-free.
Better to remain silent and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.
--- Abraham Lincoln
Ask questions. It’s the best way to become a better listener.
Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That’s where the fruit is.
A friend is a person who knows all about you and still likes you.
By Lindsey Wilger Williams, retired newspaper publisher and syndicated columnist
