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Bloody Drug Wars Rock Mexican Town

With 210 dead in the first three months of 2008, president sends in the army

By Sam Gale Rosen, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 16, 2008 4:25 PM CDT

(Newser) – Bloody drug wars are ravaging the Mexican town of Ciudad Juarez—across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas—despite desperate attempts at control by the government. After 210 lives were claimed by the battles between cartels in the first three months of 2008, President Felipe Calderon sent over 2,000 soldiers to the area in late March, the New York Times reports.

But those soldiers are so intimidated by the power of organized crime that they hide their faces with ski masks. Meanwhile, complex webs of alliances make it tough even to keep track of who's fighting whom. “A lot of these lines have been blurred since the first of the year,” says a US special agent in El Paso.

A forensic expert puts together a human skeleton at a cemetery in the border city of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Wednesday Dec. 5, 2007. (AP Photo)

Army soldiers take away police agents for further questioning after army personnel arrived at a police station to check for weapons serial numbers and interviews with police officers in Ciudad Juarez. (AP Photo)

Mexican soldiers disembark a military plane in Ciudad Juarez, northern Mexico, Friday, March 28, 2008. (AP Photo/Raymundo Ruiz)

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Bloody Drug Wars Rock Mexican Town

With 210 dead in the first three months of 2008, president sends in the army

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US Grants Asylum to Mexican Journalist

Jorge Luis Aguirre got death threat in 2008

Mexico Subdued on 200th Birthday

Drug violence overshadows celebrations

Nine Bodies Discovered Near Ciudad Juarez

Troops descend on Juarez in bid to end cartel violence

20 Killed in Mexican Prison Riot

Troops sent in after drug gangs clash inside high-security prison

Mexican Army Sweeps Into Juarez

Mexico pushes to retake control of border city from warring cartels

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Bloody Drug Wars Rock Mexican Town

With 210 dead in the first three months of 2008, president sends in the army

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OTHER STORIES ON OUR RADAR

Mexico • Mexican drug war • drug cartel • Ciudad Juarez

MOST POPULAR STORIES

[ By Views ]

[ By Comments ]

More Newser Stories

US Grants Asylum to Mexican Journalist

Jorge Luis Aguirre got death threat in 2008

Mexico Subdued on 200th Birthday

Drug violence overshadows celebrations

Nine Bodies Discovered Near Ciudad Juarez

Troops descend on Juarez in bid to end cartel violence

20 Killed in Mexican Prison Riot

Troops sent in after drug gangs clash inside high-security prison

Mexican Army Sweeps Into Juarez

Mexico pushes to retake control of border city from warring cartels

About Us

Site

Newser By Users

Community

Site Maps

Tools

More News

What is Newser?