Co-existing with the Juarez Cartel

I live in El Paso, Texas, right on the Mexico/United States border, just north of Ciudad Juarez - I have for over fifty years - on and off. It's a rather peaceful border - been that way for the better part of one hundred years. Though its crossing points - three international bridges - have occasionally been the site of well-publicized demonstrations by Mexican farmers and bi-national women's rights groups, its imprint in my mind has remained inert and innocuous, and my attitude towards it almost moot and ambivalent. The bridges have been closed a few times - as during the 9/11 events and the Kennedy assassination - but I wouldn't say that has made it an exciting place, not for more than a few minutes anyway.
In the early Twenties, and continuing through the late Fifties, Juarez nightlife dominated the social talk of the border. Juarez Avenue was one of the most desirable places to be and pretty much the most visited, by both Mexicans and Americans (Norteamericanos) looking for a decent, good night out. Brightly lit after hours and sometimes during daytime as well, it shimmered like a mini Broadway. One could feel the charm and attraction of the street - there was much life to be enjoyed here, round the clock - especially when Prohibition was in full swing. There were floor shows and dancing galore. The street catered to the well-to-do so the sleaze was kept to a minimum. The likes of Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Joe Louis, and Harry James visited regularly. It was not uncommon to see Hollywood stars and other celebrities in one of the many nightclubs or bars on the avenue - the Kentucky Club, Follies, Tivoli, Waikiki, Casanova Rendezvous, Crystal Palace, and others. My father was a waiter in one of them during World War II. Many people also came into town just to get the famous quickie divorces of the time. It has been said that "Bugsy" Siegel created Las Vegas out of a vision he had in Juarez during those days. Within easy walking distance from all this activity, the red light districts saw their own special kind of action. Nevertheless, by the time I was five, it was only a shadow of its old self, soon to be gone altogether. It didn't even pretend to be what it once was. Now, it was a large mansion that had been split up into apartments by a greedy speculator. Its occupants were no longer social aristocrats.
Back then, crime was not a major problem. The Mayors and their police chiefs were tougher than the criminals. It was widely known that they - and most politicians - carried guns, too. Law and order was maintained at the expense of what were considered trivial and dispensable civil liberties, but the citizens liked it that way. It was as if, as Shakespeare said, someone had first gotten rid of all the lawyers. Very often, the only thing that stood between a suspect and jail (or worse) was the Mayor. If you were a repeat offender and had no money, you knew you were in very serious trouble. Gradually, all that changed.
Any time we hear of the dreaded Juarez Drug Cartel, we imagine the worst kind of brutal, cold blooded, gun toting criminals. The reputation is well-deserved, but it's a simplification. I don't need to tell you that over the last fifteen years, newspapers have evolutionized into tabloids. For publishers, because of the pressure to turn a profit, the metamorphosis has been easy to justify. Naturally, shocking, scandalous headlines, and lurid details of assassinations sell more papers than matter-of-fact reporting. The perception by those who still read newspapers is that the streets down the block from where I live must be flowing with blood, given all the murders that have taken place. Put that silly idea out of your head - it's not real - not even close.
The drug business is like any other - profits drive it. However, it's one of the few businesses (the military comes to mind) where you know your life is on the line. Once you're in, you're in. If you're trusted, you're trusted. Treachery is repaid in blood. In this business, there is no such thing as an honest mistake. If you mess up, you don't get reprimanded, placed on probation, given administrative leave with pay, or otherwise disciplined. You are not asked to resign either. They just put a death certificate in your file. Therefore, if you are trusted, you had better make sure that you stay above suspicion at all times, in case things turn sour.
Murders in general, and more often than not, happen over differences of opinion - this is especially true in politics. Nobody gets alarmed over casualties in war - not in this or the previous Century. That's because modern wars, despite TV coverage, have been fought over the horizon - out of sight - in somebody else's backyard, and because war is planned - we know what violence to expect. I believe murders in the drug trade are little different from war casualties. Violence is violence, justified or not. We categorize it because we want to trick ourselves into thinking some of it is acceptable while the rest is not, though it really is much more shocking when it catches us by surprise. If it happens on our doorstep, which is definitely not acceptable, we also find it extremely disagreeable. I sometimes wonder what would happen if every single war casualty were reported separately and in the same detail as the cartel murders. People wouldn't stand for it, I'm sure. However, we must take care to sell as many newspapers as we possibly can. The papers will sensationalize all they want, but know this: the local population is much more concerned about the lack of discipline in schools, the lack of properly maintained streets, traffic congestion, low wages, lack of jobs, high property taxes, panhandlers, the long lines at the bridges, high food prices, the escalating price of gasoline, political corruption, illegal immigration, stock market losses, postal service inefficiencies, the hot weather, and the need to conserve water. And, by the way, among American cities with populations of five hundred thousand or more, El Paso is the third safest in the country.
My intuition tells me that people don't so much object to the illicit drug business as to the violence that accompanies it. They simply hate its unpredictability and its utter disrespect for law and order. After all, men of great historical stature have carried out slaughters unmatched by all the drug lords who ever lived put together. In Chile, in Argentina, in Russia, in China, in Cambodia - almost anywhere you care to look - thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of people have dropped out of sight very quietly. The stories have gone away quietly, too - perhaps because the persons behind the disappearances were powerful, well-educated politicians or because the dirty business was conducted in an orderly fashion. Who really knows? Even Hitler perpetrated one of his most heinous crimes without too much fuss. Back then, very few people were scandalized. Isn't that why white collar crime seems so harmless? It's true that it's almost never accompanied by violence.
Those of us who live here (and in Juarez) day in and day out, don't fear for our lives every time we step out. Around here, prescriptions for tranquilizers are dispensed to people who suffer from anxiety due to job stress, or fear of driving in heavy traffic, or fear of being burglarized at home, or fear of their spouse, or other circumstances, but never for fear of getting shot to death by the cartel. It's probably that way in your city as well. The murder rate in Juarez is actually lower than in Philadelphia or Washington D.C. or Detroit or Boston or Baltimore or Los Angeles or Miami or New Orleans or Atlanta. You get the point. Yes, of course the cartel is out shooting people in cold blood. Nobody will deny that. They shoot to settle scores - to get even. The authorities know this. They let it continue because they think it's a cleansing process. It's part of the cartel's culture, but people find it abhorrent because it's so messy and heartless - so uncivilized. Perhaps - this is wishful thinking - if organized crime were to miraculously reach a level of sophistication that would make killing and mayhem unacceptable or unseemly as a means of solving their problems, we might see diplomacy take the place of merciless carnage. Nevertheless, if nations around the world, with their thousands of PhDs and think tanks, haven't done it, why should we expect cartels to pursue such a course? In the meantime, you need to know that there are very seldom any innocent victims. Even when Juarez police are the targets, it is assumed that they were dirty, too.
In Texas, in 2006, over one hundred children below the age of 14 were murdered. For the most part, they died quietly. Since 1995, the State has averaged over two hundred child homicides per year. Many of those killed were very young children, perfectly innocent victims. Those are the real atrocities. We are outraged, but we don't feel threatened because these crimes, for the most part, happened behind closed doors and the perpetrators of these horrors are not running loose with AK47s tucked under their arm. I for one, feel a lot safer walking the streets in Juarez than going to a party anywhere, especially a late-night party. There is more violence at parties, more stuff to be afraid of.
Then, there's the moral/legal question. Everyone takes for granted that trafficking in illicit drugs is a bad thing. Doctors have legal authority to deal in painkilling or mood altering drugs, but criminals do not. There is a fine line here, just as there is between the criminal and the police. One is tinged with dirtiness while the other is clean, almost pristine. A murder committed in a slum seems more horrific than one committed in a palace. Such is the sway that perception has over us. Reading about cocaine being snorted in dark alleys is more disturbing than learning about recreational drugs being used at elegant Palm Beach parties. Naturally, the media manipulates us so that we get outraged by one and not the other. So, if you get the impression from the media that there are wild gunfights in the streets of Juarez, or that the sky is falling as a result of all the mayhem, take it with a large grain of salt. We know it's deplorable and seriously disturbs the peace, but we know the sky is not falling. We would do better to worry about the increasing number of violent incidents at our institutions of higher learning.
If you follow the patterns carefully, a surge in violence happens every time there are big drug seizures at the bridge or at one of the stash houses or when one of their own gets caught. It's assumed somebody sang or got stupid with an undercover agent. Naturally, everyone who comes under suspicion gets it. Then it stops. I think it'll be this way until people quit buying drugs or until drugs are legalized, but please don't hold your breath.
Now, having brought you this far, I'm certainly not saying we should cavalierly leave caution by the side of the road or on this side of the border when we go across. No, no, no. I have a beer at the Kentucky Club (it's still there) at least once a month. I use the downtown bridge to walk across. I take care to look and listen carefully. I observe everything, aware of my surroundings. I don't dress like a millionaire. I talk to the vendors casually. I don't stare at anyone - well, sometimes at some of the prettier prostitutes (now called sex workers). I simply take the same care and attitude that I do when I'm out shopping late at one of the malls and I have to carry packages to my car, parked at the end of the parking lot. You know exactly what I mean.
Sources: Texas Dept of State Health Services Annual Report, 2007; U.S. Census, 2000; INEGI (Insituto Nacional de Estadistica Geografica e Informatica); Tivoli (author: E.G de Alba, 2002)