According to Reforma’s running tally of cartel-related killings or ejecuciones, such violence is up slightly since the past reporting period, though down over the first six months of 2009 as compared to the final six months of 2008. Nationwide, ejecuciones stood at 3,054 by the end of June, and 3312 as of July 17. There was a nationwide average of 126.5 weekly ejecuciones between June 20 and July 17, up 13 percent from a prior weekly average of 112. Nationwide, ejecuciones for the first six months of 2009 are down slightly —about 5 percent— from the final six months of last year. However, despite the recent decline, cartel violence in the first half of 2009 remained much higher —by 52 percent— compared to the same period last year. Hence, if there are not significant reductions in the coming months, cartel violence in 2009 will exceed the annual total for 2008.
Chihuahua is still bearing the brunt of cartel-related killings with 896 at mid-year, and 972 as of July 17. However, the border region comprising Baja California, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas is down as a whole in 2009 as compared to the rest of the nation. In the final six months of 2008, these six border states accounted for 1,708 cartel related killings (roughly 52 percent of the nationwide total), as compared to 1,250 (roughly 41 percent of the national total) in the first half of 2009. This suggests that cartel turf battles have abated in some northern states and increased in other interior states, most notably Guerrero and Michoacán. Given continued high levels of violence in states with significant federal military and police deployments, like Chihuahua, it is not clear whether the shift is a result of government efforts or changing dynamics among certain cartel organizations. Baja California, in particular, has seen significant declines in overall violence. Yet, Michoacán, the site of recent troop deployments, saw 203 ejecuciones in the first half of 2009, twice as many as in the final six months of 2008. Guerrero, the site of 12 targeted killings on election day July 5, has likewise seen nearly twice as many ejecuciones in 2009 as in the previous six months.
Regardless of the shifting trends, border-states remain sites of substantial high-profile violence, with much higher levels than before 2008. Chihuahua’s total of 896 killings from January through June 2009 marked a substantial improvement over the 1068 killings in the preceding six months. Still, cartel slayings in Chihuahua at midyear registered an increase of more than 52% compared to the first half of 2008.
In a rare targeting of a public official, gunmen assassinated Hector Meixueiro, the mayor of a ranching town in Chihuahua in clear retaliation for last month’s arrest of 25 men suspected of belonging to a cell responsible for carrying out kidnappings, extortion, and killings in the area. Meixueiro was shot dead as he drove to work on the morning of July 14 in his home town of Namiquipa. The killing corresponded with “narco-banners” hung in nearby Ciudad Juárez calling out Meixueiro and the state attorney general for the arrest of 25 cartel members in June. Last year, gunmen killed the Namiquipa treasurer and kidnapped its police chief, who is still missing. Also killed in retaliation for the arrests was local Morman leader and anti-crime activist Benjamin Le Barón, who was kidnapped from his home in a rural Chihuahua community along with his brother-in-law (see this month’s Access to Justice section for more information).
Meanwhile, in Baja California, police have been increasingly targeted by the cartels in recent weeks, with three municipal Tijuana police officers slain on July 6-7 over the course of 15 hours. The body of one of the police officers was found with a note promising more police executions if police chief Julián Leyzola Pérez, a former Army colonel, did not step down. This is the second time this year that such threats have been made against a border city police chief. On February 20, Cuidad Juárez police chief Roberto Orduña resigned after threatening messages appeared, warning that one police officer would be killed daily until he did step down. True to their word, gunmen killed a police officer and a jail guard, and hours later Orduña resigned from his post. According to Reforma, 249 police had been slain in Mexico in 2009 as of July 17, with 22 killed in the final week of that period alone.
From the July Justice in Mexico Project’s Monthly News Report:
http://www.justiceinmexico.org/news/recent_news.php
SOURCES:
“Regresa violencia en contra de policías.” El Financiero July 8, 2009.
Cardona, Julián. “Mexican drug hitmen kill mayor in revenge attack.” Reuters July 15, 2009.
