AZMEX SPECIAL 2 26 SEP 2012
Note: Another good article by Sylvia Longmire. There is one very
similar characteristic of both, besides a culture of rampant
corruption. That culture of corruption, as in Cd. Juarez, cannot be
under estimated as a major factor. In both, honest citizens have
been disarmed by government and are virtually helpless to fight back
against the criminal gangs. Testifying against them is considered
suicidal. Another factor not usually reported is the very high
incidence of crime is black on black. Chicago is the most criminal
friendly city in the country, not counting Washington DC.
http://borderviolenceanalysis.typepad.com/mexicos_drug_war/2012/09/is-
chicago-becoming-americas-ciudad-juárez.html
September 26, 2012
Is Chicago Becoming America's Ciudad Juárez?
"At least seven people…have been killed and 24 others wounded in a
string of shootings in the US city of Chicago in the past two days."
This was one very stark headline the morning of August 26, 2012. The
attacks occurred in different parts of the city, with several in the
south and west parts of the city. Shockingly, the statistics and
incident details were reminiscent of grisly headlines emerging daily
from a foreign city 1,500 miles away—Ciudad Juárez, arguably the
deadliest place in the Western Hemisphere.
Juárez has been the epicenter of violence in Mexico's drug war since
2007, when leaders of two major drug cartels—the Sinaloa Federation's
Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán and the Juárez cartel's Vicente Carrillo
Fuentes—failed to see eye-to-eye on a few things and went to war. The
annual murder rate skyrocketed, hitting the plateau of 3,622 people
killed in 2010 (according to New Mexico State University researcher
Molly Molloy) before dropping precipitously to 1,976 in 2011. The
trend seems to be continuing into this year, with only 602 murders
through August 14.
Chicago, however, is following a different trend. A 2011 report by
the Chicago Police Department shows the murder rate held relatively
steady between 2004-2011, with a "low" of 433 in 2011 to a high of
513 in 2008. However, this occurred after over a decade of annual
murder totals topping 900 during three years in the 1990s. And it
looks like 2012 is taking a turn for the worse again. Between the
first of the year and August 23, 351 shooting deaths occurred in the
city: 37 of those in July, 47 in June, and 51 in May.
The comparison to homicides in Ciudad Juárez this year is stunning—45
were killed there in July, 49 in June, and 74 in May.
Of course, there are several ways in which Chicago and Ciudad Juárez
differ that makes the similar numbers sit on footing that isn't
equal. Chicago has a population of roughly 2.7 million people, which
is more than twice that of Ciudad Juárez at 1.3 million residents.
The geography, industries, and average income levels are very different.
But the two cities might just have more in common than not. Ciudad
Juárez is notorious for its corrupt politicians and police officers,
with an entire enforcement arm of the Juárez cartel, known as "La
Línea," being comprised almost completely of dirty local cops.
Chicago doesn't exactly have a squeaky clean record in this
department, either. In February 2012, University of Illinois at
Chicago professor Dick Simpson, who served as alderman of the 44th
Ward in Lakeview from 1971 to 1979, found that Chicago is the most
corrupt city in the US through using US Department of Justice
statistics.
It should come as no surprise that Chicago has a gang problem. Just
over half of this year's 297 victims so far had gang affiliations.
While most of Ciudad Juárez's violence has been attributed to the war
between big cartels, the truth is more subtle. There are more than
500 gangs operating throughout the city's 800 colonias, or
neighborhoods. And the gangs are all doing the same thing, regardless
of country or nationality—fighting for turf and drug profits.
According to the US Department of Justice, Mexican cartels dominate
most trafficking of wholesale quantities of cocaine, heroin, and
marijuana in the Chicago area. DEA Special Agent in Charge Jack Riley
told CBS news last month that Mexican cartels have a significant
influence on gang violence in Chicago, with three major cartels
operating here and "turning parts of this Midwest city into a Mexican
border town."
Chicago's increasing murder rate isn't as simple as it seems—
something that can just be labeled "typical gang violence" and
addressed with more police patrols and neighborhood watches. The
roots of the violence run more deeply than some officials might be
willing to acknowledge, and stem from another violent part of the
hemisphere that is dangerously starting to look more and more similar
to "The Windy City." Residents can only hope that city officials
recognize the potential implications of the Chicago-Mexico connection
and address them before the murder rate soars even higher.
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