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Bodies Pile Up in Juarez Drug War

Mexico: Experts say violence in border city reflects shakeout after
kingpin's death. U.S. antinarcotics czar makes it first stop on visit
to region.
By JESSE KATZ, Times Staff Writer

CIUDAD JUAREZ, MexicoThe bodies of four strangled doctors, piled atop
one another by the side of the road. A bleeding lawyer, hit five times in
a shootout on city streets and now in critical condition in a local
hospital. Six bulletriddled bodies in a steakhouse, sprayed with more
than 100 rounds by assailants toting AK47s. At least 17 people have been
slain here, ganglandstyle, since the July 4 death of Amado Carrillo
Fuentes, who ruled Mexico's premier narcoticssmuggling organization.
"It's complete anarchy," said Dr. Carlos Paredes, president of Ciudad
Juarez's board of surgeons, as he joined nearly 1,000 other people Sunday
for a silent peace march through this sweltering border town in the
shadow of El Paso. U.S. and Mexican officials say it is still unclear
whether the wave of violenceeach attack seemingly more brazen and brutal
than the laststems from incursions by rivals of Carrillo's Juarez drug
cartel or represents an internal shakeup. The group was thrown into
turmoil when its godfather died in Mexico City after extensive
plastic surgery. In either case, the recent killings mark an ugly
departure from the sophisticated reign of Carrillo, who was widely
known for his ability to silence presumed enemiesincluding Mexico's
former antidrug czar, Gen. Jose de Jesus Gutierrez Rebollowith
cash. Gutierrez was allegedly on the cartel's payroll. "Right now, I
foresee more bloodshed until somebody emerges as a leader," said Phil
Jordan, former director of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's
El Paso Intelligence Center. On Monday, White House antidrug czar
Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey launched a weeklong tour of the southwestern
U.S. border by meeting with Mexican authorities in Juarez and
praising their "great progress" in battling the cartels. "Clearly the
dedication and courage of Mexican law enforcement pushed Amado
Carrillo Fuentes to his death," said McCaffrey, suggesting that
Carrillo undertook the surgery because he knew authorities were
closing in.

McCaffrey suffered the embarrassment of having praised
Gutierrez's integrity shortly before the Mexican general was
arrested; on Monday he reaffirmed his commitment to making the
drug war a binational partnership.
"We will continue to cooperate in the face of this violence and
corrupting influence," McCaffrey said at a news conference with
Mexico's current antidrug czar, federal prosecutor Mariano Herran
Salvatti.
But in recent days, the news from Juarez has sounded more like
that from a war zone than from a diplomatic summit.
On Saturday, the bodies of the four physicians were found in a
heap on a patch of dirt near a hospital. None of the doctors had
known ties to the drug trade, although there is speculation here that
the killings may have been in retaliation for their having treated a
suspected trafficker. Hospital officials said a call for medical help
was received Friday and that the doctors were dispatched to the
home of a reportedly wounded man. The officials now believe that
the patient was one of several gunmen who unleashed a rain of
bullets on a Juarez attorney earlier that day, part of a wild duel in
which the lawyer returned fire.
The attorney has been identified in local newspaper reports as a
suspected money launderer and a business partner in the Max Fim
restaurant. It was there, on Aug. 3, that two smartly dressed
assailants sauntered in and took aim at the table of Alfonso Corral
Olaguez, a reputed confidant of the Carrillo organization.
* * *
In the blaze of gunfire that followed, Corral and one of his
bodyguards were killed. So was a 26yearold socialite who had
joined Corral at the bullfights that afternoon and was meeting him
for dinner. Another young couple, celebrating a birthday at a nearby
table, got caught in the crossfire. As the shooters left, they mowed
down a top Juarez prison official.
The violence has been so extraordinary that this normally jaded
community mobilized the antiviolence march Sunday down the
main thoroughfare. "I know the narcos won't hear us," said Father
Jose Rene Blanco, a Roman Catholic Church official who
participated in the march. "But maybe God will."

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