EL PASO POLICE INVESTIGATE THREATS AGAINST JUAREZ MAYOR

EL PASO - The El Paso Police Department is investigating alleged
threats against Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz, who reportedly moved
his family to El Paso for safety reasons, Det. Carlos Carrillo said Monday.

"We received information that the Juarez mayor lives in El Paso, and
that possibly they were going to come to El Paso to get him,"
Carrillo said. "He has not asked us for our help, but it's our duty
to protect any resident of our city who may be under threat."

Juarez police said written threats against Reyes Ferriz and his
family were left in different parts of Juarez after ex-police chief
Roberto Orduna Cruz resigned Friday.

The threats were written on banners the Juarez drug cartel has used
to send messages to the police and others.

In light of the threats, Juarez city spokesman Sergio Belmonte said
the mayor has increased security for himself and other city officials.

Chihuahua state officials said they are going to call a news
conference later Monday to provide more details about Sunday's
shooting attack that killed one of Chihuahua Gov. Jose Reyes Baeza
Terrazas' bodyguards.

The bodyguard who was killed while defending another state official
was identified as Alejandro Chaparro Coronel.

Officials said one of the armed men who allegedly killed Chaparro was
injured and taken to a hospital.

The Chihuahua governor, who drove his own vehicle, with the
bodyguards behind him, said earlier he did not know whether the
attack was against him or stemmed from a traffic-related dispute
between his guards and the armed suspects.

"We cannot speculate and will comment only about what we know," the
governor said.

Fernando Alvarez Monge, Chihuahua state coordinator of Partido Accion
Nacional (PAN) called for "a speedy, transparent and efficient
investigation into the attack against the Chihuahua governor's
security convoy."

Reyes Baeza and Reyes Ferriz belong to the Institutional
Revolutionary Party (PRI).

In 2001, Patricio Martinez Garcia, the Chihuahua state governor at
the time, survived an assassination attempt by the Juarez drug cartel.

The FBI had warned him in advance about the cartel's plans, and then
President Vicente Fox blamed the cartel for the attack on Martinez. A
Chihuahua state policewoman was imprisoned in connection with the attack.