JUAREZ OFFICER SLAIN; MAYOR GETS THREAT: '2 WEEKS LEFT TO LIVE'

A police officer killed, a threat against the mayor and an attack on a
family were parts of the latest violence in Juarez.

Police officer Luis Alberto Adame Rubio was off duty when his car was
sprayed with gunfire by men with assault rifles Wednesday afternoon in
the Jilotepec area, a Juarez city spokesman said. Adame died at the
scene.

Adame, 32, was a patrol officer who had joined the police department a
year ago among recruits intended to replace corrupt officers.

The cleansing of the police department could be a motive behind a
death threat made against Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz.

City officials said that the mayor's security team was looking into
the threat and that security had been increased.

"We know the topic of cleaning up the police to have a trustworthy
department is something that has affected a lot of criminal interests
and we take very seriously these" threats, Reyes said in a statement.

Reyes has been threatened before.

Wednesday morning, a pig's head was found next to a sign for the mayor
stating in part "you have two weeks left to live," the Internet news
Web site arrobajuarez.com reported.

Drug kingpin Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman's Sinaloa drug cartel uses the
term "marranos," or pigs, as a derogatory reference to members of the
rival Juarez drug cartel.

Since 2008, both cartels have been fighting for control of a
drug-smuggling corridor in a wave of bloodshed that has turned Juarez
into Mexico's most violent city. Mexico President Felipe Calderon is
scheduled to visit Juarez next Tuesday. He recently visited the city
twice. More than 75 homicides have occurred this month in Juarez.
Chihuahua state police said there had been at least four killings by
Wednes day evening. On Tuesday, there were 14 homicides, including an
attack on a family.

Two women were killed and a 3-year-old girl was wounded in a shooting
Tuesday in a home near the airport, officials said. Maricruz Avalos
Mendoza, 34, and Janet Perez Avalos, 19, who are reportedly mother and
daughter, died after being shot in the head. The wounded girl was
taken to a hospital in undisclosed condition.

Also on Tuesday, the body of an unidentified man was found "100
percent burned" at the edge of an irrigation canal in colonia Partido
Romero in the northern part of the city. A cause of death had not been
determined.

Police said a bottle smelling of gasoline was found nearby.