US ADVISES 'EXTREME CAUTION' FOR JUAREZ

EL PASO -- A new State Department travel alert advises U.S. citizens
to "exercise extreme caution" when visiting Juarez, Chihuahua state
and other violent regions of Mexico.

The latest alert, which updates one issued in August, has stronger
language than those in the past two years as drug violence has flared
in different parts of the country.

An alert is just a step below a travel warning.

The alert mentioned Juarez, Nuevo Casas Grandes and other communities
in northwestern Chihuahua and the Valley of Juarez (across the border
from Fabens).

Jaime Torres, a spokes man for the Juarez city government, countered
that despite the violence that has claimed more than 4,600 lives
since 2008, the city is safe for visitors because of high-visibility
security, including army soldiers, in tourist zones.

"Ciudad Juarez is in a difficult situation," Torres said. "But the
flow of traffic of business, tourists and visitors continues. Police
remain on patrol."

The State Department stated that while millions of Americans safely
visit Mexico each year, U.S. citizens have also been murdered and
kidnapped in recent years and that most of those cases remained unsolved.

"U.S. visitors who suspect they are a target should consider
returning to the United States immediately," the alert stated. "U.S.
citizens should be aware that many cases of violent crime are never
resolved by Mexican law enforcement, and the U.S. government has no
authority to investigate crimes in Mexico."

An El Paso man who asked that he be identified only as Anthony
because he fears retaliation, agreed with the travel alert.

He said that he regularly visits a sports book in downtown Juarez,
but that after being robbed by police last August, he now takes the
extra precaution of riding a taxi three blocks to the international bridge.

The 57-year-old with a shoulder disability said police accused him of
being drunk and ordered him to walk a few blocks west of Avenida
Juarez and out of the sight of soldiers patrolling the tourist street.

"They asked what I could offer them. I told them $10 but he (the
policeman) said, 'There's three of us.' They shook me down for a
total of $30 and then they let me go," he said.

"I catch a taxi back now," he said. "I don't walk anymore 'cause I'm
afraid of them. I hadn't experienced that ever. I was scared. I was
really scared."

In a news conference Wednesday in Mexico City, Mexican President
Felipe Calderon said strategies were being developed to deal with the
problems in Juarez, which Calderon described as the focal point for
violent crime in all of Mexico.

The State Department alert included other Mexican border cities and
parts of the states of Durango, Coahuila and Michoacan due to a
recent increase in assaults, kidnappings and murders, including four
U.S. citizens killed in Gomez Palacio, Durango, in late 2009 and early 2010.