DEATH THREAT DEADLINE ON JUAREZ MAYOR IS TODAY

EL PASO - The death threat deadline made against Juarez Mayor Jose
Reyes Ferriz is today.

On March 10, 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.

City officials believe the cleansing of the police department could be
a motive behind a death threat.

The mayor's security team has been 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
when the threat was made. Reyes has been threatened before.

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.