PLAN MOVES STATE OFFICES TO JUAREZ TEMPORARILY

EL PASO -- The governor of Chihuahua wants to make Juarez the
temporary capital of the state, a move that he says will help the torn
city survive the drug-cartel violence that has plagued it for 26 months.

Gov. Jose Reyes Baeza on Tuesday called for an emergency legislative
session to discuss the proposal. His hope is that state legislators
will approve the temporary move, which calls for all of the executive,
legislative and judicial offices to relocate from the current capital
of Chihuahua City to Juarez.

The vote will be either Thursday or Friday.

"Juarez for years has helped our country grow economically, socially
and strategically. Now Juarez needs our help," Reyes Baeza said. "It
is time we extend our hand to them."

A drug-cartel war has paralyzed Juarez since 2008. In two years, 4,496
people have been murdered. The killings now appear to be more
widespread, no longer targeting only those involved in the
narco-trafficking underworld. Two weeks ago, assassins blocked off a
city street before proceeding to kill 16 people at a birthday party.
Most of the victims were teenage members of a football team.

Reyes Baeza's newest proposal is a direct result of that massacre. He
said moving the capital is his way of letting the people of Juarez
know they are not alone or forgotten.

The governor's proposal did not include the details of how much it
would cost to move the offices or how many state employees would have
to relocate. He also announced that the state has asked President
Felipe Cal deron to give Juarez a 3-million-peso grant to improve
schools, roads and day-care system.

Calderon has not responded to the request. Instead, he announced that
he would come to Juarez for a visit Thursday. He plans to unveil a
plan aimed at helping Juarez outlast the cartel war.

"Clearly, this proposal de monstrates that the state and federal
government in Mexico consider Juarez an urgent, crisis situation that
requires immediate action beyond what has been done in the past," said
Howard Campbell, an anthropology professor at the University of Texas
at El Paso, and an expert on Mexican cartels.

"That I consider positive, but we can only wait and see if their plan
can control the violence. It would seem, though, that at some point
Juarez could become so militarized that the cartels might consider it
best to pull out or lie low for a while."

Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz says the city will take any help it can
get. He hopes the legislature will approve the move.

"Our city is home to thousands and thousands of citizens from
throughout Mexico who have come here looking for honest work, and they
have found it," Reyes Ferriz said. "Now we need help."

Both Reyes Baeza and Reyes Ferriz are members of the controlling PRI
party in the state of Chihuahua. The ruling party is pushing for the
temporary move.

Members of the PAN party, or the opposition party, are not convinced
the move will help.

State Sen. Ramon Galindo Noriega, who is from Juarez and a PAN party
official, said the proposed move is grandstanding. Galindo Noriega
said moving offices from one city to another does nothing to alter the
cartel's strategy.

"Even if all of Mexico moves to Juarez, and sees up close the
difficult situation in which we live in, nothing will change unless we
have a strategy to combat the cartels," Galindo Noriega said. "We need
a plan that hits them financially, socially and begins to loosen the
stranglehold they have on Juarez."

Galindo Noriega, formerly mayor of Juarez, said he would rather see
the governor push to have the local, state and federal police united
under one command. He said Juarez would be better served if
authorities went after the cartel's leaders and arrested them.

He also questioned the timing of the proposed move since both Juarez
and Chihuahua are in the midst of an election season that will result
in a new governor and a new mayor of Juarez.

The state's general election will be July 4. The new governor will
take over at the end of September, and the new Juarez mayor on Oct. 9.
Under Mexican law, neither Reyes Baeza nor Reyes Ferriz is eligible
for re-election.

The PAN party has not yet named its gubernatorial candidate. The
party's primary is Feb. 28.

The PRI party has only one candidate seeking its nomination for
governor. He is Cesar Duarte Jacquez, a businessman from the interior
of Chihuahua who has family ties to Juarez.

He is being pushed for office by Reyes Baeza and Reyes Ferriz.