JUAREZ MAYOR TELLS UT CROWD ABOUT CHALLENGES OF DRUG WARS

Jose Reyes Ferriz had no idea what he was getting into when he was
elected mayor of Juarez in 2007. A few months after winning, his city
plunged into the most brutal drug war Mexico has ever known.

Entering its third year, Juarez's bloody conflict has seen nearly
5,000 murders, dozens of businesses torched by extortionists and
residents worried that neither a rebuilt police force nor thousands
of Mexican soldiers can protect them from the violence.

Ferriz offered a glimpse behind those grim headlines Monday, speaking
to an overflow crowd at the University of Texas in a talk sponsored
by the school's Latin American studies program.

The visit featured an unusual amount of security for a university
talk: two police officers checking bags as people entered. Ferriz has
faced numerous death threats, the latest found next to a severed
pig's head a few weeks ago after he fired several corrupt Juarez
police officers.

While it's often characterized as a fight between powerful drug
cartels, Ferriz said the current violence is the result of battles
between the city's three main street gangs, who are fighting for
control of the city's drug trade.

The mayor said the city's own drug consumption -- it has the highest
drug use rate in Mexico -- has created a lucrative local market.

The major cartels have largely stopped battling over Juarez, he said,
and no longer use it as crossing point for large shipments of drugs
because of massive buildups of federal and local troops and police.

But that has only made the city more violent, sparking about 2,600
killings in 2009.

"The route is no longer in use," Ferriz said in an interview.

"So the money that used to come in has stopped, and the criminal
gangs are now fighting to control the local sale of drugs."

Ferriz said the Aztecas, Mexicles and Artist Assassins gangs include
large numbers of criminal illegal immigrants deported from American
prisons and are fueled by record unemployment rates and hard times in
the city's maquiladoras.

Ferriz recently convinced American officials to temporarily halt
criminal deportations through Juarez, a practice he said aggravated
the city's violence. Those deportees are now being sent through other
border crossing points.

Ferriz's talk drew a number of UT students from Juarez, many of whom
carried protest signs calling for an end to the city's violence.

"We're just tired, fed-up," third-year student Aura Valdez said.
"They bring in the military, they bring police, but they just
increase the violence."

Ferriz also faced criticism over claims of rampant human-rights
abuses by the Mexican military in Juarez.

Although violence has steadily increased during Ferriz's three years
in office, he said the city has made strides in building a competent,
trustworthy police department.

Ferriz has purged much of Juarez's police force, recruiting and
training about 2,000 officers over the last two years.

"The road is clear -- you need an efficient police department that
you can trust," he said. "Juarez cannot allow the police to become
corrupt again."

Ferriz took a less hopeful tone when asked about the drug war in general.

"Our definition of success is having (drug violence and smuggling)
move someplace else," he said.

"It's not a good definition of success, but it's the only one we have
as long as the United States is the biggest consumer of drugs."