JUAREZ NEARS 5,000 KILLINGS

Homicides in the Juarez drug war will soon surpass the 5,000 mark as a
vicious conflict continues.

As of Sunday evening, there have been more than 760 murders this year,
raising to 4,992 homicides in the Juarez area since 2008 when a drug
cartel war erupted, according to a tally kept by the El Paso Times.

The war between the Sinaloa and Juarez drug cartels that began in
January 2008 sparked an unprecedented wave of murder, including
daytime street shootings, mutilations and massacres.

By comparison, the number of deaths in Juarez surpasses the 4,393
members of the U.S. military who have died in the Iraq war since 2003.

The killings in Juarez have been unrelenting.

On Saturday night, gunmen burst into a funeral vigil for a slain
teenager and opened fire, killing three women and wounding 10 others
at a house in the Independencia 2 colonia in the southern part of Juarez.

Chihuahua state police said the shooters fired 44 rounds. Police
identified the dead as Maria del Carmen Rangel Chacon, 65, Sara Orosco
Rangel, 46, and Ernestina Rubio Martinez, who was 55 to 60 years old.

Juarez was still reeling from the brazen ambush of a police patrol
that killed six federal officers, a city policewoman and another man
on Friday afternoon on a busy street.

Officials said Juarez police are on "red alert," and patrols would now
be done in squads of three or four vehicles in an attempt to deter
further attacks.

La Linea, or Juarez drug cartel, took credit for the deadly ambush
according to a message spray-painted on a wall. The message accused
federal police of working for drug lord Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman's rival
Sinaloa cartel.

The Associated Press recently reported the Sinaloa cartel was believed
to be winning the turf war against La Linea, which in a graffiti
message denied it had lost control of the "plaza" or territory.

The Juarez mayor said recently that much of the recent violence was
fighting among street gangs battling for control of retail drug
distribution.

Mexican Sen. Ramon Galindo of Chihuahua cited the recent arrests of
federal officers accused of extorting Juarez residents and urged
authorities to purge corrupt officers sent to the border city. Federal
officers earlier this year took control of the federal government's
anti-crime operation in Juarez.

"At these heights, the city cannot keep being treated as a laboratory
for strategies," Galindo said in a statement. "Guarantees are needed
that the correct thing is being done with the correct people and the
correct strategy."

Though the violence has not spread into El Paso, local business
leaders said more than two years of bloodshed in Juarez has become a
challenge while trying to lure new companies and development to the
region.

The El Paso Regional Economic Development Corp., or REDCo, has a
public relations firm working to improve El Paso's image in the
national and international media.

REDCo and the firm, Development Counsellors International of New York,
gave a presentation to business leaders last week about the issue.

"We aren't trying to paint a rosy picture because the violence is a
concern," said Bob Cook, president and CEO of REDCo, during the
presentation.

But despite the violence, maquiladoras in Juarez have not reported a
labor shortage, companies still plan to open cross-border factories
and there is no credible data that 30,000 people from Juarez have
taken refuge in El Paso, Cook said.

"I'm not blaming the press. ... The press is doing their job," Cook
said.

Andy Levine, president of the New York-based public relations firm,
said the goal was not to try to cover up news but to ensure that
out-of-town coverage features positives about the El Paso region, such
as the growth of Fort Bliss.

"We get a more balanced picture," Levine said. "And in this sort of
game that is success."