JUAREZ VIOLENCE: PEACE IS NOWHERE IN SIGHT

Nearly 5,000 people have been killed in Juarez since drug-related
violence ramped up in 2008. On Friday, a shootout in Juarez left eight
dead, seven of them police officers. The University of Texas System on
Friday recalled all students, faculty and staff in seven northern
Mexican states because of the escalating violence.

Recently, the Associated Press reported that the Sinaloa cartel
appeared to be gaining ascendancy over the Juarez cartel for control
of the drug corridor. While it might be assumed that should mean less
violence in the city, it appears that was more wishful thinking than
reality.

It cannot be repeated enough: It is the responsibility of the Mexican
government to find a solution to the violence in Juarez.

And as we've been seeing, the violence also has it effects on the U.S.
side of the border. The State Department is warning about travel in
Mexico, there were specific warnings about traveling south during
spring break, the UT system has had to pull people back from Mexico,
and businesses in Juarez -- a prime reason for Americans to travel
there -- have been closing right and left. Then there is the
unquantifiable toll that fear takes on Juarenses who have to live amid
the violence.

Again, as has been said so often, the Mexican government must come up
with a viable strategy to stop violence along the border. But, as
always, we're left with a question: When will that happen?