JUAREZ MAYORAL CANDIDATE FOR PRI HECTOR MURGUIA PITCHES TAX INCREASE TO
FIGHT CRIME, POVERTY

EL PASO -- Juarez mayoral candidate Hector Murguia campaigned Thursday
on El Paso's West Side, proposing more taxation to stop organized
crime and help the poor.

It was not a popular idea for the candidate to offer to a group of
businessmen who are in El Paso now, but who have ties and economic
interests in Juarez.

During the breakfast meeting at Paco Wong's, Murguia, 57, also came
under criticism for his work as Juarez's mayor during 2004-07.

Some of the 60 audience members questioned his ties to his appointee
for police director, Saulo Reyes Gamboa. The business people asked how
Murguia did not know Reyes Gamboa was a drug trafficker.

Reyes Gamboa was Juarez's police director from January to October
2007. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested him
three months later in El Paso on drug-trafficking and bribery charges.
He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to eight years in a federal prison
in Lexington, Ky.

Murguia said Reyes Gamboa was a well-regarded businessman. Murguia
said he was unaware of his criminal actions.

"Saulo Reyes Gamboa was a man who was accepted in many social circles
E church circles," he said.

The candidate of the Institutional Revolution Party, or PRI, Murguia
is running against Cesar Jauregui of the National Action Party, PAN.

Murguia's party now holds the mayor office, but incumbents cannot seek
re-election to consecutive terms. Murguia was mayor of Juarez in 2004-07.

"I do not aspire to be liked by 100 percent of the people," he said.
"What's important is that the majority like you."

The majority are poor, he said. More than half of Mexico's people live
below the poverty level, and about one-third live in extreme poverty.

"That's why I am the PRI candidate," he often repeated.

His audience was composed of businessmen in a new nonprofit group
called La Red, or the Network. It was founded in February by
professionals who moved to El Paso, in some cases because of drug
cartel violence.

In seeking higher taxes, Murguia said it was folly to try to run a
city of 1.3 million people with a budget of less than $250 million. El
Paso, half the size of Juarez, has a budget of more than $670 million,
if one includes operations such as its airport and bus company.

It is a "pipe dream," he said, to rescue Juarez with its current
budget. "The only way we can obtain more money in taxes is to charge
those who can afford them."

Decreasing the murder rate in Juarez will take time, Murguia said.
About 5,300 people have died violently since 2008.

"The lack of safety is not a problem of guns and police," he said. "It
is a problem of multiple aspects.

"We have to create jobs and strengthen small businesses," said
Murguia, who owns several businesses, including a paint factory and a
mall.

In the 1990s, he was a senator for Chihuahua. He was a representative
in Mexican Congress, and gave up his seat in December to run first for
governor, then for mayor.

Election day is July 4.