CARTELS RULE TOWN'S RESIDENTS BY FEAR

JUAREZ Y REFORMA -- Armed gangs have terrorized and scared away
residents of the Valley of Juarez. One of the small towns along the
dangerous highway resembled a ghost town Thursday after gunmen killed
four people in buses carrying maquiladora workers.

In this land of cotton and alfalfa fields, residents live terrified
by the drug cartels. People living in Juarez y Reforma have gotten
used to seeing killings, kidnappings, houses and shops on fire, and
the constant presence of the Mexican army.

Drug cartel violence sparked an exodus out of the valley this year.

"Many people have left this town," said a lifelong resident of Juarez
y Reforma who did not want to be named for security reasons. "The
only ones left here are the natives."

The man and his family live in one of the few houses on the two-way
highway that connects Juarez to El Porvenir, a town opposite Fort
Hancock, Texas.

The bus shooting was tragic, they said, but deadly attacks are not
rare in this town populated by only a few hundred.

A day earlier, gunmen gunned down Edgar Daniel Delgado Gomez, 32.

Few commercial buildings are left in Juarez y Reforma. A hardware
store and an auto repair shop stand on each side of the highway.

Many homes were destroyed by arsonists. Almost nobody drives the dirt
roads, even during the day, and no children play outside in the parks.

Juarez y Reforma is part of the municipality of Guadalupe Bravos,
which is neighbor to El Paso and Hudspeth counties on the U.S. side.

Guadalupe Bravos has no police chief or department. The only one
responding to police calls is an armed 28-year-old woman. Her name is
Erika Gandara.

Gandara is not the only young woman policing the Valley of Death, as
people have nicknamed it. In the municipality adjacent to Guadalupe
Bravos, 20-year-old Marisol Valles became the police chief of
Praxedis G. Guerrero this month.