Posted on 01/29/2004 5:48:44 AM PST by FITZ
JUAREZ -- There will be more digging for corpses in Juárez as more victims of violent drug wars remain to be found, Mexican police officials said Wednesday.
Investigators are now looking at six additional houses for possible graves, and will continue to dig in the back yard of the original house at 3633 Parsioneros St., where 11 bodies have been unearthed since Saturday.
Officials said they have dug up only 30 percent of the yard. In the remaining portion are two spots marked last week by visiting K-9 units from the Austin Police Department as possible burial sites.
"We have no time limit. We'll stay as long as necessary. Four, five, 10 years," vowed Mexico Deputy Attorney General Jose Luis Santiago Vasconcelos, who traveled from Mexico City to conduct a Juárez news conference Wednesday. "This is part of an effort by (Mexico) President Vicente Fox to fight drug traffickers and retake this city. It outrages all of us that this type of act continues to happen."
Officials also said Wednesday that Chihuahua state police officers, including a commander, were involved in the drug-related torture and killings that occurred inside the middle-class house on Parsioneros Street.
"These elements were in charge of kidnapping and killing. That goes to show the decomposition of the police force. This is extremely grave," Santiago Vasconcelos said.
As an answer, state officials highlighted their contributions in the case, saying they let the federal officers use their morgue and mobile laboratory units.
"We will continue to collaborate" with the federal organized crime investigative unit and attorney general "until the case is completely solved," said Oscar Valadez Reyes, Chihuahua state deputy attorney general.
The state police commander has disappeared and is wanted, federal officials said. They did not want to release his name.
However, several people are in custody in the case. Alejandro Garcia Cardenas, his wife, Erika Mayorga Diaz, and their son Alejandro Garcia Mayorga -- the tenants of the Parsioneros Street home -- were arrested as they attempted to flee to the United States.
Garcia has allegedly confessed to participating in the execution of at least 11 people at the house, under the order of a high-ranking operative in the Carrillo Fuentes drug cartel and of the police commander. He said there are more bodies to be found, officials said.
"The motive of his confession is that he prefers going to jail than to the cemetery. Those were his words because he knows that the organization is looking for him to kill him," Santiago Vasconcelos said.
Garcia's son allegedly helped dig the graves and bury the corpses with lime and plaster to mask the smell.
Neighbors who did not want their names revealed said they knew the couple and had gone to a baby shower at the house in April for Erika Mayorga Diaz, who was then pregnant. The neighbor recalled that they danced in the back yard.
Santiago Vasconcelos said a mix of counter-drug operations in the United States and Mexico has dealt a blow to Mexican drug cartels, including the traditionally strong and stable Juárez cartel, headed by Vicente Carrillo Fuentes. He said the enforcement, in particular the recent arrests of high-ranking drug operatives, is what caused struggles inside the cartels.
"There is a dismantling inside," he said. "When you apply the law, there is a reaction."
Violent fights between drug dealers have occurred along the border recently. In Juárez, at least 15 men have been kidnapped since Dec. 1.
About the Juárez case, Santiago Vasconcelos would say only that the Carrillo Fuentes operative who used the house on Parsioneros as a safe house, Heriberto Santillán Tabares, "ordered the execution of diverse persons in Juárez to guarantee the supremacy and the survival of the criminal cell he headed."
Santillán is in jail in El Paso under drug charges.
Carrillo Fuentes, who is wanted in both the United States and Mexico, is still free.
Santiago Vasconcelos said the drug lord "enjoys great mobility."
It is not known whether the Juárez victims belonged to the Carrillo Fuentes cartel, a rival gang or any organization at all.
Officials confirmed the identities of the first three bodies uncovered Saturday. They are Juan Carlos Perez Gomez, 28, and Luis Padilla Cardona, 28, who disappeared together Jan. 14, and Omar Zepeda Saenz, age unavailable, who disappeared separately the same day. Because the corpses were decomposed, the men's families identified only their clothing, which was buried in a different hole. Officials said DNA tests will remove any doubt as to their identities.
All 11 men died of asphyxiation, and two were also shot in the head, according to new official information. The bodies had bags over their heads, and one man had a rag in his mouth.
Families of disappeared men in El Paso and Juárez are eagerly awaiting more identifications, hoping they can move from the constant anguish of not knowing what happened to their loved ones to simply grieving.
"If we could only deal with normal sadness, that would be all right because that's life. Life has up and down," said Jaime Hervella, who has been looking for his godson, Saul Sanchez Jr., and Sanchez's wife, Abigail M. de Sanchez, since they vanished in 1997.
Louie Gilot may be reached at lgilot@elpasotimes.com, 546-6131.
Not surprising.
I have dealt with the federal immigration offices down there and the municipal civil registries. On the federal level, they are understaffed, and so distanced from the people.
In the Civil Registry, the people there are a delightful bunch of down-to-earth people who are true civil servants in every respect, even in the midst of such awful surroundings. My experiences at that level in CDJuarez were fantastic, and will always remember and appreciate their attitude and orientation towards duty to their community.
Their enforcement divisions need a SERIOUS overhaul. For this reason, we never drove. We took taxis or walked. God forbid I should get pulled over by a cop down there.
Those streets are so messed up...If you have been there, you will know what I am saying. If you drive north down a 5 lane road, the right 2 lanes go north, the 2 lanes to your left go south, then the farthest left lane goes north too.
The strangest thing is that I really loved something about ciudad Juarez, and can't wait to go back, regardless of all the terrible stuff. I guess I like a little risk with my vacations?
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