Cartel-Related Killings Taking A Toll On Juarez Business

by Ken Molestina

JUAREZ — Business owners in Juarez believe recent cartel-related killings have taken a toll on theirlivelihoodbecausemany El Pasoans are wary to cross the border, due to the numerous reports of violence there.

One sector that has almost come to a standstill is the taxi industry. A Downtown parking area is filled with cabs because there are no tourists. “The tourism is gone and it affects me just as it does the rest of my fellow taxi drivers,” said Antonio Cervantes.

Cervantes said he does not normally work on Sundays. However, now that those extra dollars are hard to come by, he has been forced to work seven days a week.” I used to make $100 or $150 a day. Now it’s hard to even get 20.”

The once-popular shopping strip off Juarez Avenue has become a ghost town. Many store owners are forced to close their doors for the time being.

Shop owner Socorro Sanchez said the fear keeping tourists away is unfounded. “I started my business 38 years ago and don’t remember one tourist being killed here,” she said.

Despite Sanchez’s assertion, residents in El Paso say visiting Juarez during a time of turmoil is a risk they are not willing to take.

“I don’t want to take my family anywhere where there is a chance they might see something or be exposed to something that would be dangerous,” one local resident said. “With all the violence and gang affiliation I don’t feel like I should go there, I’m scared I could get hurt.”

Officials in Juarez said 150 police officers have been brought in to help control this latest rash of violence.