Fleeing Juarez: Business Owner Celebrates One More Year Alive

Owning and running a successful business can be a hard task. Having one in a different country and never stepping foot in the office can also be a challenge — one an El Paso man faces everyday in order to keep himself and his family alive.

“In Juarez, you never know what’s going to happen,” he said.

To protect the safety of the man and his family, ABC-7 has chosen not to identify this Juarez business owner.

This month, he’s celebrating one year of living and working in El Paso and another year alive.

He told ABC-7 last November he was threatened by cartel members. The day after, he packed up his family — all American citizens — and moved to the U.S.

He said it’s a safer environment and it was a good business move. “At the end of the day, you make more money here,” he said.

The business owner is also one of 300 members of La Red, or The Network helping immigrants find jobs or start businesses in El Paso.

His challenge is still running his business from this side of the border. “It’s kind of boring for me being here because I used to be all the time here in my plant – walking around the production area,” he said.

Now he said he spends his day in his El Paso office answering phones and e-mails and watching 16 video camera feeds as he observes what happens in his Juarez business.

“Sometimes I find out something I don’t like, and I call on the radio or on the phone. When they make a new product, they put it up to one of the cameras to see it, if I like it or not,” he told ABC-7.

Since he no longer travels to Juarez, he said he meets some of his employees in the middle of the one of the international bridges where the flags are. Those employees don’t have the proper documentation to cross over, so he stays on the American side while they stay on the Mexican side.

“I spend like 20 minutes, an hour talking with this guy, they bring me papers,” he said.

He said despite the difficulties he doesn’t want to completely move his business to El Paso just yet. “Because I have a lot of loyal employees, like I told you, that would have no work if I leave. So, that’s what I’m stuck on right now.”

Due to his physical absence and the economy, he said his production has gone down about 40 percent.

Not being able to meet all his clients has also had an effect. “Sometimes you lose some customers because it’s not the same service, again, than if you’re face to face,” he said.

It’s a small sacrifice, he said, to be able to live another day. “I don’t know if it’s going to be another year or two or I don’t know. But yeah, I hope of course I hope I can go back to my business and run it like before,” he said.

For more information about La Red, click here.