Business Groups in Ciudad Juarez make Plea for 'Cascos Azules'

A coalition of Ciudad Juarez business groups made a joint pitch yesterday, Nov. 11, for the United Nations to send U.N. peacekeepers to the city to help subdue continued drug-related violence.  The coalition, which represents sectors from the maquiladora plants to retail, stated its intent to submit a proposal to the Mexican government and the Inter-American Human Rights Commission to formally ask for U.N. assistance.  Referencing alarming rates of murder, kidnapping, and extortion, the business sector appears to have reached a point of desperation in seeking to improve Ciudad Juarez’s security situation.  Citing examples in which U.N. peacekeepers have improved security situations in other developing countries ravaged by war, the group maintains that additional peacekeepers would help assist Mexican soldiers – of which there are already more than 5,000 – bring order back to the metropolis area.
    One of the cities worst hit by the recent drug-related crime wave, it is not surprising to see the local civil society trying to bring more international attention to the plight of Ciudad Juarez.  Through mid-October of this year, this industrial city of 1.5 million people has already seen 1,986 murders.  At about seven murders a day, this works out to an astounding rate of 132 murders per 100,000 inhabitants.  This figure stands in stark contrast to Ciudad Juarez’s cross-border sister city of El Paso, Texas, which recorded a murder rate of just over 2 people per 100,000 inhabitants in 2008.  Ciudad Juarez’s murder rate also shows a sharp disparity with Mexico’s overall murder rate, which in 2007 stood at about 8 people per 100,000 inhabitants.
    The Mexican government’s reaction to the proposal is yet to be seen. Allowing any sort of U.N. peacekeeper mission into the city, even if these peacekeepers serve an advisory role and have a limited street presence, would likely be seen by many observers as recognition of the failure of President Calderón’s war on drug traffickers.  Despite having deployed over 45,000 federal troops throughout Mexico since taking office in 2006, President Calderón’s plan to reign in the drug cartels has led to spiraling murder rates in border cities as cartels battle federal troops and each other over transit routes.  With his sexenio not ending until 2012, it is difficult to imagine President Calderón would concede defeat halfway through his term on what has been one of his most important domestic initiatives.  It is also worth pointing out that despite the business group’s request for U.N. peacekeepers, no such assistance has been requested from its neighbor north of the Rio Grande.  Recognizing the domestic and regional backlash that would likely ensue – as with Colombia’s decision to allow U.S. troops to use military bases there – the business groups made a shrewd move by calling on an international body to help quell the violence.  However, with President Calderón’s determination to produce results with Mexican federal troops and a revamped police force, it is unlikely that any serious consideration will be given to bringing in U.N. peacekeepers.

Flickr photo by United Nations and used under the Creative Commons license