Hundreds of Ciudad Juárez residents held a “March of Anger” Feb. 13 against President Felipe Calderón’s army crackdown that has failed to curb rampant gang killings in the border city. Marchers say the presence of 6,000 troops has only escalated violence in the city, which has seen more than 4,300 drug-related murders since troops were deployed two years ago. The march was led by mothers and family members of some of the 13 youths killed in a Jan. 31 massacre, as well as the mother of one of those charged in the crime. “The army’s presence is anti-constitutional and violates citizens’ rights,” National Front Against Repression leader Javier Contreras told the march. “That’s why we’re asking them to withdraw.” (Reuters, AFP, Feb. 14; El Economista, Mexico, Feb. 13)
Several such marches were held in Mexico’s northern border cities last year, but politicians have accused the protesters of being in the pay of the drug cartels.
See our last post on Mexico’s narco wars
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