Tipping Point? Girls Playing in Yard Killed in Drive-by Shooting
24Feb11- Three teenage girls were murdered in a drive-by shooting as they were playing in the yard of a home in Ciudad Juarez. Two of the girls were sisters, one was a friend.
Government officials stated the murderers were targeting the father of the girls over a possible “low-level drug” deal.
In a separate incident, three other early teenage children were wounded in a shooting on a vehicle in Ciudad Juarez. The three adults in the vehicle were murdered.
Comment/Thoughts:
1. This is the kind of incident the Mexican news media should be leveraging to address the residual impacts of a society that becomes apathetic to cartel activities. No, the killings were not known to be tied to a cartel, but the fact Mexican society has become apathetic towards crime in general means society is breaking down within the town. Ciudad Juarez is a fiefdom outside the control of the Mexican government. Ciudad Juarez is a failed town run by criminal insurgents. Ciudad Jaurez is North America’s Fallujah and ar Ramadi, Iraq. Only a surge, combined with a local citizen movement is going to change things around. Killing innocent children should be a battle cry to fight the cartels and any similar activities.
2. How many orphans does Mexico have a result of this drug war? What is happening to them? Are they being recycled into the fight? What is the government of Mexico doing for them? This generation of orphans represents to possible future challenges to the state of Mexico, if not dealt with properly.
3. This report, along with similar reports, should be played by both the US Government and the Government of Mexico over and over. It needs to be included in a strategic communications campaign effort.
4. This is exactly the kind of activity US citizens do not want bleeding over into the US, especially from the town of Ciudad Juarez which borders the US.
The Associated Press
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