PHXations—Thursday, July 22, 2010
Continuing repercussions from the drug war in Mexico, from the Phoenix Business Journal:
The U.S. State Department has extended its travel warning for Mexico citing continued violence in northern cities and states, including Nogales, which borders Arizona.
The warning also includes Juarez, Tijuana and Monterrey, where many U.S. businesses have operations. The alert extends a warning in May issued to tourists and other travelers.
State Department officials said since 2006 there have been 22,700 murders related to turf wars between rival drug gangs and between police and drug cartels.
7:19 AM
This isn't going to help Mexico's tourist industry
The WSJ this morning has a damning story about two Americans on a day trip to Mexico picked up in Ciudad Juarez by Mexican army officers.
The pair say police planted two suitcases of marijuana in their truck and then tortured them for five or six hours that evening before turing them over to the civilian police.
The Journal does a good job reconstructing the pair’s movements that day—and, more disturbingly, describing their accounts of being shocked and beaten after they were arrested.
[The pair] say they’ve never been involved with drugs and would never have tried to cross the border with two suitcases of marijuana. During their trial, they produced three witnesses who testified that they saw soldiers put suitcases into Mr. Huckabee’s truck. A verdict is expected this month. Each man faces up to 25 years in prison.
ONe of the mitnesses was later shot and killed.
7:00 AM