Carjackings drive home fear in Juárez
JUAREZ - As murder numbers skyrocket in Juárez, another crime there is becoming even more common: carjackings.
Chihuahua state records show that carjackings peaked in August at 341, more than the city’s 333 murders in the same month. Since 2008, 5,643 people have reported carjackings in Juárez compared with 86 in El Paso in the same period.
Investigators worry that these attacks have gone “beyond logic,” and that criminals are finding innovative ways to trick drivers.
As the city is under siege from drug cartels fighting a turf war, Juárez’s lawlessness spreads with terrified drivers running red lights and speeding or simply staying home. They are scared for their lives and their property.
Streets in Juárez, a city of 1.3 million, look dead by 9 p.m.
An official with the Chihuahua state attorney general’s office who works in the vehicle-theft unit said carjackings happen at any time of the day anywhere in the city. The official asked not to be named because of security concerns.
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There is no Spanish word for carjacking. Chihuahua officials call it a “vehicle theft with violence.”
But people in Juárez are becoming more and more familiar with the American term. “Me hicieron un carjacking,” they say (I was carjacked).
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