Schools in Ciudad Juarez targeted by extortionists
When they say “about 5,000 people”, they mean “The tally is now at least 119 for the month of November; 2,813 for the year and 7,174 since January 2008,” or that’s what they should mean. And that information is over a week old.CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico - Authorities are beefing up security at schools in this border city after graffiti threatening attacks on students and teachers was scrawled on school grounds, state and local officials said Friday.
Officials have increased police patrols and are installing security cameras to prevent a repeat of last week’s spate of threats that targeted five or six primary and secondary schools, said Claudio Gonzalez Ruiz, head of public safety in Ciudad Juarez.
In the messages, extortionists threatened to harm teachers and students if school administrators, or in some cases the teachers themselves, failed to pay up.
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Sitting across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, Ciudad Juarez is Mexico’s most dangerous city. Drug violence over the past two years has killed about 5,000 people in the city of 1.3 million inhabitants.