Mexican Border City Rocked by Murders as ‘El Chapo’ Loses Influence

The city once known as the “murder capital of the world” appears unable to shake its reputation as a place of extreme cartel violence. In October, Ciudad Juarez had 90 murders with 10 of them taking place over Halloween weekend. The violence appears to be tied to the ongoing struggles overwhelming the Sinaloa Cartel.

So far this year, Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, has seen 183 murders with almost half of them taking place in October, Mexico’s Revista Proceso Magazine reported. Ciudad Juarez is a major industrial city immediately south of El Paso, Texas. The region has a long history as one of the main drug distribution and drug trafficking areas first under the control of the Juarez Cartel and in recent years under the control of the Sinaloa organization.

As Breitbart Texas previously reported, Ciudad Juarez became known as the “murder capital of the world” during a tumultuous time when the Sinaloa Cartel forces under the leadership of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman Loera moved in and began to eradicate the drug pushers and smugglers that worked for the Juarez group. Over time, the Sinaloa Cartel took control of police forces and eventually was able to become the dominant cartel in Ciudad Juarez, leading to a sharp decrease in violence.

The decrease in violence pushed activists and politicians to call for the rebirth of Ciudad Juarez, as the violence appeared to have been left behind.The rebirth has since been replaced with multiple gun battles and murders similar to those from previous years.  The violence comes at a time when the Sinaloa Cartel has begun to be targeted by rivals and as its once powerful leader El Chapo continues to sit in a jail in the city.

As Breitbart Texas has previously reported, some of the attacks against the Sinaloa Cartel include the kidnapping of El Chapo’s sons at an upscale restaurant in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, as well as the ransacking of a home belonging to El Chapo’s mother. The ransacking of the home was carried out by more than a 100 gunmen who rolled into El Chapo’s hometown of Badiraguato, Sinaloa in a show of force.

During the weekend violence in Ciudad Juarez, three men were killed outside of a local pool hall during a fierce shootout. Shortly after, two other men died in a similar shootout; all five victims had marijuana on them, Revista Proceso reported. It remains unclear if the drugs were for personal use or of the men were street level dealers.

On the city’s south side, multiple gunmen pulled up to a house in order to shoot a lone individual. The man’s identity and the reason for his murder remain unclear.

Another murder was reported on the city’s south side near a shopping center, while yet another murder took place not far from there in the city’s south east section. The murder victims were local drug dealers. Another man was killed at a local business while the final victim was executed, wrapped in a blanket and left in the middle of a street.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project and you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.