Juarez Consulate Closing

stars · 07-30-2010, 04:45 PM

U.S. consulate in Ciudad Juarez to close
By DANE SCHILLER Copyright 2010 HOUSTON CHRONICLE
July 30, 2010, 2:43PM

]Citing security concerns in narco-violence-torn Ciudad Juarez, the U.S. State Department is shutting down indefinitely its consulate in the border city located across from El Paso.

"The consulate general has closed to review its security posture," said a bulletin released by the State Department late Thursday.

The government did not elaborate on specific security concerns, but a consulate employee and two other people connected to the consulate were killed in March in daylight attacks that have yet to be solved.

The employee, her husband and the spouse of another employee were shot and killed in what authorities contend was an assassination by cartel hitmen.

Juarez has been a firestorm of brutality since President Felipe Calderon began sending troops to the border city with the hope of quelling the bloodshed.

Instead, daily body counts have surged as warring drug cartels, soldiers and police slug it out over the rule of law.

Ciudad Juarez has become one of the most dangerous cities in the world.

Beheadings, mass shootings and even grenade tossing is increasingly common as it becomes difficult for everyday citizens as well as lawmen to know what will come next in a region with violence comparable to Iraq or Afghanistan.

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