On Thursday evening Americans could see and hear a car bomb as it exploded in downtown Juarez – the city I just returned from a few weeks ago. The blast hit a Federal Police convoy and killed 3 people, rattling law enforcement on both sides of the border and creating fears that the bombings that shook Colombia throughout the 80′s and 90′s could make a comeback a few hundreds yards from the US border.
Investigators and bystanders gather at the site of a car bomb attack in Colombia.
When I saw the image of the burning police trucks on the El Paso Times website, I felt a personal connection. During my visit to Juarez in June, I spent a day interviewing the Federal Police and riding in one of their convoys, as the video in my previous post shows. With this attack, the Juarez Cartel — which claimed responsibility for the car bomb — puts itself on the same level as Jihadist groups like the Pakistani Taliban, which attempted to bomb Time Square with its own explosive-laden vehicle in May. The Juarez hit, however, suceeded…and just a short stroll form the United States. The explosion of car bombs and the rattle of AK-47 is knocking on our door…and its even found a way in.
Here are the links to my articles about Juarez. The first one was published on July 2nd and the second came out on July 9th. A third installment will follow at the beginning of August — this time around, I will be reporting from Phoenix.
Tags: Ciudad Juarez, Drug trade, Latin America, Mexico, Taliban, War on Terrorism
