MEXICO: Raging violence spawned by warring crime gangs wreaks havoc on Ciudad Juarez's local restaurants

Record ID: 301021

  • Title: MEXICO: Raging violence spawned by warring crime gangs wreaks havoc on Ciudad Juarez's local restaurants
  • Date: 13th May 2011
  • Summary: CIUDAD JUAREZ, CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO (MAY 11, 2011) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF CITY VARIOUS OF CLOSED RESTAURANT RESTAURANT SIGN THAT READS: "DON QUINTIN" RESTAURANT EXTERIOR BROKEN SECURITY CAMERA POLICE VEHICLES IN STREET POLICEMAN DIRECTING TRAFFIC SIGN THAT READS: "CAFE APOLO" VARIOUS OF EMPTY TABLES (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) RESTAURANTEUR, YOLANDA ACOSTA, SAYING: "I
  • Embargoed: 28th May 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico, Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA7DR9LE1X2UPYSRRGT6OVBYFSU
  • Story Text: Some 120 restaurants Mexico's most violent city of Ciudad Juarez are on the verge of bankruptcy after tens of thousands of Mexicans have fled drug violence on the U.S. border.
    Once one of Mexico's fastest growing cities, Ciudad Juarez is now blighted with shuttered restaurants.
    According to Canirac (National Chamber of the Restaurant and the Condiment Industry), 800 businesses connected with the industry have had to close their businesses in the last three years.
    The organization was optimistic the restaurant business would pick following the U.S. economic crisis in 2008 with relatives crossing the border from El Paso into Ciudad Juarez to visit their relatives. But unrelenting violence blighted it even further, according to Canirac.
    Restauranteur Yolanda Acosta, who was forced to shut her restaurant due to lack of customers, said things have changed in the once-cheerful city.
    "It was the most folkloric, the nicest (restaurant). It was always full of people and visitors who used to come to eat, to have a nice time, to clear their minds. Mariachi and northern bands once played, the whole lot. But it's not just us, the whole of Ciudad Juarez is suffering from this situation. The largest restaurant chains, the nicest ones which were good business, have had to migrate to the neighbouring city of El Paso because you just can't work here anymore."
    Prized by traffickers because of its location in the middle of the border and its road and rail links deep into the United States, a turf war between drug cartels has made the city one of the world's deadliest places.
    It is estimated that 40 percent of the city's weekend customers cross the Rio Grande to El Paso, Texas to escape insecurity and new government regulations affecting the selling beer, liquor and wine, which has also impacted business.
    Sergio Munoz, who runs a restaurant in El Paso had to move from Ciudad Juarez because his business was dwindling.
    "(Businesses were affected) when security problems got worse in Ciudad Juarez in 2008. Although crime has not affected us directly, sales have gone down because people are scared to leave their homes, eat at restaurants, have dinner and leave after dark. They feel threatened which affected our sales. There are a lot of people who have fled Ciudad Juarez."
    Luis Anzures, who runs a fast-food burrito chain in El Paso called "Crisostomo" fled Ciudad Juarez in 2009 after assailants tried to kidnap him on several occasions.
    "People here have received us with open arms, both Americans and Latin Americans. People who have come from over there (Ciudad Juarez), who have chosen to not return due to the security situation, get nostalgic and like eating what they used to eat before, so we've given them a little bit of Juarez here in El Paso," he said.
    Mexico's National Chamber of the Food and Restaurant Industry estimates that between 2007 and 2010, 30.8 percent of the Ciudad Juarez's restaurants have closed, resulting in the dismissal of some 4000 employees. In 2010, more than 52 entrepreneurs asked Canirac on advice on how to move their businesses to the U.S.
    An assault on local businesses is also rampant as drug gangs in league with corrupt police, run extortion rackets to seek extra income, despite a government security crackdown, has lead to the closure of more restaurants.
    Over 30,000 people have moved to El Paso. Estimates vary on the size of the exodus but academics and Ciudad Juarez officials put it at between 75,000 and 200,000 people since mid-2008. An economic crisis has also hit the city but violence is the main reason for the exodus, city officials say.
    Ciudad Juarez is the main flashpoint in a war between some half a dozen drug cartels, who are also fighting police and the army. About 38,000 people have died nationwide since President Felipe Calderon took office in late 2006 and deployed tens of thousands of troops against the gangs.
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