said the attack was part of a turf battle between the Juarez and
Sinaloa cartels in the city, which has seen the worst of Mexico's drug
gang violence.
Why them?" said Pilar Macias, weeping after she identified the body of
her brother, Juan Carlos Macias, 39. "He was recovering, he wanted to
get back on the right track and they didn't let him, they didn't give
him a chance."
was good, he didn't hang out with gangs, he didn't have 'narco'
friends," she said. "He just began with marijuana, and then ... they
killed him."
Alejandro Pariente said records showed the center had not been
registered with the government and may have been operating
clandestinely. He said 10 other centers in Ciudad Juarez have been closed for operating illegally.
men were killed at another rehabilitation center in June, and in August
2008, gunmen barged into a pastor's sermon at a rehabilitation center
and opened fire, killing eight people. Authorities have not said if any
of the attacks are related.
most violent city, with more than 1,300 killings this year. The
bloodshed has continued despite a buildup in troops since March.
Wednesday, gunmen burst into a bar in Ciudad Juarez and shot to death
five men, police said. They said they knew of no motive for the attack.
Hours later, a federal investigator and a civilian were shot dead in
front of the state attorney general's offices in Ciudad Juarez.
Surging gang violence has claimed 13,500 lives since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006 and deployed extra soldiers across the country to fight cartels.
Also Wednesday, navy personnel arrested of a suspect in the June 1
kidnapping of Francisco Serrano, the customs administrator for the Gulf
coast state of Veracruz, who remains missing.
other people who may have been accomplices, Navy spokesman Jose Luis
Vergara said at a news conference in which the suspects were presented
to the media.
did not say what evidence there was against Osiris or if his capture
might shed light on Serrano's fate. Ricardo Najera, a spokesman for the
attorney general's office, said Serrano's whereabouts remain unknown.
containers at Veracruz, one of Mexico's most important ports and the
scene of increasing drug violence.
In the southern state of Guerrero, meanwhile, police reported they had found the decomposed bodies
of four men by the side of a highway. Because of their poor condition,
the cause of death and identity of the bodies has not yet been
established.