You may remember me writing about the drug war and murders going on in Juarez before, but in case you don’t let me just it up for you real fast so that you understand just what is going on. Last year a sort of war broke out in Mexico with a good bulk of it taking place in the nearby border town of Juarez. Two rival drug cartels began a turf war and when the government (which is really controlled by the cartels as well) stepped in it sort of exploded into a three-way battle. Last year there were over 1,607 deaths in Juarez alone. A lot of which are bystanders just caught in the cross-fire or dragged into it all.

The violence and killings have continued since then and the death toll in Juarez has long since surpassed the numbers for the previous year. To top it all off there have been kidnappings as well. I know a few people who had the misfortune of witnessing a shootout while in Juarez, or who had to pay out a “protection fee” to keep their business from being harassed while they were still in Juarez, but somehow I never thought I’d really be seeing any more of this chaos except on the local news.

I won’t name any names here, but five days ago the father of one of my mother’s clients was kidnapped. He was getting into his vehicle and ready to go home when he was taken from his car. His vehicle was found in the parking lot a few minutes after the abduction with the door open, keys in the ignition, and engine running. Not an uncommon sight sadly. The kidnappers held the man hostage and demanded several thousand dollars for his safe return.

The family pitched in to raise the ransom and after being led on a goose-chase after several changed drop-off times and what not, the man was recovered by Juarez police safely and the kidnappers were arrested.

The family will likely never see the money again, as it is in “police custody” as evidence, but the good is that he’s home safe and sound now. My mom was visiting with her client yesterday evening when he received the phone call telling him that his dad was safe and they were bringing him home.

The guy’s father has a business in Juarez but lives in the US (he was granted asylum) and I sincerely hope he doesn’t try to return there any time soon. I know his business, his livelihood is in Juarez and that he can’t exactly go and claim social security disability over all of this, but I really doubt returning would be a smart or safe thing to do.

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