El Paso Versus Juarez
BY Herschel Smith
5 years, 2 months ago
“El Paso among ‘Top 10 Safest Metro Cities’ in U.S. for 2019,” the El Paso Times reported earlier this year. “Despite border and immigration controversies, El Paso preserves its reputation as one of the safest metro cities in the nation.”
“2018 ended as one of the deadliest years for Ciudad Juárez in recent times,” ABC’s KVIA 7 noted in January. “El Diario de Juárez reported there were 1,247 homicides, a number comparable to the most violent era for the city from 2008 to 2011.”
When I hear the name of the city of Juarez, I just think about the movie “Sicario.” Or if that’s note enough, you can watch this. Or this.
On August 14, 2019 at 8:53 am, Frank Clarke said:
I’ve been to Juarez once, in 1959 just after my father died. I was 15. Mom and I took a bus from NYC to El Paso to visit my aunt, my father’s sister. One day Aunt Marjorie took us across into Juarez for some sight-seeing. The ladies went shopping; I went browsing. As I admired a beautiful hand-tooled black leather holster at an open-air shop, a young Mexican boy behind me asked: “Do you want to buy a holster?” I admitted I didn’t have a gun. “You want to buy a gun?” I declined, but that might have been an error. Or not.
It would have been expensive and I was 15 and poor. A city boy from Brooklyn, I would have risked a Sullivan Law violation that could have altered my life in unpleasant ways.
I’ve always regretted the decision, but I still have the switchblade that came home with me.
On August 14, 2019 at 8:58 am, Fred said:
@Frank,
That’s great. Thanks for the smile.