Cartels threaten hits in U.S.

Now if the Cartels start to kill American citizens around here I think that would be a problem ! DHS should get more involved in the situation ,Maybe the Military should start patrolling the border! maybe a real fence, Maybe ,Close the damn border down for a week or so and see what the Mexican Government thinks of that ,A lot of Cargo/Money runs across the Border everyday If it were closed I think there would be a significant change in the way things are going ! El Paso times

EL PASO -- A new warning that Mexican drug cartels have approved sending hit men into the United States has El Paso law enforcement on alert.

Local and federal law enforcement officials said the intelligence was received last week and does not name specific targets.

"It's not a threat. It's information we received. Nobody has been threatened," police spokesman Officer Chris Mears. The alert was sent to police as a lawenforcement-sensitive advisory so officers "don't take any call for granted," Mears said.

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The alert is the latest in a long list of warnings and rumors that have popped up in the borderland this year amid an ongoing war reputed to be linked to drug cartels in Juárez and other parts of the Mexican state of Chihuahua.

The legitimacy of the warning is unknown. Some drug killings have taken place in El Paso in years past. The killings in Juárez this year have mostly targeted those with links to the drug trade, city officials and Mexico experts have said.

"Are there people involved in the drug activity in Juárez living in El Paso? Sure there are. We all know that," Mears said. " ... We are constantly getting intel from other agencies. Some proves out to be true. Some turns out not to be true."

Juárez has had almost 900 homicides this year in an unrelenting wave of street shootings at all times of day, mass

killings and executions of law enforcement officers. But the killings have remained on the Mexican side of the border.

The potential of sicarios (hit men) crossing the border to hit targets in the United States also has El Paso County sheriff's deputies in a higher state of awareness, Deputy Jesse Tovar, spokesman for the Sheriff's Office, said.

Doug Mosier, spokesman for the Border Patrol's El Paso sector, said, "We take it very seriously. We sent out the information to make sure our agents are aware of it."

There were at least 20 homicides in Juárez this past weekend including the fatal shooting of two unidentified men just past midnight Sunday inside the Chamucos nightclub in the ProNaF tourist zone near the Bridge of the Americas.

The shooting in the crowded nightclub wounded three others, identified as Laura Chavira Hernandez, 28, Karina Morales Moreno, 23, and Jose Luis Murillo Marquez, 31, Chihuahua state police said.

On Saturday, Isidro Avila Martinez, a member of the state police's anti-kidnapping unit, was shot to death as he drove up to his home in Juárez.

Also this weekend, two men, whose names were not released, were taken to Thomason Hospital in El Paso to be treated for gunshot wounds received in Mexico, hospital officials said. Thomason Hospital has treated more than 30 victims of violence in Mexico this year. The hospital is not under extra security.

Threats, including chain e-mails and videos posted on the Internet, have been issued earlier this year related to the battle between the Sinaloa and Juárez drug cartels.

In June, a death list with 15 to 20 names was circulated. The list named current or former residents of El Paso, Luna and Doña Ana counties, as well as Albuquerque, among other places. Some were referred to by family name, New Mexico law enforcement officials said.

E-mail threats warning to avoid certain locations have also been distributed. The most notorious being the "bloody weekend" e-mail that shuttered tourism and nightlife in Juárez on May 24-25.

Despite the record-breaking killings in Juárez, El Paso has maintained a low homicide number with 12. None of those are believed to be related to the suspected drug violence that erupted in early January.