U.S. Congressman's Family Member Kidnapped in Juarez

[douglas9]

Source: Narcosphere News

The bloodshed in Ciudad Juarez being fueled by the drug war must have triggered a major alarm in Washington, D.C., this past weekend when the sister-in-law of a prominent U.S. Congressman was kidnapped while on a shopping excursion in the Mexican border town.

Juarez, located across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas, has been the flashpoint for escalating tensions in the drug war in recent months, as evidenced by a rash of kidnappings and some 450 murders to date — including dozens of local Mexican cops. The causes are complex and layered, ranging from widespread political and law enforcement corruption, to turf battles among rival narco-trafficking cells, to increased street-drug consumption (ie., cheap heroin) to the frustration that comes with the desperation of poverty.

The abducted woman was the sister of the wife of U.S. Representative Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, chair of the House Intelligence Committee. The woman was eventually released by her abductors, after they discovered her relationship to the Congressman — indicating that it was a random kidnapping and the perpetrators had enough on the ball to understand the downside of snatching a U.S. Congressman’s family member.

But there is another subplot to this tragedy narrowly averted that the good Congressman might want to investigate.

Read more: http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/bill-conroy/2008/06/us-congressman’s-family-member-kidnapped-juarez

[Ian David]

1. "But other than that, honey, how was Mexico?" n/t

[douglas9]

2. Chariman Reyes' Request for Assistance Update

Juarez kidnapping case opens Pandora’s box for Congressman Silvestre Reyes

New details have surfaced concerning the recent kidnapping of a U.S. Congressman’s relative in Juarez that provide a clearer picture of the crime, and the U.S. government’s involvement, than was reported earlier this week by Narco News.

The additional details are outlined in an internal U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) document that Narco News has obtained. That document raises a new set of troubling questions related to the U.S. government’s role in the incident. The revelations in the document also may well thrust the U.S. Congressman into a potentially explosive political quagmire – along with the leadership of the U.S. law enforcement agency that made the calls in this case.

The ICE document, addressed to the head of ICE, Julie Myers, makes clear that the woman who was abducted in Juarez is a “relative” of the wife of U.S. Representative Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, chair of the House Intelligence Committee — which has some oversight responsibilities for the Department of Homeland Security, the parent department of ICE.

From the ICE document, dated June 23, 2008:

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/bill-conroy/2008/06/juarez-kidnapping-case-opens-pandora’s-box-congressman-silvestre-reyes