Free Republic

In the wake of this week's shooting deaths at a Juárez maquiladora, leaders of the twin plant industry are urging Juárez Mayor Jesús Delgado to strengthen the city's public safety. Delgado, Police Chief Armando Castañeda and other city staff officials met with the industry leaders late Thursday. Before the meeting, Delgado had said that increasing public safety is his priority for the border city where crime has become rampant. Marcelo Aguilera, 22, a native of the state of Veracruz, was charged in the deaths of Luis F. Garcia and Miguel A. Cuesta, said Marco Antonio Moreno, spokesman for Chihuahua state...

JUAREZ -- The maquiladora industry is experiencing its worst downturn in 35 years, prompting business leaders to call for a plan to rescue the city's largest employer. About 42,000 maquila workers have lost their jobs because assembly plants have shut down, scaled back or left the city over the past two years, said Bernardo Escudero, president of the Association of Maquiladoras in Juárez. The contraction started when the U.S. recession began, he said. "The industry in Juárez used to employ more than 220,000 people. Today, we have 160,000 people working at the plants," he said. "We've had new plants that...