The number of deaths from January to November this year was 12,456 - the highest toll since Mr Calderon took office. Mr Calderon began a military crackdown on the cartels in December 2006, and since then there has been an escalating cycle of violence between gangs fighting each other - largely for drug-trafficking routes into the US - and security forces trying to battle them.
In an article just before Christmas, The Sydney Morning Herald highlighted the plight of the city and it's people; where the violence and deaths of gang members and citizens alike affects the schools, hospitals, emergency services and public services alike. The number of deaths has soared passed 30,000 in a vicious four-year war, both by gangs against each other and by Government attempts to stem the tide of murder and mayhem.
There are almost daily beheadings, tales of torture and kidnap-murders, Ciudad Juarez, the centre of the cocaine trade, recorded 3010 killings in 2010, including of 140 policemen, the worst tally on record.
Last year authorities captured several drug kingpins and hitmen; vicious criminals who even employ young children to do their killing. An eight year old boy was caught - he had killed four people and had a contract on another the day he was arrested.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/mexican-drug-deaths-reach-record-high-20101217-190r8.html
Now the Protestant and Pentecostal Churches have taken bold steps to stand in the breach, and the Catholic Church is offering safe havens for the city's citizens.
Journalist Nolan Beiner reported in 2010 that Roman Catholic priests and Protestant pastors alike seek to give encouragement to churchgoers from the pulpit, asking them to strengthen their faith but also to act to save their city.
Baptist pastor Rafael Guzman, of the Baptist church Yehova Nissi said: "We have to be part of the process to provoke peace in this city through our own lives and to tell God to look at Ciudad Juarez, we have to start to demand and to share that peace that he has set aside for us."
As a result, prayer vigils, evangelism campaigns, fasting and other actions have increased in and out of churches, as believers wage a 'spiritual war' for the sake of their city.
Pastor Guzman stressed his belief that peace can only be found in Jesus. He thinks that the authorities are not the answer, and that all hope and trust cannot be invested in the government; he said that citizens have to play their part to, and God is the answer.
Beiner also quoted pastor Baltazar Gonzalez, leader of the Juarez Evangelical Ministerial Alliance, who said: "At times man is too self-centered, but it is necessary to develop a conscience and to see that amid this violence there are many victims: women, young people, children, many people who are suffering."
www.monstersandcritics.com/news/americas/features/article_1541886.php/Churches-become-havens-in-violence-plagued-Ciudad-Juarez-Feature
Well-Being Australia chairman Mark Tronson says that city of Cuidad Juarez has 1.3 million people also has a huge number of evangelical and pentecostal churches who are reaching out to its citizens.
He says that we in Australia stand back from afar, read of this in our newspapers and get glimpses of it on our television and internet news, yet it is the harsh reality of life in many parts of the world. This is exaggeratedly manifest in Cuidad Juarez, because on the other side of the border is El Paso Texas with its relative security and safety.
In Mark Tronson's opinion, the pastors are right. Prayer is one of the weapons of choice for the believer; and men of righteousness - David's mighty men (1 Chronicles 12 verse 8), good men doing right - is another.