Ciudad Juarez improving it's image

Interesting article on a festival in Juarez. Maybe Rolly can add some detail.

http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/mexico-border-town-tries-selling-its-bright-side

Good Luck on that effort!

No matter how I try to look at Juarez in some positive light, I personally cannot get past the fact that Juarez has always been nothing more than a "hellhole" border town dating back many years prior to it becoming the murder capital. From what I am able to glean from numerous Mexican media sources, the stated drop in murder rate appears to be a good example of the media control by the cartels. Given the terrain and large expanses of desert in the surrounding area, it won't surprise me one bit if they discover one or more mass graves at some point down the road.

Sure, they have had some successes with "industry related jobs" but what other options do the people of Juarez have? Not only are the crossings from El Paso into Juarez a total nightmare but driving through Juarez is far worse than anything ever created in Guadalajara. Even before the killings started, we always used the crossing between Santa Teresa, NM and San Jeronimo, Chihuahua that is becoming an increasingly important crossing for both commercial goods and travelers.

I don't see Juarez ever improving enough for us to consider crossing or visiting in our lifetimes!