Avoid Juarez, but most border missions safe, officials advise

Thinking about a mission trip to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico?  Don’t.

That’s the advice River Ministry and Border Missions leaders of the Baptist General Convention of Texas and Buckner International are offering volunteers, in light of violence related to drug cartels.

Baptists in northern Mexico report the danger level in most areas is little different than it has been for the last two to three years—expect for Juarez, said Josue Valerio, missions team leader with the BGCT.

“The situation in Ciudad Juarez has changed in a negative way,” he said, noting BGCT missions personnel stay in close contact with pastors and associational leaders in that area and elsewhere along the Rio Grande.

“We are in touch with our River Ministry coordinators on both sides of the border. Also, we travel on a regular basis to the border towns in Mexico and into the interior of Mexico. We have been informing mission groups regarding the situation on specific locations depending where they are going and if they desire to change plans we try to direct them.”

Dexton Shores, Buckner International’s director of ministry development for Mexico and the Border, likewise stressed the danger along the border generally is limited to a few urban areas¬—especially Juarez.

“There are legitimate concerns of violence, particularly in the City of Juarez,” Shores said. “For this reason, we are avoiding doing anything in Juarez until further notice, except our children’s home on the outskirts with a rural bridge crossing.”

In addition to violence related to drug cartels, protests at some points have disrupted traffic at certain crossing points, he noted.

“There is a lot of negative publicity about the border, and one needs to distinguish between organized protests that shut down the bridges for periods of time and violent activity,” Shores advised.

“The cost for legalizing a vehicle imported from the United States to Mexico has increased by about 300 percent, many have lost jobs, and the price of diesel has drastically increased. So, there have been recent protests for these reasons on the bridges in places like Reynosa, Nuevo Laredo and Juarez which have shut down the bridges for hours at a time,” he noted.

“There has been little violence related to the protests, although there was a drug cartel shoot out in Reynosa in a different neighborhood on the same day of the protests. Federal officials said the protests and violence were unrelated. Because of these recent incidents and the inconvenience of not being able to get across for hours, we are completely avoiding any ministry activities in these cities.”

Other protests have focused on the increased Mexican military presence along the border, he added.

“Some are protesting the soldiers because of some apparent human rights violations, but many suspect the drug cartels are encouraging the protests hoping to get rid of the soldiers that are hindering their lucrative business activities,” Shores said.

Mission activities in most rural areas of Mexico and along the Texas side of the border continue unhindered, he added. And the needs there are as great as ever.

“About 95 percent of everything we are doing with border mission groups is on the Texas side of the border, and there have been no incidents of violence in the areas where we are working. Groups should be reassured that our staff will not put them in harm’s way and that the ministry sites on the Texas side of the border are safe and the residents desperately need us to be the hands, feet and presence of Christ in times like these,” Shores said.

Christians in the United States should avoid using sweeping terms in describing violence related to Mexico and the drug traffic, he advised.

“Actually, the U.S. cities most affected recently by Mexico drug cartel violence are not on the border. Two cities that have reported recent violence from Mexico drug cartel activity are Birmingham, Ala., and Phoenix, Ariz.,” he noted.

“It is inaccurate to classify all areas of the Mexico side of the border as ‘violent. There are regions such as Juarez where we are not encouraging mission groups to minister at the present time, but there are other regions such as Camargo, Miguel Aleman and Ojinaga that have been relatively free of both protests and drug cartel violence.

“Our border coordinators are very conscious of the safety concerns and will do everything possible to make volunteers feel safe, avoiding all areas where there are known risks of violence.  For example, law enforcement officials in Ojinaga have offered to make frequent patrols in neighborhoods where mission groups are providing humanitarian aid and healthcare ministries.”