Ride-share drivers fearful following robberies, murders

EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – The man wearing a plain baseball hat places his right hand behind the driver’s head. With his left he gestures for her to be quiet. The man mutters quick, unintelligible words to his terrified victim.

“No traigo, no traigo. ¡ Mira! Es lo único, voy empezando. ¡Mi celular!” (I’ve got nothing. I’ve got nothing. Look! It’s all I have, I just started. My cell phone!)

The robbery caught on the car’s security camera illustrates the dangers ride-share drivers working in Juarez, Mexico, are facing these days.

The victim survived the robbery, but 32 others in the past four years have not been so lucky, according to news reports shared by the online group of ride-share drivers who provided a copy of the video to Border Report.

The Mesa de Seguridad public safety task force told Border Report that as many as seven ride-share drivers have been murdered in Juarez this year. Exact numbers aren’t available because some victims have not been positively identified.

The latest victim was Henry Hernandez Marquez. He was found dead inside the trunk of his own vehicle Thursday in the Camino Real Highway in westernmost Juarez.

In June, the bodies of five shared-ride drivers missing in the town of Ojinaga since May 30 were found on the side of a highway. Mexican police officials linked the killings to the La Linea drug cartel and said they were motivated by the drivers transporting migrants to the border without the cartel’s permission.

Last May, two drivers were killed near Juarez International Airport after a pursuit by alleged cartel members assigned to prevent others from transporting migrants.

The killings are sowing fear among the drivers.

“Apart from robbing you, they take your car, and there have been cases in which they kill you,” said a female ride-share driver who spoke to Border Report on condition of anonymity.

The driver said she and her peers find themselves in a lose-lose situation when it comes to responding to calls in which the customer might be a migrant.

“You never know if you’re picking up a migrant. They request your service, but one never knows” who the person is, the driver said.

The drivers keep track of each other through a private WhatsApp chat that serves as an early-warning system. The drivers trust each other more than they do the police, whom they say has been slow to act.

The woman robbed in the video, for instance, filed a complaint with the Chihuahua Attorney General’s Office in Juarez and is still to get a callback, according to the chat operators.

“We are completely exposed. You go to work with fear because you don’t know if you will be coming home. You must be careful because the situation is difficult,” the female driver said.

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