Newspapers this morning are commenting on the bicentennial celebration (of the declaration of independence by Father Hidalgo in Dolores in 1810) in Juarez on Wednesday night and Thursday. Photographs have circulated (see pictures to your right) showing a lonely Mayor, Jose Reyes Ferriz, giving the grito to an empty parking lot in front of city hall. Don Mirone, an outspoken critic of the mayor, who writes commentary in Norte, contrasted the desolate, depressing event in Juarez with the 10,000 juarenses who celebrated the Grito across the river at the main plaza in El Paso (in Juarez it is still known as the Plaza de los Lagartos, a reference to the old days when there was an alligator pit in the main square). Alicia Vásquez commented in Diario that in spite of the lack of security, families, neighborshoods, businesses, schools, and churches were full of people celebrating. She concluded, "we shouldn't continue being puppets capable of unity only when there is a fiesta. This celebration, while sprinkled in some cases and in others drowned in alcohol should remind us to lift up our spirits to work, struggle, and become better Mexicans."
One group of people celebrating last night at the El Vivar nightclub at the Pronaf, stayed a little too long: a group of armed men entered the nightclub, filled with people, at about 3 a.m. this morning, and killed at least seven people. Apparently it was a private party. Nightclubs are legally required to close at 2 a.m.
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