Doctor shot dead in Mexican city

Ciudad Juarez (Mexico), Dec 24 (IANS/EFE) Gunmen shot dead a doctor outside his house in Mexico’s Ciudad Juarez city, authorities said.

Alfonso Perez Dominguez was killed Wednesday as he got into his car in San Angel, a neighbourhood on the northeast side of Ciudad Juarez, police said.

The 46-year-old doctor was on his way to attend a march to protest the killing of anti-crime activist Marisela Escobedo a week ago.

Escobedo had staged numerous marches and other protests in Ciudad Juarez and in Chihuahua city, demanding that the governor ensure there was justice in her slain daughter’s case.

Four doctors have been murdered and more than 15 others kidnapped this year in Ciudad Juarez, located just across the border from El Paso, Texas, the Chihuahua state Attorney General’s Office said.

Jose Alberto Betancourt Rosales, a 57-year-old doctor, was kidnapped Dec 9 and his body was found two days later in the southern section of the border city.

Hundreds of doctors and other health-care workers staged a 24-hour strike in Juarez Dec 13 to demand more security.

More than 3,100 people have been murdered this year in Ciudad Juarez.

The violence in the border city is blamed on the war for control of smuggling routes into the US being waged by the Juarez and Sinaloa drug cartels.

–IANS/EFE