For residents who have not fled, living on the border has turned into a nightmare
By JOHN MACCORMACK
SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
March 22, 2010, 1:01AM


CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico — In a place where death is measured in massacres, the killing last week of Rogelio Ituarte de la Hoya in Loma Blanca, a dusty agricultural settlement east of this border city, was just a few words on the evening news.

The father of five made it only a few steps from his parked Ford pickup before he was gunned down in front of the corner store La Consentida. The killers then sped off into the night.

For a couple of brooding hours, as reporters, police and neighbors stood around and relatives sobbed, Ituarte's crumpled body lay on the unpaved street below a glowing Carta Blanca sign.

The federal police, part of a large contingent sent here two years ago by Mexican President Felipe Calderon to restore order, had little to say while waiting for the crime scene investigators to arrive.

“We know the means. We know the result. We don't know the motive,â€