Chihuahua Inaugurates Controversial Sentinel Tower in Juárez Amidst Federal Absence
Ciudad Juárez, Chih., September 11, 2026 – The government of Chihuahua, led by Governor María Eugenia Campos Galván, officially inaugurated the controversial Sentinel Tower – a central project in its security strategy – in Ciudad Juárez. The ceremony notably proceeded without the presence of federal officials from Mexico’s security cabinet or the Ciudad Juárez city council. However, authorities from the United States embassy and consulate, as well as the government of Las Cruces, New Mexico, were present.
Last April, the State Public Security Secretary, Gilberto Loya Chávez, had offered the 18th floor of the building for analysts and technical personnel from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) to operate. However, this invitation was withdrawn after the deaths of two undercover Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) agents in the municipality of Morelos, in the Tarahumara sierra.
Invitations for this event were extended to President Claudia Sheinbaum, military authorities, the Attorney General’s Office, and even the Secretaries of Defense, Ricardo Trevilla Trejo; Navy, Raymundo Pedro Morales; and Federal Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch. However, none of them, nor their representatives, confirmed their attendance, as reported by Loya Chávez on Monday.
The acting mayor of Ciudad Juárez, Héctor Ortiz Orpinel, declined to attend, stating that there was no coordination with the municipal police regarding the use of the state system’s cameras. “We are always open to coordination, they have not given us access to the cameras or anything, we are not going to be there,” he said.
In this regard, Cruz Pérez Cuéllar, the licensed municipal president and candidate for the State Coordination for the Defense of the Transformation and National Sovereignty in Chihuahua, described the building as a “pharaonic and flashy work that contributes little or nothing to the real needs of the people of Juárez.”
“It’s a mess”: Pérez Cuéllar
“They are going to inaugurate the mess,” he quipped, pointing out that while Chihuahua faces multiple infrastructure deficiencies and social programs, the PAN state government allocated 4.7 billion pesos to a tower whose usefulness remains questionable.
The night before last, Campos Galván inaugurated the Sentinel Tower with the phrase: “Sentinel, activate,” which led to a light and fireworks show, with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture (Op. 49) as background music, and the simulated lighting of the structure, just as it began to rain.
After a few minutes, the governor entered for a tour of the 20 floors that house three C7 command centers with access to 2,985 rotating and zoom cameras, 4,717 fixed cameras, 1,791 vehicle license plate readers, highway arches, drones, and 40 video surveillance trailers.
Outside, the rain intensified, and wind gusts of up to 75 kilometers per hour dispersed attendees; additionally, giant screens installed for the show were knocked down, sound equipment and lights were damaged, and one of the tower’s facade windows was broken.
On the presidium, the governor was accompanied by Loya Chávez; Francisco Sáenz, head of the State Attorney General’s Office; Magistrate Marcela Herrera, president of the Chihuahua Superior Court of Justice; and Deputy Joceline Vega, president of the local Congress.
Additionally, “authorities from the US embassy and consulate in Mexico, as well as the government of Las Cruces, New Mexico, attended,” the state administration highlighted in a press release. Among the attendees were all members of the state cabinet, local PAN deputies, and Katharine Beamer, US Consul General in Ciudad Juárez, who congratulated María Eugenia Campos’ administration and described the tower’s inauguration as “important for strengthening security capabilities in the region.”
Regarding the absence of Mexican federal government officials, the Chihuahua governor stated in her speech: “we will continue to expand our presence throughout the territory; we will do so even in the face of resistance from authorities and politicians who do not seem willing to defend life and peace, but rather seem to defend terrorism, death, and lies.”
She defended the Sentinel Project as a legacy of her administration, despite construction beginning in August 2022 and the works being delivered two years late. “Today we are not inaugurating a tower, we are celebrating the consolidation of a project that will leave a legacy for all of Chihuahua,” she emphasized.
For his part, Gilberto Loya, the state Security Secretary, affirmed that the Sentinel Tower is a colossus that watches over peace and tranquility, an imposing monument to security over 115 meters high.
The 18th floor of the tower is designed as a fusion center, where data from the C7 command centers installed on the 15th, 16th, and 17th floors will be concentrated to integrate information from municipal, state, federal agencies, and, through corresponding protocols, international bodies.
Source: https://www.jornada.com.mx/noticia/2026/09/11/estados/inauguran-torre-centinela-en-juarez-sin-presencia-del-gobierno-federal-si-asisten-representantes-estadunidenses
