Interim Mayor of Ciudad Juárez Exposes Alleged Budgetary Waste by Chihuahua City Mayor
Ciudad Juárez, Chih., August 6, 2026 – Cruz Pérez Cuéllar, the interim mayor of Ciudad Juárez, has publicly presented figures and documents that he claims expose significant mismanagement and wasteful spending by Marco Bonilla, the mayor of Chihuahua City. Pérez Cuéllar highlighted alleged excessive spending on street sweepers, streetlights, and patrol car leases, further suggesting that these expenditures have led to increased public debt and higher costs for citizens.
This exposé follows a complaint filed against Pérez Cuéllar by former Juárez mayors regarding alleged excessive and unjustified expenses for leasing street sweepers for the Ciudad Juárez Municipality. In response, Pérez Cuéllar, who is also a contender for the Coordination of the Defense of the Fourth Transformation, presented a comparative analysis between the two cities, asserting that Juárez demonstrates more efficient and responsible management of public funds.
Discrepancies in Public Services and Infrastructure Costs
Pérez Cuéllar detailed significant cost differences in public services. For street sweeping, Ciudad Juárez reportedly pays 354.24 pesos per kilometer (including VAT), while Chihuahua City pays 482.56 pesos, a difference of 128.32 pesos per kilometer. This represents a 36.2 percent higher cost for the state capital for the same service, equating to 43 million pesos more than Juárez.
Similar disparities were observed in public lighting modernization programs. In 2025, Chihuahua City acquired 20,772 streetlights at a unit cost of 6,624 pesos, totaling 137 million pesos. In contrast, Ciudad Juárez installed 22,639 streetlights at 4,125 pesos per unit, spending 93 million pesos. Had Chihuahua City purchased its streetlights at the same price as Juárez, it could have saved 51.9 million pesos.
The comparison extended to security, revealing differences in patrol car costs. Chihuahua City leased 154 units for 634.4 million pesos, averaging 4.12 million pesos per patrol car. Ciudad Juárez, however, acquired 170 units for 213 million pesos, with an average cost of 1.25 million pesos each. According to these figures, if Chihuahua City had acquired patrol cars at the same cost as Juárez, the expenditure would have been 192.5 million pesos, representing a difference of 441.9 million pesos.
Investment in Infrastructure and Public Debt
Pérez Cuéllar also emphasized Ciudad Juárez’s greater proportion of budget allocated to public works between 2022 and 2025. Juárez invested 5.27 billion pesos, equivalent to 15 percent of its total expenditure, while Chihuahua City invested 2.543 billion pesos, or 10 percent of its budget. This indicates that Juárez dedicated a larger portion of its resources to streets, lighting, parks, schools, and sports facilities.
Furthermore, Pérez Cuéllar highlighted that Ciudad Juárez has maintained sound finances without incurring public debt during the 2022-2026 period. In contrast, he noted that Chihuahua City has a debt of 595 million pesos and is projected to pay 96 million pesos solely in interest during 2026, in addition to requesting new debt of 150 million pesos.
The interim mayor asserted that these figures illustrate two fundamentally different governance approaches: one prioritizing efficiency, public investment, and responsible financial management, and another that, he claims, has inflated municipal service costs at the expense of Chihuahua citizens’ indebtedness.
