to the president . `` What it says is that he has really decided that success in Juarez is essential for stemming the tide of organized crime , '' said Andrew Selee , director of the Woodrow Wilson Center 's Mexico Institute . `` He has staked his presidency on success in Juarez . '' Juarez , which accounted for about one-third of the drug-related killings in Mexico last year , was already significant because of the high death count , Selee said . But the killings in January and over the weekend have elevated the city to a symbolic level , the analyst said . `` It has gained an emotional value , '' Selee said . The latest killings were carried out by a local gang known as Los Aztecas , who are allied with the Juarez Cartel , Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said . The three victims were followed and targeted , Reyes said . They were attacked as they left a birthday party at the U.S. Consulate in Juarez . U.S. and Mexican officials said a consulate employee who was four months pregnant and her husband , a U.S. citizen who was a jailer in
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Mexican President Felipe Calderon made his third visit in a little more than a month Tuesday to the troubled border city of Juarez , where three people associated with the U.S. Consulate were killed over the weekend . Ciudad Juarez is the most violent city in Mexico , with more than 2,600 drug-related deaths in 2009 . No official numbers are available , but more than 400 killings have been reported in local media this year . The city , long the focal point of Calderon 's war on drug cartels , came to renewed prominence after the January 31 killings of 15 people , most of them students with no links to organized crime . The massacre sparked outrage throughout Mexico and drew worldwide attention . Saturday 's deaths of a pregnant woman and two other people connected with the U.S. Consulate renewed attention to the blood-soaked city . Calderon visited Juarez twice in mid-February within a one-week period , meeting with local officials and residents . More such meetings were scheduled for Tuesday . Although Tuesday 's visit had been scheduled before the latest slayings , analysts say it highlights the city 's importance