Living Juárez: Collateral Damage in Mexico's Drug War
Director: Alexandra Halkin (America's Media Initiative)
Assistant director: Daniel Perera
(20:37 min, 2010)
"In December 2006, during his first week in office, Mexican President Felipe Calderón declared war on the drug cartels. Since then close to 30,000 people have died in Mexico as a result of the 'War on Drugs'. Cd. Juárez, across the border from El Paso Texas is now considered the deadliest city in the world, where close to 7000 people have died since March 2008. There is now an estimated 10,000 security forces patrolling the streets of Cd. Juárez where the violence continues to escalate.
"Living Juárez looks at the Cd. Juárez neighborhood of Villas de Salvárcar where in January 2010 a group of youth attending a birthday party were brutally murdered. In the massacre's immediate aftermath, Calderón characterized the youth as gang members. The outraged families personally confronted Calderón at public forums in Cd. Juárez during his visits to the city after the massacre.
"Living Juárez tells the story of the real victims in Calderón’s Drug War: regular people just trying to survive in a city overrun by senseless violence and corruption. The neighborhood of Villas de Salvárcar is organized and speaking out against the arbitrary and frequent abuses that are committed by the armed forces against civilians and particularly the youth in Cd. Juárez."
