mexico's drug culture

7/28/2019 Mexico's Drug Culture

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Ciudad Juarez, August 2009: Three young men died in this shootout in the parking lot ofa shopping mall. In the first half of that year, more than 1,000 drug war deaths werecounted in Juarez alone. The city of 1.3 million has been the center of a drug turf warbetween the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels.


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Mexico City, July 2009. Mexico's drug and gang culture has a strong religious streak.Thousands of devotees seen here attend a mass for Santa Muerte, Saint Death, a mythicalfigure condemned by the Catholic Church but embraced by many poor and criminalelements. This gathering is outside a shrine in Tepito, a neighborhood famous for itsstreet markets brimming with pirated and stolen merchandise. It's home to the most

popular Santa Muerte shrine, which sits outside a modest home. On the first day of everymonth, the shrine fills with followers who come bearing statuettes of the saint. Somepilgrims make their way from the subway on their knees; many smoke weed (la mota) orcigars with their saints.

Devotees of Saint Judas Thaddaeus inhale glue out of plastic bags to get high as theygather outside San Hipolito church during the annual pilgrimage honoring the saint. JudasThaddaeus is the Catholic Church's patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes, but inMexico he is also known as the saint of both cops and robbers (and prostitutes), as well asone of the biggest spiritual figures for young people in Mexico City. He has become thegeneric patron saint of disreputable activities.


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This shrine in the Colonia Doctores neighborhood pays homage to both Santa Muerte andJesus Malverde, reputedly a bandit killed by officials in 1909. He's revered by many as aRobin Hood who stole from the rich to give to the poor. Several dozen such shrines existin this neighborhood and in Tepito, where the cults thrive.


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A shrine to Santa Muerte sits above a home in the notorious Colonia Libertadneighborhood. The shrine is walled in by the old border fence separating Tijuana fromSan Diego.

The drug culture is often portrayed by Mexican cinema. Here director Antonio Herrerafilms a scene for "Vida Mafiosa," Mafia Life, a low budget film glorifying the culture."This is the only thing selling at the moment for me," Herrera said at the time as he

worked to complete his seventh narco film.


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Los Angeles gangsters (batos) hang out at the production of a narco film. One of the gangmembers (not pictured) was an extra in the film.

Alfredo Rios, better known by his stage name "El Komander", walks down a street justoutside the studio of his agent and music producer. From Sinaloa, El Komander is one of


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the hottest singers/composers of "Narcocorrido" songs, which glorify the drug culture.

The Jardines del Humaya Cemetery hosts many grave sites dedicated to drug traffickers.Some are two- and three-stories tall; many have bulletproof glass, Italian marble andspiral iron staircases.


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A young man makes his way to the shrine of Jesus Malverde. Culiacan is the capital ofthe northwestern state of Sinaloa, long a hot bed of drug cultivation. For decadestraffickers have worshipped at the shrine, helping to spread Malverde's fame.

Santa Muerte worshipers gather in a creek just outside Los Angeles, California.


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Mexico's military shows off the results of a raid on a party in Tijuana, Mexico; assaultweapons and the arrests of 58 people.

Women spread flour to soak up blood where a young man was murdered in Juarez.


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The Culiacan prison is notorious for violence and riots. This inmate kisses his wifegoodbye as their daughter cries.

A drug addict sits in a tent where he lives along the border canal with Mexico and the theU.S. Neither country will do anything for those along the border like this. They simply


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suffer.

Note: The usual ending for a lifestyle of drugs and devil worship is one of misery, prisonor death. God warned us that his people were destroyed by a lack of knowledge. We areall his offspring and children. The god of this world has blinded the eyes of many withdoubt, hatred or through some other evil way. His mission of destruction is threefold.

Satan has come to kill, steal and destroy; but Jesus came to bring us abundant life. Godsacrificed him in our place to buy us back from the penalty of sin or imperfection, whichis death. Everyone will one day fail on their own to completely follow the perfect will ofGod. Yet those who trust and obey his word by their baptism in the name of Jesus, willobtain forgiveness of sins. One must only continue in the word of God thereafter. Allthose who hate God love death. The wicked walk on every side when the vilest, the mostevil of men become exalted and respected, as if they were movie stars. Save yourselffrom this perverse and evil generation or suffer the consequences of disobedience.

Warning: These final photos show death frequently and vividly.

The bodies of seven men arranged in chairs are pictured in Uruapan, in the Mexican stateof Michoacan. The men were shot in the head with threat messages nailed to some oftheir chests using ice picks.


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Suspect Erika Garcia, a police officer, is presented to the media after she was arrested bytroops in Uruapan, on February 27, 2011. Garcia was arrested after soldiers stopped aconvoy of three luxury vehicles carrying her and suspected drug traffickers at a militarycheckpoint, according to local media.

Delivery trucks from the Mexican snacks company Sabritas burn after assailants set themon fire at a warehouse in Lazaro Cardenas, in the Mexican state of Michoacan, on May26, 2012. At least three warehouses and 28 vehicles were damaged in a series ofcoordinated arson attacks against the company in the towns of Lazaro Cardenas, Uruapanand Apatzingan. Drug cartel members posted banners saying the snack company let lawenforcement agents use its trucks for surveillance, a charge the company denied.


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Workers unearth the bodies of three unidentified people whose killings are believed to berelated to drug trafficking, according to the state police department, in Uruapan onJanurary 4, 2007.

Police walk near a victim of a shootout between the drug cartels La Familia and LosZetas in Uruapan on December 14, 2009.


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A young man lies dead next to a skateboard and a bicycle after unknown gunmen openedfire in the eastern part of Saltillo, Mexico, on December 7, 2011. According to the stateattorney general, three young men were killed in the attack.

Pictures of victims of violence are hung on the facades and walls of houses in the


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neighborhood of Cerro Gordo in Ecatepec, outside Mexico City, on March 7, 2012. TheMurrieta Foundation opened an exhibition called "Giving face to the victims in Ecatepec"with 15 giant photographs placed on houses as part a campaign against violence (rape ofwomen, kidnappings, murders and robberies).

Blood flows near the arm of a killed boy, on the pavement in Acapulco, Mexico, onAugust 15, 2011.


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Two men with their hands tied behind their back and with their faces covered with ducttape lie by the side of the road as police secure the area in the city of Veracruz, Mexico,on December 6, 2011. A total of 4 men were found killed in separate incidents in the Gulfport city, which has recently suffered growing violence as drug gangs battle for control ofthe region.


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A truck burns on the road in Guadalajara, Mexico, on March 9, 2012. Drug criminals set25 city buses and other vehicles on fire in 16 different places, spreading fear throughoutMexico's second-largest city after an army operation, according to officials.

Police stand next to the body of a dead colleague in Ixtapaluca, on the outskirts of


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Mexico City, on January 23, 2012. Municipal police were transferring two detaineeswhen they were ambushed by gunmen, who shot dead all five police officers and one ofthe detainees, according to local media.

A skeletal corpse lies in Betania neighborhood, Acapulco, on March 27, 2012. During arecent wave of violence lived in Acapulco, eight people were killed, three of them founddecomposed in the outskirts of the City.


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The body of a young man who was shot several times, reflected in a mirror next to animage of the Virgin of Guadalupe inside a bus in Acapulco, on August 1, 2011.

The body of a man killed in a suspected drug-related execution lies along the path wherehe was shot on March 1, 2012 in Acapulco.


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Medical workers stand next to the bodies of 10 men and one woman, discovered in a pilenear a well in Valle de Chalco, Mexico.

A forensic technician sweeps blood off a street at a crime scene in Monterrey, onFebruary 8, 2012. A taxi driver was shot dead by gunmen as another group of hitmenattacked three taxi drivers in a different neighborhood, killing two and injuring one,


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according to local media.

Colleagues, relatives and friends of murdered journalists place candles and pictures on analtar erected at the Independence Angel monument in Mexico City, on May 5, 2012,during a vigil to protest against violence towards the press. Days earlier, Mexicansecurity forces found the dismembered bodies of missing news photographers GuillermoLuna Varela and Gabriel Huge and two other people in bags dumped in a canal in theeastern state of Veracruz. The bodies of the photographers, who worked for the Veracruznews photo agency, also showed signs of torture.


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Fliers for missing people hang on the door of the city morgue in Acapulco, Mexico. Drugviolence surged in the coastal resort last year, making Acapulco the second most deadlycity in Mexico after Juarez.

The body of a man, covered by a cloth in a restaurant after he was shot by unknown


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assailants in Acapulco, Mexico. Once a glamorous beach mecca for international tourism,it's image has steadily deteriorated as a fierce turf war continues between rival druggangs.

Cuban citizen Joel Rodriguez Barrero, was being detained in Xochitepec in this April 6,

2012 photograph. Rodriguez Barrero 'El Cubano,' was detained by soldiers andpolicemen during a patrol and found to be in possession of drugs and weapons. He'sresponsible for the recent murder and dismemberment of four minors and drugtrafficking, according to the State Attorney's Office.


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A soldier stands guard inside a clandestine chemical drug processing laboratorydiscovered in Tlajomulco de Zuniga, on the outskirts of Guadalajara, Jalisco.

The body of a dead man, a rifle next to him, lies in a field after a shootout with police onthe outskirts of Monterrey, Mexico.


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Mexican soldiers burn marijuana plants in a field, in Los Algodones community,Culiacan, Sinaloa State, on on January 30, 2012. They found the marijuana field andincinerated the drug as part of the Culiacan-Navolato operation.

The body of a man lies behind the wheel inside a car in Acapulco, Mexico. Two menwere shot by gunmen, one was killed and the other seriously injured, according to local


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media.

Demonstrators march to protest against violence in Mexico City, on August 14, 2011. Thecontinuing tide of drug-related killings in Mexico has drawn thousands of protesters tomarch against violence. The sign reads in Spanish: "Stop the war. No to the NationalSecurity Law".


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In Mexicos gruesome drug wars, bodies are often hanged, dismembered or shot. Notesleft near the bodies are sometimes used to portray victims as criminals as cases are closedwithout investigations.

A skull of someone thought to be a victim of drug violence lies on the ground in CiudadJuarez in early 2010. The border city of Juarez has been racked by violent drug-relatedcrime, making it one of the most dangerous cities in Mexico's war on drugs.

Mexican Federal Police stand guard over 105 tons of marijuana seized in Tijuana,Mexico.


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Mexican army soldiers display $15 million U.S. money on November 22, 2011, inMexico City. The money was seized from alleged members of the Guzman Loera drugcartel during a raid in the border town of Tijuana, Mexico.

A masked Mexican soldier patrols the streets of Veracruz, Mexico.

Below are some of the worst attacks since 2006.

* Sept 15, 2008 - Suspected members of the Zetas drug gang tossed grenades into a


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crowd celebrating Mexico's independence day in the western city of Morelia, killing eightpeople and wounding more than 100.

* Jan 31, 2010 - Suspected cartel assailants killed 13 high school students and two adultsat a party in Ciudad Juarez across from El Paso, Texas.

* March 13 - Hitmen killed three people linked to the U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez inMarch, provoking "outrage" from U.S. President Barack Obama.

* June 28 - Suspected cartel gunmen shot and killed a popular gubernatorial candidate inthe northern state of Tamaulipas in the worst cartel attack on a politician to date. RodolfoTorre, 46, and four aides from the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI,were ambushed on their way to a campaign event for the July 4 state election.

* July 18 - Gunmen burst into a birthday party in the northern city of Torreon, usingautomatic weapons to kill 17 party-goers and wound 18 others. Mexican authorities saidlater those responsible were incarcerated cartel hitmen let out of jail by corrupt officials.The killers allegedly borrowed weapons and vehicles from prison guards and laterreturned to their cells.

* July 24 - Police unearthed 51 bodies in a grave outside Mexico's business capital,Monterrey, in northern Mexico over several days. Some corpses were burned beyondrecognition.

* Aug 25 - Marines found the bodies of 58 men and 14 women at a ranch near the Gulf ofMexico in Tamaulipas state, 90 miles (150 km) from the Texas border, after a firefightwith drug hitmen in which three gunmen and a marine died.

* April, 2011 - Officials unearthed the first of what turned out to be more than 450 bodiesburied in mass graves in the northern states of Durango and Tamaulipas.

* Aug 20 - Five headless bodies were found in Acapulco, taking the number of peoplekilled in the popular Pacific resort to at least 25 in that one week.

* Aug 25 - Masked gunmen torch a casino in Monterrey, killing 52 people, most of themwomen. The attack takes less than three minutes.

* Sept 20 - Thirty-five bodies are found abandoned in two trucks on an underpass in theeastern Gulf city of Veracruz, which had been largely untouched by the violence.

* Oct 6 - Mexican security forces find 32 bodies at several locations around Veracruz,just two days after the government unveiled a plan to bolster security in Veracruz state.

* Nov 24 - More than 20 bodies are found in cars in Mexico's second city, Guadalajara, aday after the burned bodies of 16 people are found in the home state of the country'spowerful drug lord, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman. * Feb 19, 2012 - A fight between rival

gangs at a prison just outside Monterrey in northern Mexico leaves 44 dead. * May 4 -The bodies of nine people were found hanging from a bridge and 14 others founddismembered in the city of Nuevo Laredo, just across the U.S. border from Laredo inTexas. * May 13 - Suspected drug gang hitmen dumped 49 mutilated bodies, stuffed inbags, on a highway outside the northern industrial city of Monterrey.


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The BloggerIn Mexico, where journalists are routinely killed and news organizations no longer coverdrug violence, many people turn to social media and blogs to share information --anonymously.

The writer behind Mexico's notorious Blog del Narco is a reportedly a young womanwho has written a book based on the blog that chronicles that country's bloody drug war.The Blog del Narcos success has spawned copycats including some she says, that wereset up by the criminal groups or Mexican government seeking information from thepublic.

Journalism died a long time ago here in Mexico, according to her. She says that she isin her 20s, lives in Northern Mexico and is a former journalist. She started the blogfeaturing gory images, exclusive crime scene video and photos because authorities deniedthe violence and the Mexican media no longer reported it. The images and videos areproof. Were not lying. She thinks the violent images can serve as a warning for youngpeople about the dangers of getting involved with the drug trade. By seeing thosegraphic, strong images, they can say, I dont want to end up like that. I dont want myphoto to show up on the blog.

Critics say the blog helps cartels spread terror, but she defended the graphic content.Millions read Blog del Narco and follow it on Twitter, and that has attracted advertisers.However, she is not rich and started the blog with her own small savings. She has livedfrugally and gave up a normal life when she started blogging in 2010. Its been threeyears without a birthday cake.

She blames former President Felipe Calderon for the violence created when he declaredwar on the cartels. She said, "it was like hitting a beehive with a stick. The bloggersays its not clear what President Enrique Pena Nietos strategy is yet. Maybe not talkingabout it is part of his strategy."


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The young blogger says the book made her relive some painful experiences. She says shehas nightmares because of the video photos, and stories she posts. But says shell stopwriting the blog when peace returns to Mexico. I still have hope. I have not lost hope."Below is a picture from the blog.

The Near Future

"This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be loversof their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents,unthankful, unholy. Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent,fierce, despisers of those that are good. Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasuresmore than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof:from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captivesilly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able tocome to the knowledge of the truth." 2 Timothy 3:1-7

"For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world tothis time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should

no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened." Matthew 24:21-22

"And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such thingsmust needs be; but the end shall not be yet. For nation shall rise against nation, andkingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shallbe famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows. But take heed toyourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall bebeaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimonyagainst them. And the gospel must first be published among all nations. But when theyshall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak,neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye:

for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost. Now the brother shall betray the brother todeath, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shallcause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's (Jesus'name) sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." Mark 13:7-13

"And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise ofthunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a whitehorse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he wentforth conquering, and to conquer. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the


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second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: andpower was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they shouldkill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. And when he had openedthe third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a blackhorse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the

midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures ofbarley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. And when he had openedthe fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, andbehold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, andwith hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth. And when he had openedthe fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God,and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, Howlong, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwellon the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said untothem, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their

brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. And I beheld when hehad opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became blackas sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood; And the stars of heaven fell unto theearth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain andisland were moved out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, andthe rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and everyfree man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to themountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on thethrone, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and whoshall be able to stand?" Revelations 6:1-17

"In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not thegospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction fromthe presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to beglorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimonyamong you was believed) in that day." 2 Thessalonians 1:8-10

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