Juarez, Mexico - Murder Capital of the World

(CBS)  Drug violence is out of control in Mexico. Thursday, President Felipe Calderon suggested prosecutors and judges aren't doing enough to bring criminals to justice. Calderon himself has come under criticism. Since he declared war on the cartels in 2006, 28,000 people have died. This year alone, more than 7,000 have died. The violence has taken a new turn.

CBS News correspondent Barry Petersen reports journalists are the new targets in Mexico's drug war.

A cameraman in Juarez barely escaped a grenade attack. Back in his newsroom, Juarez news director Edgar Roman has a new job description. He wants to "preserve the lives of the people out there reporting, covering stories. We don't want to be heroes."

Those involved in news coverage in Juarez have a saying that's also a warning: a journalist can stay alive sometimes - based on what they don't report.

"You have to censor yourself in a way that you're not going to get in trouble," Roman said.

Almost a dozen journalists have been killed this year. Recently, four journalists were kidnapped, until their TV outlet broadcast a message dictated by one of the cartels. Many are concerned that stories are now being hushed up by terrified reporters.

Before the drug war started in 2006, Americans were advised to avoid border areas. Now, Americans are being warned away from all of Mexico, especially the northern third of the country. Some now fear that Mexico is spinning out of control.

Does the violence mean the drug cartels are running scared?

"As terrible as it is, it could be a step forward," said Andrew Selee, Director of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Mexico Institute. "We're seeing the cartels for the first time, fearing the government, fearing the rule of law in Mexico."

This drug war is fought with American weapons for the American market. Of the 75,000 guns seized, 80 percent came from the U.S. They're used to fight over an estimated $40 billion drug business - virtually all for the U.S. Think of it this way - $40 billion is nearly as much revenue that Pepsi collected last year.

When Mexico's President Felipe Calderon came to Juarez, he met Luz Maria Davila, whose two sons were killed. Her only children Marcos and Jose were at a party for the Double A baseball team. Gunmen thought the party was for a cartel gang also known as Double A, and killed 13 people - mostly teenagers. She said she spoke to Calderon, because she still hopes "for justice."

But Juarez is seeing escalation of violence - a car bomb was recently used to hit paramedics trying to save a life. Paramedic Nancy Paz Mares was hit by shrapnel. She said the person who did it "has no heart."

Paramedic Philip Caldera still has dizziness from his head injuries. He called it an attack like 9/11. "They just wanted to kill many people," he said.

Juarez has become the murder capital of the world, with 2,600 dead last year. The death toll could be higher this year. It's on track to hit 3,000.

Many Mexicans feel that their country is in the midst of chaos that could break it apart - all so Americans can get their fix.

More About the Violence in Mexico
Mexican Journalists Protest Cartel Attacks
Mexico's Drug War Adopts Al Qaeda Tactics
Drug War Violence Escalates

[dzbo]

What we have here is a group of gangsters just like the ones the US had back in the 30's. No difference, they are heavy into the drugs trade. The US could had really pissed them off if we had passed Prop.19. That would have given the US more control of weed and less business for them. They are laughing at us because we did not see that we were playing right into their hands. We gave them what they wanted. Until the day that we wake up and see that weed is not a killer but the Cartels are, they will keep murdering and racketeering. Their business, like any other, is supply and demand. Just think what would have happened if Prop.19 won and their demand went down. We could have save lives!

[bressette]

RIGHT ON DZBO!

[ElIntlejente]

Why do we still have a war on drugs, just legalize and regulate. If we eliminate the black market on drugs these people would still be alive and with the US's capacity to undercut the cartels there would be no black market. Also it is a drug user's choice to kill himself, it was not these people's choice to die. Think about it.

[garlandowl]

and if drugs were legalized, where would the cia, dea, and various other law enforcement agencies get their untraceable funds?? and who would fill the jails and prisons? and where would akk the out of work attorneys judges and law enforcement personel work? never mind that tobacco and alcohol kill more people than all the illegal drugs combined. or that prescription drug abuse has become a pendemic. gotta keep those illegal drugs illegal. and just as a heads up, america instigated this drug war. we weren't getting our fair share of the profits

[malcolmkyle]

When we regulate the use of something we do NOT automatically condone it's use; the regulations concerning alcohol and tobacco are there to protect us from the vast increase in criminality that would otherwise exist if these substances were not regulated.

Nicotine is the biggest killer of all known drugs, but it's sale is legally regulated. Now why is that? Alcohol Prohibition made cigarette smoking a national habit. High on the evangelicals' hit list, second only to alcohol as a substance that had to be prohibited. In 1921, cigarettes were illegal in fourteen states, and anti-cigarette bills were pending in twenty-eight others. The prohibition of cigarettes, promoted by the very people who gave us the prohibition of alcohol, made cigarette smoking almost irresistible. As the experiment of Prohibition failed, the anti-cigarette laws fell. By 1930, they were legal almost everywhere; during Prohibition, the consumption of tobacco had nearly tripled.

A regulated and licensed distribution network for all mind altering substances would put responsible adult supervision in between children and premature access to drug distribution outlets. Regulated and licensed distribution would reflect and respect society?s values, thus preventing children obtaining easy access to these dangerous substances. What we need is legalized regulation. what we have is a non-regulated black market to which everybody has access and where all the profits go to organized crime and terrorists.

Prohibition causes massive crime and suffering, causes government/police corruption, causes America to have the highest prison population of any country in the history of the planet, causes Americans to lose all their rights and all their true values, causes the waste of trillions in taxpayer dollars, causes wars, causes violence and death in other countries, causes America to be hated by other countries, funds criminals, funds terrorists, causes the people who use drugs to be instant criminals who have to spend 100x the money for an inferior, adulterated, impure, unmeasured and thus unsafe product. Drug prohibition was started as a policy of racism and it perpetuates racism to this very day.

Wake up guys! The prisons are bursting! The police are corrupt! Most of you are not even safe in your own homes anymore and the whole country is on the verge of a total financial collapse!

[ibsteve2u]

I was in Juarez as a kid...amazed me, the number of people who tried to sell me switchblades. Didn't thrill my parents, either.

Now I suppose they're marketing automatic weapons.

[bressette]

The guns are coming from & sold by the U.S citizens - as are the drug users - shame on us!!

[hick55]

I am both disgusted and sickened by the tremendous loss of life because of our ridiculous fear of marijuana. Our miserable failure of a drug policy has caused a lot of problems for the people of Mexico and many other of our neighbors to the south. What ever happened to "Love thy neighbor as thyself", or "Do unto others as you would them do unto you"? Will the death toll have to rival that of the Holocaust before the "Good Christian" people of this country stand up and demand and end to the insane travesty of justice known as "The War on Drugs"?

[ibsteve2u]

I don't see it as a "fear" of marijuana.

I see it protectionism; the alcohol industry doesn't want the competition, and neither do the drug makers who shove billions of dollars of both pain killers and antidepressants off on the American people.

[Antinomian]

Arresting Americans for gardening empowers outlaws to take over Mexico.

[Antinomian]

No, it's not drug violence that is out of control in Mexico, it's prohibition violence that's out of control. Molecules don't cause crime and violence, only prohibition does that. People have God-given liberty to accept God's gifts, the psychoactive plants. Governments that deny liberty and human rights of their citizens are the ones with the blood on their hands.

[malcolmkyle]

Based on the unalterable proviso that drug use is essentially an unstoppable and ongoing human behavior which has been with us since the dawn of time, any serious reading on the subject of past attempts at any form of drug prohibition would point most normal thinking people in the direction of sensible regulation.

By its very nature, prohibition cannot fail but create a vast increase in criminal activity, and rather than preventing society from descending into anarchy, it actually fosters an anarchic business model - the international Drug Trade. Any decisions concerning quality, quantity, distribution and availability are then left in the hands of unregulated, anonymous and ruthless drug dealers, who are interested only in the huge profits involved. Thus, the allure of this reliably and lucrative industry, with it's enormous income potential that consistently outweighs the risks associated with the illegal operations that such a trade entails, will remain with us until we are collectively forced to admit the obvious.

A great many of us are slowly but surely wising up to the fact that the best avenue towards realistically dealing with drug use and addiction is through proper regulation which is what we already do with alcohol & tobacco, clearly two of our most dangerous mood altering substances. But for those of you whose ignorant and irrational minds traverse a fantasy plane of existence, you will no doubt remain sorely upset with any type of solution that does not seem to lead to your absurd and unattainable utopia of a drug free society.

There is therefore an irrefutable connection between drug prohibition and the crime, corruption, disease and death it causes. Anybody 'halfway bright', and who's not psychologically challenged, should be capable of understanding that it is not simply the demand for drugs that creates the mayhem, it is our refusal to allow legal businesses to meet that demand. If you are not capable of understanding this connection then maybe you're using something far stronger than the rest of us. So put away your pipe, lock yourself away in a small room with some tinned soup and water, and try to crawl back into reality A.S.A.P.

Because Drug cartels will always have an endless supply of ready cash for wages, bribery and equipment, no amount of tax money, police powers, weaponry, wishful thinking or pseudo-science will make our streets safe again. Only an end to prohibition can do that! How much longer are you willing to foolishly risk your own survival by continuing to ignore the obvious, historically confirmed solution?

If you support the Kool-Aid mass suicide cult of prohibition, and erroneously believe that you can win a war without logic and practical solutions, then prepare yourself for even more death, tortured corpses, corruption, terrorism, sickness, imprisonment, economic tribulation, unemployment and the complete loss of the rule of law.

[wjm47]

The overwhelming majority of Americans are law abiding, decent people. I'm so tired of hearing the US Media and many US citizens saying that America is what's wrong with the world today. Stop all foreign aid, bring our troops home, close/secure the borders and let the rest of the world self-destruct.

[bressette]

HA HA HA

[thekmartinez8]

Wow, sad how we have so many ignorant people like yourself in our country. I am an american citizen myself who lives in El Paso, TX which is right next to Juarez, Chihuahua; the murder capital of the world. From living here, I really strongly believe that if it wasn't for the very high american drug consumption and demand, there wouldn't be a drug war over at mexico. How selfish and hipocritical of the U.S. to just ignore what is happening next door.

[ouchitatom]

I don't blame the drug cartels for fighting for thier way of life. The way of life they chose is what I condemn. Even more so the SHAME of the killing and and the continuing success of the cartels is to be blamed on both governments on both sides of the border. There are more effective ways to solve the crossing problem. I have said this for years and will continue to say it until I am able someday to say I TOLD YOU SO. UNTIL DEADLY FORCE AUTHORIZED IS ENACTED THE BORDER PROBLEM WILL NEVER END.