[What follows is a transcript of a report produced for FSRN on Friday, March 4, 2011. Downloadable mp3

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

]

President Barack Obama met with his Mexican counterpart, Felipe Calderon this week for a high-level summit on bi-lateral relations. The outcome of the summit was not surprising and included, White House praises for what amounts to Calderon’s militarization of large swaths of Mexico under the mantle of fighting organized crime.

BARACK OBAMA: “I have nothing but admiration for President Calderon in his willingness to take this on. The easy thing to do would be for him to ignore the corrosive, corrupting influence of these drug cartels within Mexico. That would be the easy thing to do. He’s taking the hard path and he’s shown great courage and great risk in doing so. And the United States will support him in any ways that we can to help him achieve his goals because his goals are our goals as well…and they should be the goals of the Mexican people.”

But not all of the Mexican people share the goals outlined by the United States. Mexico is experiencing some of the worst violence since the end of its Revolution.

[dewplayer:http://www.southnotes.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/20110304sy.mp3]

A record-breaking 15,000 people died in Mexico last year within the context of the militarized Drug War, bringing the overall 4-year total to around 35,000 murders. Most of the violence has occurred in the northern states and coastal areas.

In researching her book on the hidden victims of the Drug War, investigative reporter Marcela Turati noticed some clear trends in areas most affected by the violence.

MARCELA TURATI: “First there the phenonmenon that’s being seen in many cities – that of fear. There are increasingly more walls being built because people feel unsafe in their own neighborhoods. They stop using public spaces. They stop socializing with their neighbors. Before, people would come to things like funerals, but now there’s the fear that the person killed may have been up to something and someone may come and kill the people who showed up to support the family. The first casuality of this [fear] is the loss of the community bond in a given area.”

Turati has seen this first-hand in her native state of Chihuahua – home to Ciudad Juarez. The border metropolis across from El Paso, Texas has already registered more than 450 murders so far this year, mostly due to firearms. One crime projection estimates the city will see 5,000 violent deaths by the end of the year.

The US press often describes the violence in Juarez as the product of a 3-way battle between rival cartels and federal forces. But a large number of civilians and activists have also been killed. Take the case of the Reyes Salazar family from the nearby rural area known as the Juarez Valley. Six members of the outspoken family of activist Josefina Reyes have been killed in less than 3 years. The family home was burned down last month just 100 meters from a fixed military position. Surviving family members are requesting asylum abroad.

Some residents of Ciudad Juarez, like Julian Contreras, say militarization has fueled the spike in violence…and that federal authorities are ignoring – or committing – crimes against the civilian population.

JULIAN CONTRERAS: “In a city that’s completely militarized, killers are never arrested. Never. In the case of the Juarez Valley, where the Reyes Salazar family is from, there’s only one road that goes into and out of the town and there are military checkpoints at each end. It’s totally controlled by the military. How is it possible for armed convoys to be driving around with high-caliber firearms reserved for military use without them realizing it? In this case, the only explanation is collusion at the very least. And in other cases, the direct participation of the army and federal police in this extermination campaign against the lower classes. I’d go as far as to say that it’s cheaper for the Mexican government to use the pretext of this War on Drugs to kill the poor than to end poverty.”

It’s become common to read crime reports of violence committed by “armed commandos in ski masks”. It’s impossible to clearly identify who these criminals are, but Ciudad Juarez residents who spoke to FSRN used the terms “paramilitaries” and “death squads” to describe them. Cipriana Jurado, a close friend of murdered activist Josefina Reyes had been documenting cases in which these armed groups had been able to pass through checkpoints without problems. She’s since fled Mexico due to threats.

Overall, an estimated 230,000 people have left Ciudad Juarez since 2008. Census data released Thursday shows roughly a quarter of all homes in Juarez now stand vacant. But it’s not just the fear of death that is causing the displacement. Violence and extorsion have also caused many business to shut down or leave the area, which has put people out of work and caused the city’s economy to crumble.

Meanwhile, El Paso, directly across the river that marks the border, has been prospering and remains one of the safest cities of its size in the US.

Many human rights organizations have identified the Merida Intiative as a big factor in the violence. The $1.2 billion dollar US taxpayer funded package largely consists of equipment and training for the Mexican military and police forces. As is the case with Plan Colombia, much of the money goes directly to US-based weapons manufacturers.

Juarez youth activist Adrian Fuentes Lujan says that if peace is the priority, the US should re-evalulate policies ranging from military aid to drug prohibition to trade agreements. He says bi-lateral policies should be negotiated among equals rather than dictated to Mexico.

ADRIAN FUENTES LUJAN: “The United States needs to stop sending weapons. We don’t want them here. We don’t want anymore blood. Mexicans are the ones dying in this. We want them to review their drug prohibition policies because the big part of the demand for drugs comes from the US. And there needs to be a more just economic relationship between the countries. We’ve been living a form of economic imperialism for the past 27 years and it hasn’t stopped. It’s got it’s boot on the neck of the Mexican population. And the Mexican people are starving due to this economic system – which has an effect of pushing people into crime.”

All three of the people interviewed for this story say some local groups are doing important work to create educational and cultural opportunities to maintain a sense of community. But these small-scale efforts can only go so far in the face of policies and practices tearing into the area’s social fabric.