BY MONICA ADAME Denise, a powerful television anchorwoman, heard her smart phone beeped. It was April 10. “HELP, the town of Uruachi in Chihuahua is under siege by 150 hit men,” read the tweet. She quickly retweeted the information and…
Tag: Drug war
Outpacing Violence one Tweet at a Time
By Mónica Adame The first time armed gang members threatened Daniela Azpilcueta, 27, a resident of Monterrey, in the Northern state of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, she immediately tuned to Twitter. “I saw the gun on the right window and just…
Lunchtime Hazards of Drug War
BY MONICA ADAME Cristina wore her usual workplace two-piece suit, her hair in a ponytail. She had no glamorous event planned for the day. As an official at the Ministry of Governance, in Mexico City, her work consisted on touring…
Silencing the Sindicalistas
BY WHITNEY EULICH On an April night ten years ago, Luz Ortiz took the bus home from the local university after wrapping up a union meeting. It was 10:30 p.m., and the streets of Cali, Colombia were quiet, dark. When…
In Colombia the price of a life is $770
BY STIG ARILD PETTERSEN Luz Marina Bernal straightens the sheet on the top of the bunk bed in the narrow, florescent-lit room. “This is where I last saw my son alive,” she says calmly. “When the rest of us came…
Caught in the Crossfire
BY NATHANIEL PARISH FLANNERY In the thick yellow light of early evening, standing on the bluff next to the high school in the small Texas town of Roma, you can look out over the Rio Grande River and see into…