City of fear

Daniel Kalder

25 September 2010

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A day in Juárez – once a party town, now the murder capital of the world

The death tour kept going. ‘A girl was found raped and stabbed over there. And see that bus stop? That’s where a man was stoned to death in front of his son for being an informer. Just down there local children were playing soccer when killers shot somebody in front of them. The police saw everything, but let them escape.’ Sister Peggy pointed towards a two-storey building across the street. ‘That’s a pharmacy,’ she said. ‘The owner was kidnapped, and his family were told to pay 100,000 pesos to get him back. They came to me, panicked. They couldn’t go to the police, or the kidnappers would have killed him. They raised the money but I don’t know how.’ The misery of life in Juárez was palpable. ‘You should come back,’ said Sister Peggy. ‘Stay a few days … ’

Eyes followed us through the Valley of Snakes, more confused than hostile. No outsiders visit Juárez any more, the expressions seemed to be saying, what are these freaks doing? I was relieved when we reached our bus stop. Stay alive another 30 minutes and I’ll get out of here, I thought, striving to vanish into the shade.

Suddenly a jeep containing black-clad Federales turned the corner, heading straight towards us. A bunch of young males dressed like ninjas and carrying machine guns, they didn’t look dedicated to restoring law and order. A day later I learned that 23 people had been killed while I was in the city.

To my surprise, Sister Peggy raised her arm and waved. ‘They’re just boys, really,’ she said. ‘They have mothers too.’ Beaming, one boy lifted a hand from his assault rifle and waved back.

Daniel Kalder’s most recent book is Strange Telescopes, published by Faber.

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Bruce Weber

September 24th, 2010 5:11pm Report this comment

Thanks, Dan, for having the guts to go and see firsthand what is happening in Juarez.

If more Americans understood what life can be like in Mexico, they might have more sympathy for those Mexicans who risk their lives to flee to the U S.