Facts on the violence in Juarez Mexico.

A brief overview:

Most date the beginning of the huge increase in drug-war violence and consequent losses in Juarez to a little over three years ago, at the beginning of 2008. Today the saddest of facts emerge: In a city of 1.3 million, with 8,464 people murdered in the past three-and-a-half years, there are now an estimated 10,000 or more orphans to care for in Juarez, and countless widows. Many of the murders are drug-related, but many victims are just randomly mown down. Food, medical care, healing, and shelter are badly needed. Two thousand physicians have fled the city in the last four years, and only twenty psychologists remain to help treat the rage and grief these trauma survivors feel. So many children helplessly watched family members lined up and killed. Kidnappings and extortions are also common, involving not only the drug war victims, but also the wealthy and those perceived to be able to pay ransom, including many pastors’ families. The ripple effect of living in Juarez and witnessing this violence has led to a huge increase in mental illness and spiritual sickness. Without help, the witnesses of this carnage (especially the tiny ones) get trapped in a seemingly endless cycle. Young teenagers get drawn into the role of kidnapper/killers, either for money to buy food or because the drug gang threatens to kill their parents. The maquiladora jobs don’t pay well and leave many kids unfed and unattended by parents who are working – these kids are susceptible to joining street gangs. The wealthy have vacated the city – now only the poor remain. Some 230,000 people have left Juarez in the past two years. The once thriving tourist Mercado has shuttered shops and is patrolled by military guards. The poverty only increases. Extortion has closed so many businesses, and those who are able have moved across the border to El Paso. Even churches have re-located because of the violence and the extortion. Out of fear of the violence, youth mission teams from the U.S. have dropped to almost none. In 2008, nine people were gunned down during an altar call at a drug rehab center. In Mexico, human trafficking is second only to drug trafficking, and commonly women and girls are sold or kidnapped into the sex slave market. Even the news can’t be reported to the world accurately, but journalists and news media encounter censorship, especially from drug cartels or from corruption within the government. Mexico is now the most dangerous place to be a journalist (tied with Pakistan). Some estimate that over 65 journalists have been killed in the last 5 years. The overall murder rate for Juarez (number of murders per 100,000 population) now stands at somewhere between 200 and 300. Except in places of hot civil wars such as Somalia, the killings of Juarez (which include men, women, and children) are higher in percentage than any other place that can be recorded on this earth.

Into this darkness, God wants his light to shine.