‘First, the prosecutor never proved Tono fired the gun; the prosecutor’s gunpowder test was negative; Second, we found a list: several witnesses said they saw Tono elsewhere that day, but the police chose not to follow up. In Mexico you have to prove your innocence. ibid. two lawyers
78% of inmates are fed by their families. ibid.
‘We have to make up or exaggerate charges.’ ibid. rozzer
93% of inmates were never shown an arrest warrant. ibid.
95% of the verdicts are convictions. ibid.
92% of accusations are based exclusively on witnesses. ibid.
‘Only what the judge said had been recorded.’ ibid. lawyer
Stop presumption of guilt in Mexico! ibid.
‘Student demonstration, May ’68, quickly repressed the Mexican way. Two hundred dead, and the game opened in a pacified capital.’ Grin Without a Cat aka The Base of the Air is Red, commentator, 1977
‘He [El Chapo] makes Pablo Escobar look like a choir-boy in comparison.’ The Rise and Fall of El Chapo, CI 2017
Billionaire, drug lord, master of escape … known by many as Public Enemy Number 1. ibid.
After four decades in the business, El Chapo is much more than a drugs smuggler. ibid.
‘Here’s a man worth over a billion dollars.’ ibid.
All that’s left is a hole in the ground … ‘He just staged a spectacular escape from prison.’ ibid.
The brutal gun-battle lasted for almost an hour … El Chapo was nowhere to be seen. ibid.
‘El Chapo Guzman told Mexico marines that he himself was directly responsible for two to three thousand Mexico citizens.’ ibid.
This story takes place in Mexico City. And in this city, as in many others in the world, cars have no place to move. Over 15 million souls and 3 million vehicles seek a daily route to reach their destination. And then one day the construction of an elevated freeway began, the longest elevated freeway in the history of the city. Digging, dust, steel rods and concrete and workers, so many construction workers … In the Pit, 2006
My name is Chabelo: I do a little bit of everything. ibid.
I’ve already spent fifteen years in this hell. ibid. Jose
I want to do better in life. To take care of his sister. I only earn $300 a week and it’s never enough. ibid. worker
Why should I worry. Work’s never gonna end. The end is gonna be for us. ibid.
You can get used to anything. Except work. ibid.
The owner of all this must have made a pact with the devil. ibid.
Inevitable it’s going to take lives … many. ibid.
It’s looking really nice. Too bad I’ll never use this fucking freeway because I don’t even have a bicycle. ibid.
Even I don’t care about the freeway. I’m somewhere else. ibid.
The Cancun Strip Mexico: Thousands of American college students head to the Strip to enjoy one long beach party. Drugs Inc s7e4: Cancun Spring Break, National Geographic 2015
Guys that work with two major drug gangs that rule the roost: the Sinaloa and the Gulf Cartels. ibid.
Cancun: where the party never stops. Where Cartel enforcers operate in the shadows. Drugs Inc s7e22: Cartel Games,
The Sinaloa Cartel is the most powerful drug trafficking organisation in the world. ibid.
Mexico: a wild man. The animals that live here do so in greater numbers and varieties than almost anywhere else on Earth. With so much at stake one man has fought tirelessly to protect the wildlife of Mexico. But there’s a particular creature he’s devoted his life to saving. Rodrigo Medellin is the champion of one of the world’s most hated animals – bats. David Attenborough, The Bat Man of Mexico – Natural World, BBC 2017
‘They call me the Bat Man.’ ibid.
There are thousands of bats here of many different species. ibid.
Without bats there would be no tequila. Bats are so vital in spreading pollen and seeds that they’re known as the farmers of the tropics. Without them our crops and forests would collapse. ibid.
The drug wars taking place just south of the American borders … affects him [Mitt Romney] personally. The Mormon Mexican War, Vice TV 2012
Mitt Romney’s family-type Mormons [FDLS], Mexican drug cartels, polygamy, kidnapping, cocaine, and finally murder. ibid.
The thing that sets the Mexican cartels apart from the other Mobs is their seemingly profound love of murder. ibid.
The war on drugs in so violent that its body count is almost ten times that of American soldiers killed in the real ways in Iraq and Afghanistan. ibid.
These Mormon [FDLS] colonies are still here and they’re actually fighting the Narco drug cartels. ibid.
Many moved down to Mexico to continue to practise polygamy. ibid.
The LeBarons wouldn’t quit. ibid.
‘I believe this case shows the real Mexico. All of these events are marked by impunity. The bodies were abandoned, the injured were left bleeding out for more than five hours.’ The Missing 43: Mexico’s Disappeared Students, critic, Vice News 2014
Thousands of people have gathered to protest the disappearance of 43 normal students in the southern state of Guerreiro and the killing of six others … This case has stunned Mexico to new levels of outrage and anger. ibid.
On the afternoon of September 26th a group of about one hundred students … were ambushed by police patrols and that’s when the shooting started: police shot indiscriminately at the three buses. ibid.
‘Police hand-picked the ones that were taken away.’ ibid. escapee
More mass graves were being discovered. ibid.
Extortion, kidnapping, theft, murder, executions can all result from the main activity of harvesting poppy. The Rise of Mexican Black Tar Heroin, rozzer, Vice 2016
I feel a load off my chest. ibid. addict
Opiate-related overdose deaths quadrupled 2002-2013. ibid.
For years the heroin market had been dominated by opium from central and south Asia … Mexico has become the third largest opium producer. ibid.
An entire community displaced by the drugs trade. ibid.
In the heart of the Americas where continents collide there’s a land full of natural riches. A land of towering giants, scorching sands and secret rivers where great civilisations rose and fell. To succeed here takes passion and spirit – this is a country rich in culture and colour: a festival of life: this is Mexico. Mexico: Earth’s Festival of Life I: Mountain Worlds, BBC 2017
In the far north-east of Mexico is an ancient mountain world – Serranias del Burro. It’s home to an abundance of creatures. And the most surprising resident is the black bear. ibid.
In this one region there are more than 2,000 different types of plant, over 340 bird species, and 800 kinds of butterfly. Fairytale oak forests are a secret garden for more colourful tropical species. The most bewitching of all: orchids. ibid.
This sprawling mega-city is home to over 20 million people. ibid.
In Mexico’s far south there’s a forest full of secrets. It’s March, the peak of the dry season. This pool is fast disappearing and it draws all the animals from the forest. Even the most elusive. Mexico: Earth’s Festival of Life II: Forests of the Maya
Bats are vital to life in the Yucatan keeping its insect population in check. ibid.
Mangroves flourish the mix of fresh and salt water … Manatees come to drink at the outpouring of fresh water. ibid.
Without these great hidden rivers this would be a hot dry and hostile place. ibid.
Just south of the American border is a little-known world: Northern Mexico’s prairie lands. These dry grasslands are home to one of Mexico’s most sociable animals – the black-tailed prairie dog. They live in extensive colonies comprised of dozens of families. Mexico: Earth’s Festival of Life III: Burning North
One of the prairie’s most persistent hunters – the bullsnake. ibid.
This is cowboy country. With year-round water and plenty of pasture these prairies are ideal for cattle-ranching. ibid.
One of Mexico’s greatest natural wonders – the valley of Cuatro Cienegas … Home to more unique species than anywhere else on the American continent. ibid.
The creosote bush … One plant is known to have survived for over 11,000 years. It’s brilliant at coping with drought. ibid.