In the last several years, at least one dozen Mexican norteño musicians have been murdered in a wave of violence bearing the brazenness and brutality of Mexico's drug cartels. Most of the victims performed what are known as "narcocorridos," popular folk songs that tell the stories of the Mexican drug trade — and, depending on who you ask, celebrate its leaders as folk heroes.
Published December 28, 2008
We arrive in Culiacán early Wednesday morning, and it doesn't take long to see signs of the fear that has settled in on the city. Masked federal police patrol the roads in caravans of armored trucks, and by nightfall, the streets are empty.
Over 100 drug-related homicides have been reported this month alone in Culiacán, a city of just under 800,000 people. The daily toll is somewhere between four and five bodies a day. While much of the violence has occurred between narco comandos, as the local newspapers call them, and the police, the brazenness of the attacks, which often occur during the day and in busy parts of the city, have shocked residents.
Many have been caught in the crossfire. Only Ciudad Juarez and Tijuana, the border towns that serve as the frontline for the battle between the fractured Sinaloa-based cartel and its rivals in the Gulf of Mexico and on the border, have been bloodier.
On our first day in Culiacán, four people are shot dead, including a 56-year-old doctor executed in his own office.
Project
A Borderland Pictures production
A film by Jordan deBree and Clayton Worfolk
Produced in association with the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting
On his last day in Culiacán, Pulitzer Center grantee Clayton Worfolk witnessed a traumatic crime scene—an embodiment of what has made this city one of the most dangerous in Mexico.
Project
Grantee
Jordan deBree is a documentary producer, cameraman and editor. He has worked as a journalist both in the United States and in Latin America. His work has appeared on PBS, MSNBC, and in a variety of...
Grantee
Clayton Worfolk recently completed the master's degree program at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism, where he focused on television production and magazine writing.
He has traveled to...
