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Story Publication logo December 29, 2008

Trouble in Culiacán

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Mexico
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Mexico: Trouble in Culiacán

In the last several years, at least one dozen Mexican norteño musicians have been murdered in a wave...

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Valentín Elizalde was a popular banda singer before he was gunned down outside Reynosa in 2006. The motives behind his assassination have been cause for much speculation in Mexico. Photo credit: Jordan deBree
Musicians play for cash and solicit gigs at designated points around the city. These days, they are hesitant to play narcocorridos, songs that touch on the region's drug trade. Photo credit: Clayton Worfolk
On the south side of the city, elaborate mausoleums mark the final resting places of the city's wealthiest residents, many of them traffickers. Photo credit Clayton Worfolk
At the chapel dedicated to Jesús Malverde, the (unofficial) patron saint of narco-traffickers, devotees leave behind pictures of loved ones. The real-life Malverde was supposedly a Robin Hood-like bandit who authorities killed in 1909. Photo credit: Clayton Worfolk

Images by Clayton Worfolk and Jordan deBree

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