Blood on the Wall (2020) - full transcript
A group of migrants seeking a better life heads to the United States moving drugs and money all across the border.
I'll tell you something
a guy who grows up
in a rich neighborhood
with a father who is a
lawyer or a politician
got it easy, man
This a big chunk of cash
$100,000 in each package
there are other
guys whose parents
have to slave in a store
And that's just for 500.
Pro te mas.
How do you know my struggle?
Have you slept in a park?
Have you cried
yourself to sleep?
When you were 12 years old?
I got 5 kids and
I'm only 22 years old
so you tell me
did I do wrong
or did I do right?
Goddamn gringos
they didn't get us
We are bringing $120,000 dollars
We make 3 trips per
week to deliver money
This money is
for 3 kilos of heroin
There is a saying that goes
United States gives the weapons
Mexico gives the dead
Americans engage
in the wars they want
in Mexico war just shows up
There are a number
of organizations
that are in the
narcotrafficking business
and the production of drugs
but now Mexico
is too contaminated
the areas that
should be cleaned up
are the ones operated
by the southern cartels
which are the
most conflicted areas
Mexico never had,
uh, the rule of law.
There was no such thing and
there has been no such thing.
What there was under the
long-time pre-authoritarian regime
was what people called...
Una estado de orden...
the rule of order.
The PRI was able to
rule Mexico for nearly 70 years.
It was able to deliver the
goods with enough growth,
enough construction of
the middle class to make
people reasonably happy.
It was a party that was going
to permit modernity in Mexico.
But in reality what it was,
was a mechanism
of control of power.
Corruption in Mexico
went from being
an isolated incident
to be a political system
Throughout the years
the PRI party became
the crime administrator
from its position of power
The problem of course
came when economic growth
was not what it used to be and
they stopped
delivering the goods,
and there were a series of greater
tensions with the United States,
which also made
life very difficult.
There are no jobs here
there are few ways to survive
you've got do what you've got do
weapons and migration
are treated as if
they are both a crime
but you never know the
reality of an immigrant
People migrate out of need
Migration is not a crime
because we have
the right to a better life
Border officials expect today
another caravan
from Central America
arriving to the border
between Guatemala and Mexico
We are in Guatemala
and we'll make it to Mexico
We are not criminals!
We are workers!
I need to find my boyfriend
if I am not with him
I don't feel protected
because if someone
wants to hurt me
I know he will protect me
there he is
This is serious "border love"
I wasn't planning
to leave my country
but when I saw
the caravan leaving
I gave it a thought
I don't have family in Honduras
I have no job or
a place to sleep
I should leave
maybe my life will change there
I just turned 17
I truly hope that
my life will change
In Honduras lots of
young women are raped
I am a rape victim
The gangs commit crimes
and we get blamed
They have to capture
the gangsters and rapists
The reason we are here
is because our goddamn president
where are the jobs and projects
that would employ young people?
That's why we are migrating here
I just want to
see you and kiss you
because nobody can
love you like I do
Nobody will tell
you I love you like me
All these guys
we know each other
since we were kids
and they have
never left me alone
for me they are my family
not blood family but hood family
I called Mexico, said, look,
I hope you're not
gonna let these people
come through your country
and march 1,000 miles up
through your country
and come through our border.
Everybody wants
to go through Mexico,
they don't wanna stay in Mexico,
so that's the plan right there.
I hope that, uh, Mexican
authorities doesn't stop us.
The people united
will never be defeated
Mexico here we come
This caravan is causing
militarization and closing
at the southern border
We crossed
It's being stopped as
of this moment by Mexico,
so we appreciate very much
what Mexico's doing but as of
this moment you
see what's happening.
It's being stopped.
What we are looking for
is what we can't
find in our country
I came to have a future
to leave suffering behind
It gives me
strength and motivation
to travel with the
people in the caravan
We have no money
people here in Guatemala
have supported us
they have given us
food water and clothing
I left Honduras
with 1,000 lempiras
We are about 15 people
Only men
I am the only girl in this group
We know we'll
encounter gangs and extortion
and cartels
but if we stick together
we'll defend ourselves
Cross over!
You can do it!
People crossed the river
and are already in Mexico
nobody is being detained
Then let's cross the river
Let's do it
It feels so
nice to be in the water
We are so happy
to step into Mexico
Mexico here we are!
I have never
traveled in a caravan
but I heard that
children are allowed
We left Guatemala
because my stepfather
was causing problems
my mother suffered his abuses
my brothers were beaten
the problems started
when he got involved
in drug trafficking
There was so much violence
that we couldn't go out
there is a gang that
comes from the city to kill
recently they killed
a little girl we knew
she was only 10 years old
they shot her
Now we are waiting
for the Mexican
humanitarian visa
In Mexico humanitarian
visas are for sale
some may spend months
filling out requirements
in Mexico you can buy
a visa for 50,000 pesos
The United States
border will start here
Chiapas will be
the biggest funnel
for people who want to
get to the Northern border
People help us out
they give us food
we appreciate that people
give us food or water
I want to go all
the way to Tijuana
but I have to protect my kids
from the youngest to the oldest
There are risks when you have
women who are
traveling by themselves.
They are exposed to
rape and extortion.
This is why you start
to see the development of the
caravans because the caravan
is a way at least for people
to be slightly more safe and
to avoid being in the hands of
people who will hurt
them and maybe kill them.
In San Fernando, Tamaulipas
72 bodies were found
they are presumably migrants
For example,
a group of Central American
migrants were kidnapped.
They were lined up
against the wall,
handcuffed and executed by a
drug cartel called Los Zetas.
The, uh, Zetas feared
that these migrants were
gonna become recruits
for an opposing cartel.
In the same area they found
another mass grave of migrants from
Central America primarily,
with 193 people.
If you were trying to understand
who these migrants are,
I would describe them as
people who are fleeing from
deadly criminal violence.
People will often refer
to U.S. Foreign Policy
as being the cause
of failed states,
certainly Honduras
and, uh, El Salvador, uh,
if not so much in Guatemala.
And, uh, there's no question
that the United States, uh,
bears responsibility for
wars in, uh, Central America.
The U.S. in the midst
of the second part
of the Cold War, uh, seized
Central America as
the proverbial domino of
Communist Soviet
influence in the Americas.
My fellow Americans,
I must speak to you tonight
about a mounting danger in
Central America that threatens
the security of the United States.
Central America has
a long record with the USA,
they have a record of invasions,
they have a record of wars.
They have records
of interventions.
And they have a record
that has pragmated Mexico.
The record of
training for violence.
War!
Kill
Blood
Die
Though I think that we have
to look at this human tragedy
that affects so much people
as a regional problem and
it is a problem that goes
from the USA to Columbia.
Poppies in the mountains
have been sown
for over 40 years
and after all these years
people continue to be screwed
I know this is against the law
but how am I
supposed to get the money
to dress my children?
On a good day
we get one and a
half kilos of gum
These people
are not narco-traffickers
they farm a
plant that is illegal
because it is the only
thing they have been taught
The government didn't
teach them this trade
outsiders came to teach
them how to grow poppies
People from Sinaloa came here
and taught us how
to grow this plant
The history of Mexico has
left aside its indigenous people.
They have been victims
of this war against drugs.
Many times they have been
slaved to produce the drug products.
Once we take
the gum out of the poppy
that is the end
of the farmer's job
from there on the
narco-trafficking starts
it all ends up
in the United States
Nowadays there is not much work
our business is not doing well
making pure heroin
became expensive
synthetic opioids
took over the market
and our business
has gone down the drain
this is already dried
it takes about 3 hours
of work to get 2 kilos
if it gets wet then you ruin it
out of ten kilos you
may get about one kilo
let's see how much we got here
let's say this is 5 kilos
which is about 35,000 pesos
in the United States
we sell it for much more
and get a huge profit
From
the late '70s through the '90s
organized crime began to grow.
And they became these huge
organizations that the country
truly hadn't seen before.
Now this began in Sinaloa,
particularly the mountains
of where El Chapo is from.
They were loosely tied
geographically based smugglers,
who would smuggle anything,
chili peppers, tires,
blue jeans, whatever
they thought they could get up
to the U.S. border, uh, for profit.
Now in the 1970s, many of
them left the mountains of
Sinaloa and
relocated to Guadalajara.
So suddenly you had Mexico's
drug trade not in a backwater province,
but in Mexico's
second city: Guadalajara.
That's when
the cartel got strong
and by the 1980s they
were a very powerful group
DEA was trying to get Washington
to pay attention to Mexico and
Washington was
like yeah, Mexico,
a bunch of hicks
trafficking drugs.
No big deal.
Columbia's where the
big drug traffickers are.
And they're like, no, no,
there's a cartel in Mexico,
it's the Guadalajara Cartel,
which is a federation of
criminals who share resources,
who share political connections.
And they began to produce particularly
marijuana on an industrial scale,
the biggest marijuana plantations
the world had ever seen.
In 1984 a huge
ranch was discovered
the Buffalo ranch
owned by Rafael Caro Quintero
it was later discovered
that the plantation had
the blessing of the U.S.
the plan was that
the money collected
with the sale of this crop
would fund the
Contras in Nicaragua
a plan masterminded
by Oliver North
The subject of today's hearings,
allegations of CIA
involvement in the
United States drug sales
to finance the Contras in
the Nicaraguan War.
You made false statements
to them about your activities in
support of the contras.
I misled the Congress.
I did.
In the 1980s
the demand of drugs
in the U.S. changed
and cocaine
consumption increased
and the cocaine was sent
from Columbia to
the United States
by the Caribbean route
but President Ronald Reagan
closed the drug trafficking
Caribbean route
Captain, that was your
last set of warning shots.
And that forced the Columbians
to use Mexico and its
drugtrafficking organizations
So the Guadalajara cartel
also got into expanding
the trafficking of cocaine
from Columbia
and their connection to
South America was the
Honduran trafficker,
Juan Ramón Matta-Ballesteros.
He was playing this role of
connecting the Columbians and
the Mexicans and he was
connected to the military and
the Honduran military at the
time was servicing U.S. interests.
He was helping the
Honduran military and
the U.S. move goods,
perhaps even weapons,
down to the
counter-revolutionary forces
in Nicaragua,
known as the Contras.
And in his own private side,
he was moving cocaine north to
the United States
in his aircraft.
At the same time, the
Columbian cartels had decided
to better incentivize their
Mexican colleagues and started
paying Mexican drug syndicates
instead of money with cocaine,
with produce.
All this cocaine money just
flooded in and the drug cartels,
they weren't a bunch of hicks from
the Sinaloa Mountains anymore,
these guys were starting
to make huge amounts of money.
The American DEA agents,
one of them in particular,
became a thorn in the side
of the Guadalajara Cartel and
that was
Enrique "Kike" Camarena.
He began to find out about
their huge marijuana plantations
and pressured
for them to be busted.
The Drug Enforcement
Administration chief
in Mexico identified the bodies
as DEA agent Enrique Camarena
and pilot Alfredo Zavala.
When they kidnapped and
murdered Kike Camarena,
there was a huge reaction from the
Americans and under the pressure,
Caro Quintero and
Ernesto Fonseca, and
Head of the Guadalajara Cartel
Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo
was arrested.
Most of history of the next 20
years is partially explained by
that moment because
out of that arose what
was later known as
the Sinaloa Cartel.
So what became the
Sinaloa Cartel was really
a federation of
gangster warlords and.
These included Ismael Zambada,
El Chapo and also
his childhood friend,
who was from a
village right next to his,
Arturo Beltrán Leyva.
Now together they reorganized
the drug trafficking business
to become the
biggest cartel in Mexico.
Everyone had
their own territories
Tijuana
Nogales
Juarez
each one commanded
their own turf
their business was united
El Chapo and the Beltrán
Leyvas worked together
since the early days
of the narco business
they were lifelong allies
Wahoo!
When I was a child
I would look at
El Chapo's people
I wanted to be just like them
my dream was
to work for El Chapo one day
we know El Chapo is famous
he has helped
people in these towns
and we would like
to see him out of prison
El Chapo had a political
discourse about Sinaloa
and he would speak
for all the people
and he got our support
if he hadn't been caught
maybe we would be less doomed
In Acapulco in the early 90s
everything was
controlled by the narcos
they had a golden life
with a party lifestyle
they started buying nightclubs
they had surveillance
posts along the coast
it was a period
when we had peace
The narcos were
all a happy family
the had a kind of consortium
and they divided
the Mexican territory
and the states of
Guerrero and Morelos
was owned by Arturo Beltran
the Beltrans were
the owners of the turf
Also El Chapo ran
the Cartel of Sinaloa
There was the Carrillo
family of Ciudad Juarez
There was the
Arellano family of Tijuana
and Osiel Cárdenas of Tamaulipas
And they kept a relative peace
if someone crossed the line
they would kill him
that was it
Then you had very clear
rules of engagement and
very clear people with whom
you know you need to speak in
order to get things done.
At this point, there's
accusations that the
drug trafficking business was controlled
from the presidential palace itself
with allegations that
point man was Raúl Salinas,
the president's own brother.
It seems the narcos could
reach the very pinnacle of power.
The Sinaloa cartel
continues to work
in an orderly manner
but many people enjoy
killing without a reason
they get addicted to
killing as if it was a drug
I don't
you can't break the rules
if someone doesn't
want to obey the rules
they will call me
and I know what I have to do
I will bring him alive
or dead to the boss
it's that simple
if it cannot take
him in good terms
I would take him in bad terms
The great majority
of the people who are coming now
are not coming from Mexico,
they're coming
from Central America.
This situation was created
because of the authorities
in California deporting
criminal gang, MS-13,
to El Salvador.
But they did not give
El Salvador any warning and
they were not prepared for
this type of criminal organization.
I am going swimming
Everyone is here
It's cold
I've seen videos of big snakes
they can eat
a whole person at once
We pretend this
an adventurous vacation
we organize games for them
and when they are sad
I tell them that the
place we are going is better
Just because we are migrants
it doesn't mean we are criminals
or bad people
In the 1990s, the
economic system began to
change towards what
people call neo-liberalism,
economic liberalization,
privatizations,
with the expectation
this is going to promote
dynamic economic growth
and inclusiveness.
And it turns out what we
have is very low growth,
huge concentration of wealth.
The Mexican government
favored a few groups,
a few individuals at the
expense of the broader population.
Mexico has also
expelled its own people
especially from
the indigenous regions
this is one of the
countries where the gap
between the super
rich and the poor
has widened more in recent years
The indigenous
people in this country
have the highest levels
of marginalization
political oppression
and racial discrimination
These people
have been stripped
of their land and
natural resources
We're entering a new era
of economic development
NAFTA-the free trade
agreement comes into effect
On New Year's Eve
many Mexicans went to bed
hoping they would wake up
to a first world utopia
where they could buy
all kinds of products
Mexico, Mexico!
1994 was
a defining year for Mexico.
There was an armed
uprising by the Zapatistas.
We are asking
for an amendment to NAFTA
our petition has
infuriated the government
And it was the beginning
of the end for the PRI.
The country began one of
its worst economic crises.
Mexico's main demand
is democracy
Its presidential
candidate was murdered.
And this all brought
Mexico right to the edge.
In the year 2000 Mexico went
through this huge political change.
The PRI lost the presidency
for the first time in 71 years.
You began to see the
decentralization of power.
The underworld,
they no longer have
a single interlocutor.
That was something new and
what that did is that opened
up space for these
increasingly large criminal groups
to take more of the pie.
As the competition rises,
they begin to arm themselves
in a way that is
much more military,
literally having gun battles.
In public spaces, very often.
This is the
first time he is on a train
No big deal
just like riding a bus
The Army guards
the area where Felipe Calderón
will be sworn in
as the new president
Calderón
won by a margin of point .56%
so it was the smallest
margin in the history of
the presidential elections.
Members of Congress
please go back to your seats
I won the election,
in very tight elections,
in 2006.
My opponent tried to block
the inauguration ceremony but
I was able to
overcome that situation,
I got into the
Congress parlors and
I made my oath of office.
Fraud!
Fraud!
Felipe Calderón
came to power in 2006
and 14 days into the office
he launched the
so-called war on drugs
He felt that he needed to
legitimize his administration
by doing something spectacular.
I never declared
a war on drugs, never.
But it's quite common to
say the war on drugs that
President Calderón declared.
That's, it's false.
The main issue for me was rule
of law and security for the people.
At least 40 hours
lasted the battle
between federal forces
and sicarios of
the Michoacan Cartel
Calderón, he went
in there thinking he would,
you know, hit with the
power of the state and
things would calm down.
But the opposite happened.
The drug traffickers
murdering high-level officials
and you start to see
the drug cartels using
incredible violence
against each other.
The violence sky rockets,
the violence really
runs out of control.
There was really
no turning back.
He had, he had opened the
Pandora's box at that stage.
President Calderón is
taking a tough
stand against, uh,
organized crime and drugs.
In 2007, the
Merida Initiative was set up
between Mexico and
the United States.
Mr. President, you and I
have laid the foundation.
The Bush
Administration agreed that
because you had guns and
bulk cash moving from the
United States
into Mexico, the U.S.
needed to put some
skin into the game.
Finally the
Americans would experience...
accept their responsibility
for being a consumer country and
that they have to attack
demand as well as supply.
America's
public enemy number one...
Every American President
since Nixon has said that.
The most serious
problem today is cocaine.
We want
to reduce our demand for...
But no American president...
When there
is demand, there is supply.
Because they're not crazy
has gone after to reduce
the consumption of
drugs in the United States.
Why?
Because it's not
something American society
is willing to pay.
When the
Calderón Administration came in,
the focus was on the
resting and decapitating
the leadership of
the drug syndicates,
the so-called kingpin strategy.
Alfredo Beltran Leyva
is accused of being
one of the leaders
of the
Beltran Leyva brothers cartel
The Public Secretary Office
informs of the capture
of Edgar Valdez Villareal
Gerardo Alvarez Vázquez
Eduardo Teodoro Garcia Simental
alias El Teo
In coordination and support
of the governors and mayors,
the strategy was successful.
We captured
probably 25 of the 34.
The chief of chiefs has fallen
in Cuernavaca's downtown
The kingpin strategy
to eliminate the leaders
was a failure
When the government
attacked the cartels
a pact was broken
and this unleashed
the violence in Acapulco
♪ Oh, yeah ♪
♪ Hey ♪
♪ Acapulco, golden
tides are going in ♪
♪ Acapulco, golden
tides are going in ♪♪
In the 50s and 60s
Acapulco was very vibrant
This is the place that
many Hollywood people
call the sunshine Shangri-La.
Many people
spent their honeymoon here
JFK and Jackie were here
Elizabeth Taylor married here
Acapulco celebrities including
George Hamilton
enjoys the festivities.
Acapulco was beautiful beach,
beautiful sea, a place
where families went.
But Acapulco became a favorite
of the drug trade because it
is a port of entry.
A frontier nearby the Sierra Guerrero
where you have the poppy plantations,
where you have the
production of drugs
that then can go
out through the sea.
Photojournalists in Acapulco
have a dangerous life
you've got to be in
the street all the time
and the streets in
Acapulco are very dangerous
Every job in this
town is a risky business
Arturo Beltran Leyva
was the most senior narco
El Chapo Guzman started
as Arturo's bodyguard
Arturo taught all
the tricks to El Chapo
when the government
killed Arturo Beltran
new local groups emerged
and that's what
provoked the chaos
It got worse with
Arturo Beltran's death
that's when it all fell apart
What's gained
by cutting off the leaders?
All hell breaks loose
what are the
street gangs supposed to do?
They'll have to
kidnap and extort
for their own survival
that's just another war
Acapulco is a violent city
Acapulco is an ugly city
Acapulco is unsafe
but it's the coolest place
I grew up in this neighborhood
These are my brothers
the gang Acapulocos
these are my
neighborhood friends
We don't praise violence
we are just a product
of the environment
of what life is here
This is the feathered serpent
the eagle devouring the serpent
the coat of arms of Guerrero
the state where I was born
this is our culture
our ancestors
marked their bodies
the Aztecs and the Nahuas
we are like them
but in a different scenario
We got a report
of a woman killed here
The changes
in Acapulco are significant
due to organized crime
these groups own the turfs here
The municipal police work
in collusion with them
they are their street informants
they are the armed force
of the organized crime
there are cases in
which the municipal police
have disappeared people
For us the taxi drivers
killings have increased
and the main reason is extortion
I believe last year
127 taxi drivers were murdered
that's why now we
pay the extortion fee
some pay less some pay more
but we all pay
When the drug business is scarce
the narcos look for
other ways to make money
and the easy way is extortion
this is an easy way to get money
so that they can survive
and hold on to their turf
I'm totally against
extortions or kidnappings
I have killed my own people
because they did that
and I won't allow it
We no longer
have foreign tourists
cruises arrive and
people don't get off
you don't see
Americans or Canadians
in the streets
For example all these
were prosperous businesses
international brands like Gucci
now are all closed
For me it would
be good to have tourism
I work selling drugs
it's like any other business
people benefit and I do too
that's why I want to fix things
I want to do business
like Arturo Beltran
because he was a good leader
Somehow we need
to find a middle ground
we want a pact for
peace with everyone
everyone needs to be
part of the solution
even our brothers
of the organized crime
Someone was shot
this just happened
but people continue
with their life as usual
they continue eating
like nothing happened
as if there was
not a dead body here
A human head was found
and the police have arrived now
The basic institutions
of the Mexican state,
the police, the courts,
every day display, uh,
the incompetence
and politicization and
corruption that makes
them dysfunctional.
This is a country where 98%
of crimes are never solved.
And what does this mean
for an ordinary Mexican?
That if you are
the victim of a crime,
the probability of their
being some sort of rule of law
solution to your
issue will not happen.
A relationship exists
between crime and police forces
otherwise you could not explain
the crime levels in the country
how crime levels are sustained
and the high rates of impunity
The municipal police
mind their own business
they don't mess with us
and we don't bother them
if someone doesn't
want to work with us
they just have to leave us alone
but 80% of
municipal police works for us
The army can
give us some trouble
also the Marines and
some Federal Police
they can be problematic
but if I see a municipal
officer we just say hello
My mom's great grandmother
made it to the United States
but she returned to Guatemala
because she wanted
to die in her homeland
when I get to be an old man
I want to return to my
homeland and die there
Did you find the papers?
I already checked there
I am upset
because we lost
my legal documents
and the kids' documents
I will keep searching
but I think they are lost
people may question
if they are my children
they don't believe
that they are mine
without papers,
how can I prove it?
We've been together for 2 years
but I know her since
she was a little girl
we have shared hard times
we've been homeless
we've starved together
We've been cold
Hot
We endured long walks
we faced people who
look at us with disdain
people who believe that
all migrants are the same
Here in Mexico
there are narco-traffickers
prostitution rings and violence
yesterday we realized that
they were stealing children
they cover women's
noses with something
it seems to be a drug
that makes you faint
I am afraid but God knows my way
I am a bit concerned
Under the bridge 10 km from here
they dumped a body
wrapped in bed sheets
he was tied up
the message is that
we can also be killed
The state of Guerrero
is a region with a
high number of disappeared
people are desperate
they want to know where
their loved ones are
they want to find the corpses
to find some peace and comfort
when I see the federal police
or the state police or the army
they scare me more
than narco-traffickers
We search for
all the disappeared
who probably are in a mass grave
My name is Mario Vergara
I am looking for
my brother Tomás
kidnapped on July 5, 2012
to this day he is still missing
Every day 13 people
disappear in our country
The government doesn't
search for our relatives
This is a skull
this boy has a
bullet in the head
and was tied up
according to the
position in which he fell
he was shot and fell forward
In the area of Iguala we found
more than 3,000 fragments
or whole bones
scattered in the hills
It would be a miracle
if my sons were found alive
how can one
live with such a pain?
We had to face
the Mexican government
a government that
lies and represses us
It's so regrettable
dead bodies were found
the authorities
have been exposed
for their lack of responsibility
Those who should take care of us
are disappearing us
Ayotzinapa is a landmark
case in this country
Ayotzinapa proved
what we shout out loud
but they don't want to hear
the Ayotzinapa students
were disappeared
by three institutions
of the government
municipal, state,
and federal government
They have killed one of us
they killed him
call an ambulance
Why are you after us?
Goddamn dogs
It's not easy
to see your classmate die
watch them take
away your friends
and not be able to help them
What we don't want
is to see this happening again
it's the worst thing
that can happen to you
to have a son
disappeared is like dying
because you will
never have peace
The problem's ultimately
political and has to do
with accountability.
Who is responsible for what,
what agencies are responsible
for fighting crime,
who is accountable
by the system and
the answer is no one.
The truth is that
authorities can't stop violence
When your friends are murdered
when your relatives
are disappeared
when working
families are extorted
and nobody takes responsibility
people start to
organize themselves
We heard that two armed groups
are fighting
for control of the town
This is the ranch
of the criminal group DUMBOS
the DUMBOs started
in the business
of illegal sale of gasoline
that didn't bother anyone
but later they began
assaulting our citizens
Apparently the crocodile
was being fed
human flesh by the DUMBOS
but we haven't confirmed it yet
It all started when
the UPOEG came to our town
they wanted to
subject people by fear
they tried to
recruit them by force
they cannot tell me
to disarm my people
to put us in the
hands of Ernesto Gallardo
The Federal Police are here
also the Marines and the Army
they have surrounded
the police station
where the UPOEG
community police is
When we tried
to repel the DUMBOS
the Marines came after us
because we interfered
with DUMBOS' interests
but the citizens took charge
and they stopped the government
We are blocking the road
because they want to disarm
our community police UPOEG
they are the only organization
that we trust to keep us safe
We don't agree
we just want the Marines
we don't support either group
they don't think
about the people
What the government
is trying to do
is to regain control
and to disarm the
UPOEG community police
We want the government,
government, government
We have two alternatives
either the UPOEG
keeps their guns
or the UPOEG is disarmed
and the army stays
the agreement we have reached
is the UPEOG keeps the guns
and army leaves
No, this is not possible!
Who is going to be
responsible for our safety?
We don't know what
deal they made with UPOEG
so the police leaves the area
Let's go
It's a complex situation
people are upset
they would rather
defend themselves
than trust the
police or the Marines
It's always the same story
the government doesn't
deliver a solution
That's community police area
The UPOEG community police
carry the same kind of
weapons as the Marines
where do they get them?
These weapons are
exclusive for the Army
Mexico is one of the
most corrupt countries
our authorities are colluded
with narc-traffickers
and the politicians steal money
we live the consequences
in Acapulco on a daily bases
The state is corrupt
and allows illegal actions
to share the profits from it
at the moment
there are 13 governors
accused of stealing
people's money from public funds
In my government
no one will benefit
from impunity
no group or person
regardless of their power
will be allowed to
do illegal business
under the protection
of the government
Why Andrés Manuel López Obrador
won the last election?
Because he
pointed out corruption.
He pointed out how the rule
of law is an aspiration or
exists only to
protect the powerful.
He denounced the status
quo that does not work.
The country will have
an orderly and
peaceful transformation
we will end the
corruption and impunity
that prevent
Mexico's renaissance
The real question now is
whether he'll have the vision and
the statesmanship to build
institutions to contain
the enormous power that was
granted to him in this election.
I accept the challenge
Long live Mexico!
We'll be right back
Get her some shoes!
The camp bathrooms
are not clean anymore
too many people are using them
that's why I don't use them
Damn, we just realized
we won't be able to
withdraw money transfers
the bank accounts are blocked
what we are going
to do without money?
Because here we
don't get enough food
Got spare change boss?
Begging for money
Drug traffickers represent
the most dire challenge
to the rule of law in Mexico.
If the demand for drugs
is completely inelastic and
the supply for drugs
is completely elastic,
by putting pressure on the
demand side of the equation,
the only thing that you're doing
is creating economic incentives
for new players to come into the
business of production and trafficking.
The first step
is to blend the alcohol
adding benzyl cyanide and water
everything is cooked
in this pot
this machine heats it all up
and when steam comes out
we turn it off
These hoses are
connected to barrels of water
the water minimizes the smoke
so the helicopters
don't see the smoke
What do you call this product?
We call it black or red oil
Look at the illegal drug market,
Americans spend according
to the U.S. government
$100 billion every
year on illegal drugs.
Oil and water
we add chlorine to the mix
and now it is
just a matter of stirring
But also
look at the deeper issues
of why people
in these poor communities
that grow up with
unpaved streets,
with electricity not working,
with no running water,
are recruited so
easily by drug cartels.
This is it
we call it Galleta
While you produce
this are you aware of
the damage this
causes to the users?
Yes, we are aware
but life is hard
what we are supposed to
do to help our families?
My boyfriend turned himself in
to be deported back to Honduras
I am sad and want to cry
I told him just go away
I don't wanna see you anymore
he took his backpack
and I was left crying
I don't want to
continue without him
because with him I
feel safe and protected
but without him
I feel vulnerable
I feel incomplete
like something is missing
You are the most
handsome man on the world
I love you and you
are always on my mind
Let's go over there
Should I try it?
I will be fine, right?
You're my friends
You decide for yourself
OK, I will try it
This shit is like Satan
this is strong stuff
It could give you a holy death
wait wait Ludy
first let it burn
if you smoke this
part it will mess you up
don't swallow it just smoke it
This is a very dangerous life
Here you only got 2 options
prison or dead
the surveillance
plane is flying high
at this point I cannot go back
The real fight
against organized crime
is in the financial circuits
It's extremely hard
for a sovereign country
to get a hold of and go
after those institutions
when many of those institutions
are really involved in the
flowing economy
of their country.
Another scandal.
Giant HSBC had given
terrorists and drug dealers
access to
America's financial system.
Isn't this kind of shocking?
I'm not gonna quarrel
with you, Senator, of course.
Until we go after CEOs,
the ones that have
repeatedly ignored the law or
regulations on the
international scale and
we charge them criminally, I
think we're gonna be embroiled
in this type of money
laundering as long as
the cartels exist.
Wachovia bank received
deposits from the Sinaloa cartel
in the amount
of $378 billion dollars
this amount is equivalent
to one-third of Mexico's
Gross Domestic Product
Once the Mexican state decides
to launch an investigation
on their finances
maybe then
we will be able to dismantle
the monstrous criminal activity
that is rooted
in Mexico for years
I tried a drug called crystal
a drug you smoke in a light bulb
I didn't like it
it makes you feel
doubtful and confused
I don't wanna do it again
if I know that something is bad
I can fix it
I can make my own decisions
and I can choose my own path
At this
point we have 20,000 people
along the border,
basically living in shelters
at the kindness of strangers,
living on the
streets in many cases,
there's no support from the
United States for these people
and the Mexican government
has not provided any support either.
These illegal caravans
won't be allowed in the U.S.
People should turn back now
We have sent U.S. military
forces to the border
to do their job
President Trump unleashed
a tweet storm threatening to
close the southern
border with Mexico...
Consider deploying between
ten of 15,000 military personnel
to the U.S. Mexico border.
I turned myself
to the Mexican authorities
because I want to
go back to Honduras
It is harder to get food here
I am about 2 months pregnant
We double pack the drugs
and we use a special paper
to trick the security dogs
We are taking it to Los Angeles
there each kilo is worth $25,000
and if we take it to New York
we get $45,000 per kilo
it's easy to cross the border
because we bribe people
there's a lot of
corruption in the United States
we take orders
for heroin
cocaine
and crystal meth
I didn't want to do this job
I wanted to be a
doctor or a professional
but I need to eat
so I have to do this
No, there's no way out.
Especially if you're one of the
ones that take out the most drugs.
You're valuable.
You ain't gonna leave like that.
You gotta make me money.
This business
is like anything else
what we do is not right or wrong
it's just my business
and I do what I got to do
if someone wants
to consume drugs
it is their own decision
I move weapons to Mexico
and I cross drugs into the U.S.
I don't get nervous
I am used to this job
and I am not afraid
Where to?
To Phoenix
What's your business?
I live there
This is the perfect business
it doesn't end
it will be eternal
I am going
to enter the U.S.
look
I am in
I wish I was on
the other side already
but this fence doesn't allow me
and those green
people would stop me
This is what
separates me from my dad
I didn't grow up with my father
I've never met him
and my mother
worked all the time
as a child nobody
looked after me
these kids don't
have a father either
my role is to be the
father figure in the family
I wouldn't want
to be separated from my family
In spite of everything
we are still together
in good times and bad times
and even in desperate times
Charol has wished to go back
but I am always here for her
to give her strength
to keep moving forward
I remind her that
we do it for the children
We are a big family
we have better chances
crossing if we separate
we will reunite once we cross
Are you afraid?
Yes
It will be over soon
Dylan kiss me goodbye
It is time to cross
this is good place to cross
because there are
not many migration officers
Keep going straight ahead
Get down!
This path will take
them to San Diego
the border fence ends here
Do you see the hill over there?
We've got to run over there
They've crossed
they are now in
the United States
All the drugs we bring
from Mexico are pre-sold
some people think
that this is an easy job
but you are always at risk
if you hear the sirens
it could be the end of you
Everyone feels fear
but you tighten your
balls and go with it
Hello
are you ready?
I'll meet you in 15 minutes
Captioned by Cotter Media Group.
a guy who grows up
in a rich neighborhood
with a father who is a
lawyer or a politician
got it easy, man
This a big chunk of cash
$100,000 in each package
there are other
guys whose parents
have to slave in a store
And that's just for 500.
Pro te mas.
How do you know my struggle?
Have you slept in a park?
Have you cried
yourself to sleep?
When you were 12 years old?
I got 5 kids and
I'm only 22 years old
so you tell me
did I do wrong
or did I do right?
Goddamn gringos
they didn't get us
We are bringing $120,000 dollars
We make 3 trips per
week to deliver money
This money is
for 3 kilos of heroin
There is a saying that goes
United States gives the weapons
Mexico gives the dead
Americans engage
in the wars they want
in Mexico war just shows up
There are a number
of organizations
that are in the
narcotrafficking business
and the production of drugs
but now Mexico
is too contaminated
the areas that
should be cleaned up
are the ones operated
by the southern cartels
which are the
most conflicted areas
Mexico never had,
uh, the rule of law.
There was no such thing and
there has been no such thing.
What there was under the
long-time pre-authoritarian regime
was what people called...
Una estado de orden...
the rule of order.
The PRI was able to
rule Mexico for nearly 70 years.
It was able to deliver the
goods with enough growth,
enough construction of
the middle class to make
people reasonably happy.
It was a party that was going
to permit modernity in Mexico.
But in reality what it was,
was a mechanism
of control of power.
Corruption in Mexico
went from being
an isolated incident
to be a political system
Throughout the years
the PRI party became
the crime administrator
from its position of power
The problem of course
came when economic growth
was not what it used to be and
they stopped
delivering the goods,
and there were a series of greater
tensions with the United States,
which also made
life very difficult.
There are no jobs here
there are few ways to survive
you've got do what you've got do
weapons and migration
are treated as if
they are both a crime
but you never know the
reality of an immigrant
People migrate out of need
Migration is not a crime
because we have
the right to a better life
Border officials expect today
another caravan
from Central America
arriving to the border
between Guatemala and Mexico
We are in Guatemala
and we'll make it to Mexico
We are not criminals!
We are workers!
I need to find my boyfriend
if I am not with him
I don't feel protected
because if someone
wants to hurt me
I know he will protect me
there he is
This is serious "border love"
I wasn't planning
to leave my country
but when I saw
the caravan leaving
I gave it a thought
I don't have family in Honduras
I have no job or
a place to sleep
I should leave
maybe my life will change there
I just turned 17
I truly hope that
my life will change
In Honduras lots of
young women are raped
I am a rape victim
The gangs commit crimes
and we get blamed
They have to capture
the gangsters and rapists
The reason we are here
is because our goddamn president
where are the jobs and projects
that would employ young people?
That's why we are migrating here
I just want to
see you and kiss you
because nobody can
love you like I do
Nobody will tell
you I love you like me
All these guys
we know each other
since we were kids
and they have
never left me alone
for me they are my family
not blood family but hood family
I called Mexico, said, look,
I hope you're not
gonna let these people
come through your country
and march 1,000 miles up
through your country
and come through our border.
Everybody wants
to go through Mexico,
they don't wanna stay in Mexico,
so that's the plan right there.
I hope that, uh, Mexican
authorities doesn't stop us.
The people united
will never be defeated
Mexico here we come
This caravan is causing
militarization and closing
at the southern border
We crossed
It's being stopped as
of this moment by Mexico,
so we appreciate very much
what Mexico's doing but as of
this moment you
see what's happening.
It's being stopped.
What we are looking for
is what we can't
find in our country
I came to have a future
to leave suffering behind
It gives me
strength and motivation
to travel with the
people in the caravan
We have no money
people here in Guatemala
have supported us
they have given us
food water and clothing
I left Honduras
with 1,000 lempiras
We are about 15 people
Only men
I am the only girl in this group
We know we'll
encounter gangs and extortion
and cartels
but if we stick together
we'll defend ourselves
Cross over!
You can do it!
People crossed the river
and are already in Mexico
nobody is being detained
Then let's cross the river
Let's do it
It feels so
nice to be in the water
We are so happy
to step into Mexico
Mexico here we are!
I have never
traveled in a caravan
but I heard that
children are allowed
We left Guatemala
because my stepfather
was causing problems
my mother suffered his abuses
my brothers were beaten
the problems started
when he got involved
in drug trafficking
There was so much violence
that we couldn't go out
there is a gang that
comes from the city to kill
recently they killed
a little girl we knew
she was only 10 years old
they shot her
Now we are waiting
for the Mexican
humanitarian visa
In Mexico humanitarian
visas are for sale
some may spend months
filling out requirements
in Mexico you can buy
a visa for 50,000 pesos
The United States
border will start here
Chiapas will be
the biggest funnel
for people who want to
get to the Northern border
People help us out
they give us food
we appreciate that people
give us food or water
I want to go all
the way to Tijuana
but I have to protect my kids
from the youngest to the oldest
There are risks when you have
women who are
traveling by themselves.
They are exposed to
rape and extortion.
This is why you start
to see the development of the
caravans because the caravan
is a way at least for people
to be slightly more safe and
to avoid being in the hands of
people who will hurt
them and maybe kill them.
In San Fernando, Tamaulipas
72 bodies were found
they are presumably migrants
For example,
a group of Central American
migrants were kidnapped.
They were lined up
against the wall,
handcuffed and executed by a
drug cartel called Los Zetas.
The, uh, Zetas feared
that these migrants were
gonna become recruits
for an opposing cartel.
In the same area they found
another mass grave of migrants from
Central America primarily,
with 193 people.
If you were trying to understand
who these migrants are,
I would describe them as
people who are fleeing from
deadly criminal violence.
People will often refer
to U.S. Foreign Policy
as being the cause
of failed states,
certainly Honduras
and, uh, El Salvador, uh,
if not so much in Guatemala.
And, uh, there's no question
that the United States, uh,
bears responsibility for
wars in, uh, Central America.
The U.S. in the midst
of the second part
of the Cold War, uh, seized
Central America as
the proverbial domino of
Communist Soviet
influence in the Americas.
My fellow Americans,
I must speak to you tonight
about a mounting danger in
Central America that threatens
the security of the United States.
Central America has
a long record with the USA,
they have a record of invasions,
they have a record of wars.
They have records
of interventions.
And they have a record
that has pragmated Mexico.
The record of
training for violence.
War!
Kill
Blood
Die
Though I think that we have
to look at this human tragedy
that affects so much people
as a regional problem and
it is a problem that goes
from the USA to Columbia.
Poppies in the mountains
have been sown
for over 40 years
and after all these years
people continue to be screwed
I know this is against the law
but how am I
supposed to get the money
to dress my children?
On a good day
we get one and a
half kilos of gum
These people
are not narco-traffickers
they farm a
plant that is illegal
because it is the only
thing they have been taught
The government didn't
teach them this trade
outsiders came to teach
them how to grow poppies
People from Sinaloa came here
and taught us how
to grow this plant
The history of Mexico has
left aside its indigenous people.
They have been victims
of this war against drugs.
Many times they have been
slaved to produce the drug products.
Once we take
the gum out of the poppy
that is the end
of the farmer's job
from there on the
narco-trafficking starts
it all ends up
in the United States
Nowadays there is not much work
our business is not doing well
making pure heroin
became expensive
synthetic opioids
took over the market
and our business
has gone down the drain
this is already dried
it takes about 3 hours
of work to get 2 kilos
if it gets wet then you ruin it
out of ten kilos you
may get about one kilo
let's see how much we got here
let's say this is 5 kilos
which is about 35,000 pesos
in the United States
we sell it for much more
and get a huge profit
From
the late '70s through the '90s
organized crime began to grow.
And they became these huge
organizations that the country
truly hadn't seen before.
Now this began in Sinaloa,
particularly the mountains
of where El Chapo is from.
They were loosely tied
geographically based smugglers,
who would smuggle anything,
chili peppers, tires,
blue jeans, whatever
they thought they could get up
to the U.S. border, uh, for profit.
Now in the 1970s, many of
them left the mountains of
Sinaloa and
relocated to Guadalajara.
So suddenly you had Mexico's
drug trade not in a backwater province,
but in Mexico's
second city: Guadalajara.
That's when
the cartel got strong
and by the 1980s they
were a very powerful group
DEA was trying to get Washington
to pay attention to Mexico and
Washington was
like yeah, Mexico,
a bunch of hicks
trafficking drugs.
No big deal.
Columbia's where the
big drug traffickers are.
And they're like, no, no,
there's a cartel in Mexico,
it's the Guadalajara Cartel,
which is a federation of
criminals who share resources,
who share political connections.
And they began to produce particularly
marijuana on an industrial scale,
the biggest marijuana plantations
the world had ever seen.
In 1984 a huge
ranch was discovered
the Buffalo ranch
owned by Rafael Caro Quintero
it was later discovered
that the plantation had
the blessing of the U.S.
the plan was that
the money collected
with the sale of this crop
would fund the
Contras in Nicaragua
a plan masterminded
by Oliver North
The subject of today's hearings,
allegations of CIA
involvement in the
United States drug sales
to finance the Contras in
the Nicaraguan War.
You made false statements
to them about your activities in
support of the contras.
I misled the Congress.
I did.
In the 1980s
the demand of drugs
in the U.S. changed
and cocaine
consumption increased
and the cocaine was sent
from Columbia to
the United States
by the Caribbean route
but President Ronald Reagan
closed the drug trafficking
Caribbean route
Captain, that was your
last set of warning shots.
And that forced the Columbians
to use Mexico and its
drugtrafficking organizations
So the Guadalajara cartel
also got into expanding
the trafficking of cocaine
from Columbia
and their connection to
South America was the
Honduran trafficker,
Juan Ramón Matta-Ballesteros.
He was playing this role of
connecting the Columbians and
the Mexicans and he was
connected to the military and
the Honduran military at the
time was servicing U.S. interests.
He was helping the
Honduran military and
the U.S. move goods,
perhaps even weapons,
down to the
counter-revolutionary forces
in Nicaragua,
known as the Contras.
And in his own private side,
he was moving cocaine north to
the United States
in his aircraft.
At the same time, the
Columbian cartels had decided
to better incentivize their
Mexican colleagues and started
paying Mexican drug syndicates
instead of money with cocaine,
with produce.
All this cocaine money just
flooded in and the drug cartels,
they weren't a bunch of hicks from
the Sinaloa Mountains anymore,
these guys were starting
to make huge amounts of money.
The American DEA agents,
one of them in particular,
became a thorn in the side
of the Guadalajara Cartel and
that was
Enrique "Kike" Camarena.
He began to find out about
their huge marijuana plantations
and pressured
for them to be busted.
The Drug Enforcement
Administration chief
in Mexico identified the bodies
as DEA agent Enrique Camarena
and pilot Alfredo Zavala.
When they kidnapped and
murdered Kike Camarena,
there was a huge reaction from the
Americans and under the pressure,
Caro Quintero and
Ernesto Fonseca, and
Head of the Guadalajara Cartel
Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo
was arrested.
Most of history of the next 20
years is partially explained by
that moment because
out of that arose what
was later known as
the Sinaloa Cartel.
So what became the
Sinaloa Cartel was really
a federation of
gangster warlords and.
These included Ismael Zambada,
El Chapo and also
his childhood friend,
who was from a
village right next to his,
Arturo Beltrán Leyva.
Now together they reorganized
the drug trafficking business
to become the
biggest cartel in Mexico.
Everyone had
their own territories
Tijuana
Nogales
Juarez
each one commanded
their own turf
their business was united
El Chapo and the Beltrán
Leyvas worked together
since the early days
of the narco business
they were lifelong allies
Wahoo!
When I was a child
I would look at
El Chapo's people
I wanted to be just like them
my dream was
to work for El Chapo one day
we know El Chapo is famous
he has helped
people in these towns
and we would like
to see him out of prison
El Chapo had a political
discourse about Sinaloa
and he would speak
for all the people
and he got our support
if he hadn't been caught
maybe we would be less doomed
In Acapulco in the early 90s
everything was
controlled by the narcos
they had a golden life
with a party lifestyle
they started buying nightclubs
they had surveillance
posts along the coast
it was a period
when we had peace
The narcos were
all a happy family
the had a kind of consortium
and they divided
the Mexican territory
and the states of
Guerrero and Morelos
was owned by Arturo Beltran
the Beltrans were
the owners of the turf
Also El Chapo ran
the Cartel of Sinaloa
There was the Carrillo
family of Ciudad Juarez
There was the
Arellano family of Tijuana
and Osiel Cárdenas of Tamaulipas
And they kept a relative peace
if someone crossed the line
they would kill him
that was it
Then you had very clear
rules of engagement and
very clear people with whom
you know you need to speak in
order to get things done.
At this point, there's
accusations that the
drug trafficking business was controlled
from the presidential palace itself
with allegations that
point man was Raúl Salinas,
the president's own brother.
It seems the narcos could
reach the very pinnacle of power.
The Sinaloa cartel
continues to work
in an orderly manner
but many people enjoy
killing without a reason
they get addicted to
killing as if it was a drug
I don't
you can't break the rules
if someone doesn't
want to obey the rules
they will call me
and I know what I have to do
I will bring him alive
or dead to the boss
it's that simple
if it cannot take
him in good terms
I would take him in bad terms
The great majority
of the people who are coming now
are not coming from Mexico,
they're coming
from Central America.
This situation was created
because of the authorities
in California deporting
criminal gang, MS-13,
to El Salvador.
But they did not give
El Salvador any warning and
they were not prepared for
this type of criminal organization.
I am going swimming
Everyone is here
It's cold
I've seen videos of big snakes
they can eat
a whole person at once
We pretend this
an adventurous vacation
we organize games for them
and when they are sad
I tell them that the
place we are going is better
Just because we are migrants
it doesn't mean we are criminals
or bad people
In the 1990s, the
economic system began to
change towards what
people call neo-liberalism,
economic liberalization,
privatizations,
with the expectation
this is going to promote
dynamic economic growth
and inclusiveness.
And it turns out what we
have is very low growth,
huge concentration of wealth.
The Mexican government
favored a few groups,
a few individuals at the
expense of the broader population.
Mexico has also
expelled its own people
especially from
the indigenous regions
this is one of the
countries where the gap
between the super
rich and the poor
has widened more in recent years
The indigenous
people in this country
have the highest levels
of marginalization
political oppression
and racial discrimination
These people
have been stripped
of their land and
natural resources
We're entering a new era
of economic development
NAFTA-the free trade
agreement comes into effect
On New Year's Eve
many Mexicans went to bed
hoping they would wake up
to a first world utopia
where they could buy
all kinds of products
Mexico, Mexico!
1994 was
a defining year for Mexico.
There was an armed
uprising by the Zapatistas.
We are asking
for an amendment to NAFTA
our petition has
infuriated the government
And it was the beginning
of the end for the PRI.
The country began one of
its worst economic crises.
Mexico's main demand
is democracy
Its presidential
candidate was murdered.
And this all brought
Mexico right to the edge.
In the year 2000 Mexico went
through this huge political change.
The PRI lost the presidency
for the first time in 71 years.
You began to see the
decentralization of power.
The underworld,
they no longer have
a single interlocutor.
That was something new and
what that did is that opened
up space for these
increasingly large criminal groups
to take more of the pie.
As the competition rises,
they begin to arm themselves
in a way that is
much more military,
literally having gun battles.
In public spaces, very often.
This is the
first time he is on a train
No big deal
just like riding a bus
The Army guards
the area where Felipe Calderón
will be sworn in
as the new president
Calderón
won by a margin of point .56%
so it was the smallest
margin in the history of
the presidential elections.
Members of Congress
please go back to your seats
I won the election,
in very tight elections,
in 2006.
My opponent tried to block
the inauguration ceremony but
I was able to
overcome that situation,
I got into the
Congress parlors and
I made my oath of office.
Fraud!
Fraud!
Felipe Calderón
came to power in 2006
and 14 days into the office
he launched the
so-called war on drugs
He felt that he needed to
legitimize his administration
by doing something spectacular.
I never declared
a war on drugs, never.
But it's quite common to
say the war on drugs that
President Calderón declared.
That's, it's false.
The main issue for me was rule
of law and security for the people.
At least 40 hours
lasted the battle
between federal forces
and sicarios of
the Michoacan Cartel
Calderón, he went
in there thinking he would,
you know, hit with the
power of the state and
things would calm down.
But the opposite happened.
The drug traffickers
murdering high-level officials
and you start to see
the drug cartels using
incredible violence
against each other.
The violence sky rockets,
the violence really
runs out of control.
There was really
no turning back.
He had, he had opened the
Pandora's box at that stage.
President Calderón is
taking a tough
stand against, uh,
organized crime and drugs.
In 2007, the
Merida Initiative was set up
between Mexico and
the United States.
Mr. President, you and I
have laid the foundation.
The Bush
Administration agreed that
because you had guns and
bulk cash moving from the
United States
into Mexico, the U.S.
needed to put some
skin into the game.
Finally the
Americans would experience...
accept their responsibility
for being a consumer country and
that they have to attack
demand as well as supply.
America's
public enemy number one...
Every American President
since Nixon has said that.
The most serious
problem today is cocaine.
We want
to reduce our demand for...
But no American president...
When there
is demand, there is supply.
Because they're not crazy
has gone after to reduce
the consumption of
drugs in the United States.
Why?
Because it's not
something American society
is willing to pay.
When the
Calderón Administration came in,
the focus was on the
resting and decapitating
the leadership of
the drug syndicates,
the so-called kingpin strategy.
Alfredo Beltran Leyva
is accused of being
one of the leaders
of the
Beltran Leyva brothers cartel
The Public Secretary Office
informs of the capture
of Edgar Valdez Villareal
Gerardo Alvarez Vázquez
Eduardo Teodoro Garcia Simental
alias El Teo
In coordination and support
of the governors and mayors,
the strategy was successful.
We captured
probably 25 of the 34.
The chief of chiefs has fallen
in Cuernavaca's downtown
The kingpin strategy
to eliminate the leaders
was a failure
When the government
attacked the cartels
a pact was broken
and this unleashed
the violence in Acapulco
♪ Oh, yeah ♪
♪ Hey ♪
♪ Acapulco, golden
tides are going in ♪
♪ Acapulco, golden
tides are going in ♪♪
In the 50s and 60s
Acapulco was very vibrant
This is the place that
many Hollywood people
call the sunshine Shangri-La.
Many people
spent their honeymoon here
JFK and Jackie were here
Elizabeth Taylor married here
Acapulco celebrities including
George Hamilton
enjoys the festivities.
Acapulco was beautiful beach,
beautiful sea, a place
where families went.
But Acapulco became a favorite
of the drug trade because it
is a port of entry.
A frontier nearby the Sierra Guerrero
where you have the poppy plantations,
where you have the
production of drugs
that then can go
out through the sea.
Photojournalists in Acapulco
have a dangerous life
you've got to be in
the street all the time
and the streets in
Acapulco are very dangerous
Every job in this
town is a risky business
Arturo Beltran Leyva
was the most senior narco
El Chapo Guzman started
as Arturo's bodyguard
Arturo taught all
the tricks to El Chapo
when the government
killed Arturo Beltran
new local groups emerged
and that's what
provoked the chaos
It got worse with
Arturo Beltran's death
that's when it all fell apart
What's gained
by cutting off the leaders?
All hell breaks loose
what are the
street gangs supposed to do?
They'll have to
kidnap and extort
for their own survival
that's just another war
Acapulco is a violent city
Acapulco is an ugly city
Acapulco is unsafe
but it's the coolest place
I grew up in this neighborhood
These are my brothers
the gang Acapulocos
these are my
neighborhood friends
We don't praise violence
we are just a product
of the environment
of what life is here
This is the feathered serpent
the eagle devouring the serpent
the coat of arms of Guerrero
the state where I was born
this is our culture
our ancestors
marked their bodies
the Aztecs and the Nahuas
we are like them
but in a different scenario
We got a report
of a woman killed here
The changes
in Acapulco are significant
due to organized crime
these groups own the turfs here
The municipal police work
in collusion with them
they are their street informants
they are the armed force
of the organized crime
there are cases in
which the municipal police
have disappeared people
For us the taxi drivers
killings have increased
and the main reason is extortion
I believe last year
127 taxi drivers were murdered
that's why now we
pay the extortion fee
some pay less some pay more
but we all pay
When the drug business is scarce
the narcos look for
other ways to make money
and the easy way is extortion
this is an easy way to get money
so that they can survive
and hold on to their turf
I'm totally against
extortions or kidnappings
I have killed my own people
because they did that
and I won't allow it
We no longer
have foreign tourists
cruises arrive and
people don't get off
you don't see
Americans or Canadians
in the streets
For example all these
were prosperous businesses
international brands like Gucci
now are all closed
For me it would
be good to have tourism
I work selling drugs
it's like any other business
people benefit and I do too
that's why I want to fix things
I want to do business
like Arturo Beltran
because he was a good leader
Somehow we need
to find a middle ground
we want a pact for
peace with everyone
everyone needs to be
part of the solution
even our brothers
of the organized crime
Someone was shot
this just happened
but people continue
with their life as usual
they continue eating
like nothing happened
as if there was
not a dead body here
A human head was found
and the police have arrived now
The basic institutions
of the Mexican state,
the police, the courts,
every day display, uh,
the incompetence
and politicization and
corruption that makes
them dysfunctional.
This is a country where 98%
of crimes are never solved.
And what does this mean
for an ordinary Mexican?
That if you are
the victim of a crime,
the probability of their
being some sort of rule of law
solution to your
issue will not happen.
A relationship exists
between crime and police forces
otherwise you could not explain
the crime levels in the country
how crime levels are sustained
and the high rates of impunity
The municipal police
mind their own business
they don't mess with us
and we don't bother them
if someone doesn't
want to work with us
they just have to leave us alone
but 80% of
municipal police works for us
The army can
give us some trouble
also the Marines and
some Federal Police
they can be problematic
but if I see a municipal
officer we just say hello
My mom's great grandmother
made it to the United States
but she returned to Guatemala
because she wanted
to die in her homeland
when I get to be an old man
I want to return to my
homeland and die there
Did you find the papers?
I already checked there
I am upset
because we lost
my legal documents
and the kids' documents
I will keep searching
but I think they are lost
people may question
if they are my children
they don't believe
that they are mine
without papers,
how can I prove it?
We've been together for 2 years
but I know her since
she was a little girl
we have shared hard times
we've been homeless
we've starved together
We've been cold
Hot
We endured long walks
we faced people who
look at us with disdain
people who believe that
all migrants are the same
Here in Mexico
there are narco-traffickers
prostitution rings and violence
yesterday we realized that
they were stealing children
they cover women's
noses with something
it seems to be a drug
that makes you faint
I am afraid but God knows my way
I am a bit concerned
Under the bridge 10 km from here
they dumped a body
wrapped in bed sheets
he was tied up
the message is that
we can also be killed
The state of Guerrero
is a region with a
high number of disappeared
people are desperate
they want to know where
their loved ones are
they want to find the corpses
to find some peace and comfort
when I see the federal police
or the state police or the army
they scare me more
than narco-traffickers
We search for
all the disappeared
who probably are in a mass grave
My name is Mario Vergara
I am looking for
my brother Tomás
kidnapped on July 5, 2012
to this day he is still missing
Every day 13 people
disappear in our country
The government doesn't
search for our relatives
This is a skull
this boy has a
bullet in the head
and was tied up
according to the
position in which he fell
he was shot and fell forward
In the area of Iguala we found
more than 3,000 fragments
or whole bones
scattered in the hills
It would be a miracle
if my sons were found alive
how can one
live with such a pain?
We had to face
the Mexican government
a government that
lies and represses us
It's so regrettable
dead bodies were found
the authorities
have been exposed
for their lack of responsibility
Those who should take care of us
are disappearing us
Ayotzinapa is a landmark
case in this country
Ayotzinapa proved
what we shout out loud
but they don't want to hear
the Ayotzinapa students
were disappeared
by three institutions
of the government
municipal, state,
and federal government
They have killed one of us
they killed him
call an ambulance
Why are you after us?
Goddamn dogs
It's not easy
to see your classmate die
watch them take
away your friends
and not be able to help them
What we don't want
is to see this happening again
it's the worst thing
that can happen to you
to have a son
disappeared is like dying
because you will
never have peace
The problem's ultimately
political and has to do
with accountability.
Who is responsible for what,
what agencies are responsible
for fighting crime,
who is accountable
by the system and
the answer is no one.
The truth is that
authorities can't stop violence
When your friends are murdered
when your relatives
are disappeared
when working
families are extorted
and nobody takes responsibility
people start to
organize themselves
We heard that two armed groups
are fighting
for control of the town
This is the ranch
of the criminal group DUMBOS
the DUMBOs started
in the business
of illegal sale of gasoline
that didn't bother anyone
but later they began
assaulting our citizens
Apparently the crocodile
was being fed
human flesh by the DUMBOS
but we haven't confirmed it yet
It all started when
the UPOEG came to our town
they wanted to
subject people by fear
they tried to
recruit them by force
they cannot tell me
to disarm my people
to put us in the
hands of Ernesto Gallardo
The Federal Police are here
also the Marines and the Army
they have surrounded
the police station
where the UPOEG
community police is
When we tried
to repel the DUMBOS
the Marines came after us
because we interfered
with DUMBOS' interests
but the citizens took charge
and they stopped the government
We are blocking the road
because they want to disarm
our community police UPOEG
they are the only organization
that we trust to keep us safe
We don't agree
we just want the Marines
we don't support either group
they don't think
about the people
What the government
is trying to do
is to regain control
and to disarm the
UPOEG community police
We want the government,
government, government
We have two alternatives
either the UPOEG
keeps their guns
or the UPOEG is disarmed
and the army stays
the agreement we have reached
is the UPEOG keeps the guns
and army leaves
No, this is not possible!
Who is going to be
responsible for our safety?
We don't know what
deal they made with UPOEG
so the police leaves the area
Let's go
It's a complex situation
people are upset
they would rather
defend themselves
than trust the
police or the Marines
It's always the same story
the government doesn't
deliver a solution
That's community police area
The UPOEG community police
carry the same kind of
weapons as the Marines
where do they get them?
These weapons are
exclusive for the Army
Mexico is one of the
most corrupt countries
our authorities are colluded
with narc-traffickers
and the politicians steal money
we live the consequences
in Acapulco on a daily bases
The state is corrupt
and allows illegal actions
to share the profits from it
at the moment
there are 13 governors
accused of stealing
people's money from public funds
In my government
no one will benefit
from impunity
no group or person
regardless of their power
will be allowed to
do illegal business
under the protection
of the government
Why Andrés Manuel López Obrador
won the last election?
Because he
pointed out corruption.
He pointed out how the rule
of law is an aspiration or
exists only to
protect the powerful.
He denounced the status
quo that does not work.
The country will have
an orderly and
peaceful transformation
we will end the
corruption and impunity
that prevent
Mexico's renaissance
The real question now is
whether he'll have the vision and
the statesmanship to build
institutions to contain
the enormous power that was
granted to him in this election.
I accept the challenge
Long live Mexico!
We'll be right back
Get her some shoes!
The camp bathrooms
are not clean anymore
too many people are using them
that's why I don't use them
Damn, we just realized
we won't be able to
withdraw money transfers
the bank accounts are blocked
what we are going
to do without money?
Because here we
don't get enough food
Got spare change boss?
Begging for money
Drug traffickers represent
the most dire challenge
to the rule of law in Mexico.
If the demand for drugs
is completely inelastic and
the supply for drugs
is completely elastic,
by putting pressure on the
demand side of the equation,
the only thing that you're doing
is creating economic incentives
for new players to come into the
business of production and trafficking.
The first step
is to blend the alcohol
adding benzyl cyanide and water
everything is cooked
in this pot
this machine heats it all up
and when steam comes out
we turn it off
These hoses are
connected to barrels of water
the water minimizes the smoke
so the helicopters
don't see the smoke
What do you call this product?
We call it black or red oil
Look at the illegal drug market,
Americans spend according
to the U.S. government
$100 billion every
year on illegal drugs.
Oil and water
we add chlorine to the mix
and now it is
just a matter of stirring
But also
look at the deeper issues
of why people
in these poor communities
that grow up with
unpaved streets,
with electricity not working,
with no running water,
are recruited so
easily by drug cartels.
This is it
we call it Galleta
While you produce
this are you aware of
the damage this
causes to the users?
Yes, we are aware
but life is hard
what we are supposed to
do to help our families?
My boyfriend turned himself in
to be deported back to Honduras
I am sad and want to cry
I told him just go away
I don't wanna see you anymore
he took his backpack
and I was left crying
I don't want to
continue without him
because with him I
feel safe and protected
but without him
I feel vulnerable
I feel incomplete
like something is missing
You are the most
handsome man on the world
I love you and you
are always on my mind
Let's go over there
Should I try it?
I will be fine, right?
You're my friends
You decide for yourself
OK, I will try it
This shit is like Satan
this is strong stuff
It could give you a holy death
wait wait Ludy
first let it burn
if you smoke this
part it will mess you up
don't swallow it just smoke it
This is a very dangerous life
Here you only got 2 options
prison or dead
the surveillance
plane is flying high
at this point I cannot go back
The real fight
against organized crime
is in the financial circuits
It's extremely hard
for a sovereign country
to get a hold of and go
after those institutions
when many of those institutions
are really involved in the
flowing economy
of their country.
Another scandal.
Giant HSBC had given
terrorists and drug dealers
access to
America's financial system.
Isn't this kind of shocking?
I'm not gonna quarrel
with you, Senator, of course.
Until we go after CEOs,
the ones that have
repeatedly ignored the law or
regulations on the
international scale and
we charge them criminally, I
think we're gonna be embroiled
in this type of money
laundering as long as
the cartels exist.
Wachovia bank received
deposits from the Sinaloa cartel
in the amount
of $378 billion dollars
this amount is equivalent
to one-third of Mexico's
Gross Domestic Product
Once the Mexican state decides
to launch an investigation
on their finances
maybe then
we will be able to dismantle
the monstrous criminal activity
that is rooted
in Mexico for years
I tried a drug called crystal
a drug you smoke in a light bulb
I didn't like it
it makes you feel
doubtful and confused
I don't wanna do it again
if I know that something is bad
I can fix it
I can make my own decisions
and I can choose my own path
At this
point we have 20,000 people
along the border,
basically living in shelters
at the kindness of strangers,
living on the
streets in many cases,
there's no support from the
United States for these people
and the Mexican government
has not provided any support either.
These illegal caravans
won't be allowed in the U.S.
People should turn back now
We have sent U.S. military
forces to the border
to do their job
President Trump unleashed
a tweet storm threatening to
close the southern
border with Mexico...
Consider deploying between
ten of 15,000 military personnel
to the U.S. Mexico border.
I turned myself
to the Mexican authorities
because I want to
go back to Honduras
It is harder to get food here
I am about 2 months pregnant
We double pack the drugs
and we use a special paper
to trick the security dogs
We are taking it to Los Angeles
there each kilo is worth $25,000
and if we take it to New York
we get $45,000 per kilo
it's easy to cross the border
because we bribe people
there's a lot of
corruption in the United States
we take orders
for heroin
cocaine
and crystal meth
I didn't want to do this job
I wanted to be a
doctor or a professional
but I need to eat
so I have to do this
No, there's no way out.
Especially if you're one of the
ones that take out the most drugs.
You're valuable.
You ain't gonna leave like that.
You gotta make me money.
This business
is like anything else
what we do is not right or wrong
it's just my business
and I do what I got to do
if someone wants
to consume drugs
it is their own decision
I move weapons to Mexico
and I cross drugs into the U.S.
I don't get nervous
I am used to this job
and I am not afraid
Where to?
To Phoenix
What's your business?
I live there
This is the perfect business
it doesn't end
it will be eternal
I am going
to enter the U.S.
look
I am in
I wish I was on
the other side already
but this fence doesn't allow me
and those green
people would stop me
This is what
separates me from my dad
I didn't grow up with my father
I've never met him
and my mother
worked all the time
as a child nobody
looked after me
these kids don't
have a father either
my role is to be the
father figure in the family
I wouldn't want
to be separated from my family
In spite of everything
we are still together
in good times and bad times
and even in desperate times
Charol has wished to go back
but I am always here for her
to give her strength
to keep moving forward
I remind her that
we do it for the children
We are a big family
we have better chances
crossing if we separate
we will reunite once we cross
Are you afraid?
Yes
It will be over soon
Dylan kiss me goodbye
It is time to cross
this is good place to cross
because there are
not many migration officers
Keep going straight ahead
Get down!
This path will take
them to San Diego
the border fence ends here
Do you see the hill over there?
We've got to run over there
They've crossed
they are now in
the United States
All the drugs we bring
from Mexico are pre-sold
some people think
that this is an easy job
but you are always at risk
if you hear the sirens
it could be the end of you
Everyone feels fear
but you tighten your
balls and go with it
Hello
are you ready?
I'll meet you in 15 minutes
Captioned by Cotter Media Group.