Mexico on the Brink

The photographer Julián Cardona shares images from Juárez, where violent drug cartels rule the streets and citizens live in fear.

"The question is, can the army be trusted, and if so, can it win this latest—and biggest—battle in the seemingly endless “war on drugs”? President Calderón has deployed more than 45,000 troops (out of a total force of 230,000) throughout the country. Of that number, about 7,000, reinforced by 2,300 federal policemen, occupy Juárez as part of Operación Conjunta Chihuahua—the Joint Chihuahuan Operation. The army has taken over all the policing functions. The city is under undeclared martial law. Although many ordinary Mexicans welcome the army’s intervention, certain that things would be far worse without it, approval has been far from universal."

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