Mexico's drug war
Brad Barker: Ciudad Juarez, in my view, is the most dangerous city on Earth right now. Taking into consideration Iraq, Afghanistan, all the revolutions happening in the Middle East, they're all horrible but nothing compared to Juarez, Mexico.
TIM NOONAN: On the banks of the Rio Grande, the most dangerous city in the world shares its border with the safest city in America, El Paso. In a hostile place, I arrive to a warm welcome. Juarez's population is about the size of Perth but it's the epicentre of the world's drugs supply, including Australia. Especially cocaine. I arrive in the midst of a bloody turf war between rival drug cartels. That afternoon, I meet press photographer Hector Dyer. When a murder happens, he's first on the scene.
Hector's been called to a gangland execution - a daily ritual for him,
a first for me.
TIM NOONAN: There is actually a crowd on the street just watching on. For them, this is nothing new. We're just arriving at a scene where one person has apparently just been executed. There's the body up ahead. We're just approaching now. There's already an ambulance there. This is just the first murder for the day. Neighbours heard five shots being fired. He's apparently been here for half an hour and now the police forensics are moving in.
TIM NOONAN: Give me an idea of just how many people are killed here in Juarez every day.
Sandra Rodriguez: The last year it was about 10 killings per day. 10 killings per day?
TIM NOONAN: 10 killings per day. That's unbelievable.
Sandra Rodriguez: It's like one every two hours.
TIM NOONAN: How often do you come across fights between the drug cartels?
Ambulance driver: Every day. Every day is a fight.
TIM NOONAN: In Juarez, rival gangs are fighting to control the lucrative trade. There's apparently been an assault in downtown Juarez and we're just searching for it now. Looks bad. 2:10 on the streets of Juarez - this is just one more brutal attack.
TIM NOONAN: Bashed, bloodied and barely alive and he's one of the lucky ones - A foot soldier who crossed a rival gang. This town, it seems lawless.
Sandra Rodriguez: Absolutely lawless, yes. The only law that is applying now is the bullets.
TIM NOONAN: How do you feel about operating on a potential drug trafficker that may have killed someone?
Dr Arturo Valenzuela: I'm not a judge, I'm a surgeon. And every human being is - is just as far as just one decision to be a bad guy. Just one decision. Everybody can be corrupted.
Brad Barker: Let's just say that this is a $40 to $60 billion a year industry. We are Mexico's largest stakeholder.
TIM NOONAN: No one knows more about the dangers of Juarez and Mexico than Brad Barker, President of the Halo Corporation.
Brad Barker: They're going to take control and they're going to scare you.
TIM NOONAN: Brad runs a team of ex-commandos whose work includes rescuing foreigners kidnapped by drug gangs for ransom and business is booming.
Brad Barker: Whether it's the cocaine or crystal meth or ecstasy or any of these drugs that are coming to the United States from any Latin American or Middle Eastern - yes, Middle Eastern origin - the front door for drugs is Mexico. In particular, Juarez.
TIM NOONAN: When they're not warring with each other, the cartels are taking on the state. In Juarez, when a raid goes down, it's the police and army who are often outgunned. This is a police raid on a house owned by a gang member.
Brad Barker: Any male plays army. When you're a young male in Juarez, you're playing for real and you're playing for keeps. You're using automatic weapons, AK-47s, fragmentation grenades, plastic explosives, like C4, RPGs - rocket-propelled grenades. These are the most sophisticated pieces of equipment that are used to fight wars globally and children have them in Mexico.
TIM NOONAN: The most feared drug lord fighting for control in Juarez is a man they call El Chapo. In 2001, he escaped from a maximum security prison. Someone high up had been paid to smuggle him out. El Chapo is now Mexico's most wanted man. What do you know about El Chapo?
Brad Barker: Well, we know that he is an incredible leader. He's among the best at recruiting people. He has been able to evade capture and then once captured, he has been able to get away. He is almost mythical in his story.
TIM NOONAN: Juarez is the distribution point for not only America's cocaine, marijuana and heroin, but much of the world's and Australia is considered a big market by the cartel bosses.
Brad Barker: These are very sophisticated, organised crime organisations that are using terrorism to achieve the profit motive.
TIM NOONAN: This is the price for not paying protection money to drug cartels in Juarez. What distinguishes the cartels in Juarez is the level of terror they inflict. Some of what I saw I can't show. Much of what happens is too brutal to be seen.
Brad Barker: They have been playing games of one-upsmanship, of who can behead someone in the most sensational way.
TIM NOONAN: In this lawless city, some do end up in jail. The main prison houses many lower-ranking gang members. I'm here to see a prisoner who's serving a 38-year sentence but he's lucky he's in an acquired part of the jail. Here they need to keep the drug gangs separate so they don't kill each other. Oscar Ravaros was a drug-dealing gang member and saw the brutality.
Oscar Ravaros (translation): You steal from them, they will find you, They will torture you and your family. Generally, they will find your family and they torture them in front of you. They take videos. They will tell you what's going to happen to you and usually they will kill you.
Rosa Vasquares(translation): They have removed half of my life because my sons were everything to me.
TIM NOONAN: Rosa Vasquares' two sons were tortured, killed and buried in shallow graves on the outskirts of Juarez.
Rosa Vasquares(translation): I'm angry because there is no justice.
TIM NOONAN: In this city, it can be hard to separate the good guys from the bad. In theory, the cops are the good guys but many of them are actually working for the drug lords. Rosa's sons were killed by corrupt police. So if you can't trust the army, you can't trust the police, you can't trust the Federales - in Juarez, who can you trust?
Brad Barker: You can't trust anyone.
TIM NOONAN: Before I left, there was one final place I had to visit, a place of innocence and sadness - the orphanage.
Sandra Rodriguez: There is a lot of pain. 7,000 people killed in the city with sons, daughters, mums, brothers and sisters. It's 7,000 families with a loss of a person by killing. Do the math.
Dr Arturo Valenzuela: How many children, orphans do we have now? Those are the next generation of killers if we do not do something. If we don't go to them, they're going to come to us but transformed.
Brad Barker: Until the love for these drugs is reduced in America, that problem is going to persist.
TIM NOONAN: What's the price of life in Juarez?
Brad Barker: The price for a human in Juarez is valueless. They're killing the people to establish the fear that anyone is reachable.
