'No safe place' in Juarez

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/americas/8236945.stm

Version 0 of 1.

Ciudad Juarez on the US-Mexico border has been the centre of a vicious inter-gang drug war that has seen more than 1,000 drug-related deaths so far this year.

Ciudad Juarez is at the centre of a vicious war between drug cartels

Pastor Manuel Estebane, a US citizen with Mexican origins, went to Juarez three years ago as the church there needed a pastor. He describes what life is like in Mexico's most violent city.

On the surface everything seems normal. People go to work or school and follow their daily routines because that's what life is about. We have to keep on living.

But there is one thing on people's minds - how many people were killed the previous day and how many might be killed today.

There is a great deal of fear because the violence could be triggered anywhere - in restaurants, shopping centres, even in churches. Nowhere is safe. The doctors are fearful when injured people arrive because the drug lords could go into the hospital and start shooting in a non-discriminating manner just to 'finish the job'.

Yesterday a man was killed and crucified outside a church. There was a banner saying: "That is the way all the pigs will end up." The drug lords kill with brutality and viciousness.

The killings can happen any time of the day, not just at night time.

I go for a run every morning. And while I am doing my exercise I am constantly aware of what's happening around me. I am thinking for example, a 4x4 has parked, I can't see who's inside, I have to run faster and get away from the car.

'Undeclared curfew'

People leave their houses and you notice they cross themselves, asking for protection from God. They advise their children not to return home late. They are afraid of killings and kidnappings. They also fear their children might be recruited by the drug lords as they recruit young people at the age of 16 or 17.

Most people don't go out at night. It's like living under an undeclared curfew.

People are leaving and families are torn apart because of the violence

Everybody here knows someone whose family has been affected by the drug-related violence. Seven families from our church have lost a loved one to the violence.

Violence is on people's minds constantly, that's all people talk about. Newspapers are full of statistics comparing the death toll each day and month to the previous days and months. Sometimes we decide not to read the newspapers or watch TV, because there's too much stress to bear.

This is an industrial area. The automobile industry here was big a few years ago, but now production is closing and many people are leaving. Local people remain without jobs and are struggling to find jobs, like cleaning cars in the streets, or whatever temporary work they can find.

Many people are looking to go to the US. Whoever finds an opportunity to leave - they just leave. People are leaving and families are torn apart because of the violence.

I think President Calderon has done a good job, but nobody knew how deep the whole problem was. I feel a bit safer seeing the army on the streets but this is not a solution. I think we need to receive advice from another country that has solved this problem, like Colombia, for example.

I'm worried about what is going to happen in the future. But I am also worried that we get used to all this and start seeing these deaths as something normal.