NY Times: Mexican Drug Cartel Violence Spills Over, Alarming U.S.

March 23, 2009 by pablo · Leave a Comment 

March 23, 2009
Mexican Drug Cartel Violence Spills Over, Alarming U.S.
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD

TUCSON — Sgt. David Azuelo stepped gingerly over the specks of blood on the floor, took note of the bullet hole through the bedroom skylight, raised an eyebrow at the lack of furniture in the ranch-style house and turned to his squad of detectives investigating one of the latest home invasions in this southern Arizona city. Read more

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NY Times: Kidnappings in Mexico Send Shivers Across Border

January 5, 2009 by pablo · Leave a Comment 

We’re been keeping track of this for awhile but it’s finally hitting the large media centers, that the violence in Mexico is seeping over the border. My friends and family in Mexico and Arizona have known this for some time, but now the public at large will hopefully tune in to the southern border and realize that what happens in one neighborhood affects the other. Another interesting part of this article is how the recession and violence is shaping migration patterns. A must read.

Pablo

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Drug War Targets Schools | LA Times

December 4, 2008 by pablo · Leave a Comment 

A truly shocking story from the Times about schools being targeted by drug cartels. The situation there is dire and is only going to get worse. Please support our efforts to bring innovative and creative educational opportunities to the kids in these war-ravaged communities. Read more

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6,285 Reasons Not To Quit

December 4, 2008 by pablo · Leave a Comment 

Lately I’ve been tempted to stop reading the paper. Like everyone else in the nation knows, each time you pick up the paper (or log on) there is bad news waiting to be read. From the recession to the terror attack in India to my @#$# USC Trojans being left out of the college football championship, there is bad news everywhere. Now is an easy time for a lot of people to quit, whether it be a new venture or a new idea or, in our case, a project like Libertad. Read more

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Introducing The Good Fight, the engine behind Project Libertad

October 27, 2008 by pablo · Leave a Comment 

Ever wonder what an independent filmmaker does in his off time? Well, in my case it’s trying to bring the same principles that defined both Runnin’ At Midnite and Project Libertad to the communications and non-profit world. Enter The Good Fight, my latest and greatest venture. Read on to find out more about it and how it ties in with Project Libertad.

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NEWSWEEK: Children targeted in Mexicos Drug War

October 27, 2008 by pablo · Leave a Comment 

As I wrote about this past spring, there is a startling trend emerging in Mexico’s ongoing war with the drug cartels. Project Libertad is tracking this trend and will continue to blog about these stories in an effort to bring attention to it. This hidden war affects all of us, not just the citizens of Mexico. Read more

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Mexico’s Drug War and Its Assault On Children

October 20, 2008 by pablo · Leave a Comment 

As I wrote earlier this summer, the drug war in Mexico is growing and the real victims are the children. As this article details, children there are basically living in a war zone, complete with symptoms of PTSD and other stress related health issues. Please read the article and consider helping the children of Mexico by sponsoring our youth workshop series.

The New York Times
October 20, 2008
Drug Killings Haunt Mexican Schoolchildren
By MARC LACEY

TIJUANA, Mexico — The little boy, his school uniform neatly pressed and his friends gathered around, held up 10 little fingers, each one representing a dead body he said he saw outside his school one recent morning. He was not finished, though. He put down the 10 fingers and then put up 2 more. Twelve bodies in all.

A child in Tijuana.

A child in Tijuana.

“They chopped out the tongues,” the boy said, seemingly fascinated by what he saw at the mass-killing scene outside Valentín Gómez Farías Primary School three weeks ago.

“I saw the blood,” offered a classmate, enthusiastically.

“They were tied,” piped in another.

Mexico’s explosion of drug-related violence has caught the attention of the country’s children. Experts say the atrocities that young people are hearing about, and all too frequently witnessing, are hardening them, traumatizing them, filling their heads with images that are hard to shake.

“Unfortunately, with this wave of drug violence, there’s been collateral damage among children,” said Jorge Álvarez Martínez, a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico who specializes in post-traumatic stress. Such exposure to violence can hinder learning, interrupt sleep and linger for years, he said.

Nowhere is the trauma greater than along the border with the United States, where drug cartels are battling one another for a growing domestic market and the lucrative transit routes north. In Tijuana alone, a wave of gangland killings has left at least 99 people dead since Sept. 26, a death toll that rivals, if not exceeds, that in Baghdad, a war-torn city that is four times as large, over the same period.

Across Mexico, the carnage is impossible to hide, with severed heads and decapitated bodies turning up, sometimes nearly a dozen at a time. There have been more than 3,700 killings related to drugs and organized crime this year, up from about 2,700 last year, the Mexican attorney general’s office said early last week, with Chihuahua the most violent state and the killings continuing in the days since.

For the entire story, click here.

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We’re Back!

October 17, 2008 by pablo · Leave a Comment 

Hello all! First, let me apologize for the extended closure of our website. We ran into some difficulties implementing some new technologies but we are happy to be back online again. Also, let me update everyone on the last six months!

First, through the hard work and dedication of so many of you, we managed to raise almost 10k towards the establishment of our youth workshops. It is humbling to know that there are so many people out there willing to support us in such a meaningful way, so thank each and every one of you.

But the battle continues. We are still far short of our workshop and film goals which means that we will back at it shortly, looking for new and innovative ways to raise the rest of the funds. But for now, rest assured that we are back and more excited than ever.

Keep fighting,

Pablo

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