Ciudad Juarez Mexico new murder capital

Three years after President Felipe Calderon launched an all-out nationwide war against drug cartels in Mexico, narcotics-related violence is still on the rise in the city of Ciudad Juarez.

Although around 10,000 troops have been deployed in the city, on average 10 people are killed each day there. According to the El Universal newspaper, last year more than one-third of Mexico's murders were in Juarez.

Al Jazeera's Mariana Sanchez reports that residents of the city now known as Mexico's new "murder capital" are putting pressure on politicians to act against a business that earns yearly revenues of $20bn.

That's a sum of money more than enough to buy the loyalties of police and judges.

Critics say that one of the biggest problems in Juarez is that attackers act with immunity. In the last two years more than 4,000 people have been killed and only 300 cases resolved.

Knowing that, many attackers just shoot and kill without any fear of getting caught.

[February 11, 2010]