Organized Crime and Corruption in Juarez, Mexico

January 28, 2013 | Pulitzer Center

Louie Palu, for the Pulitzer Center

A man with hands bound behind his back, killed execution-style on the banks of a river in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico, the cradle of many of the drug cartels and their leaders. Image by © Louie Palu/ZUMA. Mexico, 2012.

Anti-Chapo Guzman graffiti that has been painted over on a wall in the Juarez Valley located east of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Chapo Guzman, one of the heads of the Sinaloa Cartel, fought with the Juarez Cartel for control of this region. Image by © Louie Palu/ZUMA. Mexico, 2012.

A main road located in a poor suburb of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Image by © Louie Palu/ZUMA. Mexico, 2012.

Luis Avila Archulata, 40, an ex-gang member who grew up in Arizona after crossing the U.S. border with his mother at the age of 2. Luis was recruited by gangs in the U.S., became a drug addict and was jailed multiple times. He was finally deported to Mexico where he now lives. Image by © Louie Palu/ZUMA. Mexico, 2012.

Flying toward El Paso, Texas, from Ciudad Juarez, over the border between Mexico and the United States. Image by © Louie Palu/ZUMA. Mexico, 2012.

The border fence between New Mexico and Chihuahua, west of Ciudad Juarez. Image by © Louie Palu/ZUMA. Mexico, 2012.

The bodies of men executed and dumped on the side of the highway in Navolato, Sinaloa, the birthplace of a former leader of the Juarez Cartel. Navolato is located next to the home turf of the Sinaloa Cartel which was locked in a battle for control of Ciudad Juarez for several years. Image by © Louie Palu/ZUMA. Mexico, 2012.

Some of the many mayors of the town of Praxedis in the Juarez Valley located east of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Drug cartels have killed many mayors in the region and throughout the country in order to maintain control of this lucrative smuggling region. Image by © Louie Palu/ZUMA. Mexico, 2012.

Girls dressed as angels praying at a crime scene where a young man was murdered while a rival drug cartel's assassins "heat up the plaza" in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Image by © Louie Palu/ZUMA. Mexico, 2012.

The deputy sheriff of Hudspeth County holding an assault rifle seized in a drug-related event. Large packs of marijuana were also seized in his county located east of El Paso, Texas. Image by © Louie Palu/ZUMA. United States, 2012.

Mexican families at a beach on the Rio Grande river which serves as the U.S.-Mexico border, west of Ciudad Juarez, where the states of Chihuahua, New Mexico and Texas intersect. Image by © Louie Palu/ZUMA. United States, 2012.

Mexican boys and men play basketball on a court beside the U.S. border in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Image by © Louie Palu/ZUMA. Mexico, 2012.

A man stands by a group of pick-up trucks at a road block made by local residents on the highway through the town of Ascension, Chihuahua, located west of Ciudad Juarez. The residents are protesting against a local detachment of Federal Police they have accused of corruption and extortion. Image by © Louie Palu/ZUMA. Mexico, 2012.

Residents of the town of Ascension confront a Federal Police officer sent to hear complaints at a road block on the highway through the town of Ascension, Chihuahua, located west of Ciudad Juarez.. Image by © Louie Palu/ZUMA. Mexico, 2012.

A former teacher who lost his mind on cocaine at a privately run shelter for the mentally ill, located in the desert west of Ciudad Juarez. Image by © Louie Palu/ZUMA. Mexico, 2012.

Multiple track marks from injecting heroin in the legs of a Mexican man in Ciudad Juarez who was deported to Mexico from the U.S. He was first exposed to illegal drugs in the U.S., became an addict and was eventually deported. Image by © Louie Palu/ZUMA. Mexico, 2012.

Standing in the middle of the dry river bed of the Rio Grande to the east of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez where the U.S. border fence with Mexico ends . Image by © Louie Palu/ZUMA. Mexico, 2012.

Looking toward the U.S. border fence in Texas from Chihuahua, Mexico, past the Rio Grande river in the Juarez Valley, near a grade control structure which keeps the river border between the U.S. and Mexico from shifting. Image by © Louie Palu/ZUMA. Mexico, 2012.

Tire tracks of unknown vehicles in the desert east of Ciudad Juarez, near the U.S. border not far from the town of Porvenir in the Juarez Valley. Image by © Louie Palu/ZUMA. Mexico, 2012.

A view of Ciudad Juarez and the state of Chihuahua: This slideshow features outlying areas of the city including Ascension, the desert to the west, the Juarez Valley to the east, and Hudspeth County in Texas. Here addiction, organized crime, gang-led violence, and corruption spawned by drug cartels have become a part of daily life.