7/28/2019 Patrickhaertel Living in Fear

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Another night in Hermosillo. Another night that Estelita Fernndez wont walk home alone from herfriends house.

Instead, Estelita makes her two best guy friends walk her home.

Estelita isnt afraid of New York muggers. She isnt afraid of Chicago rapists. She isnt afraid of drunk driversor out-of-control addicts or saucy college students. And Estelita isnt afraid of the dark.

Estelita is afraid because, for the totality of her life, shes lived in a country racked by a war that has claimedthe lives of over 40,000 people in the past ve years alone.

e escalating drug war in Mexico isnt anything newits been an issue for about 70 yearsbut it wasntuntil the dissolution of two major Colombian drug cartels in the 90s that the druglords of Mexico became

the foremost importers of illegal drugs into the United States.

Estelitas aunt, who lives in Tampico, makes sure to be inside by dusk. Shes afraid of the violence thatsurrounds herthe shootings she hears almost every night. Shes afraid she might one day get caught in thecrossre.

Estelitas cousin was kidnapped, held at gunpoint in a van, questioned and robbed. Her uncle was kid-napped for two days. A family friend was found dead on the side of the road after being burnt alive. Hiscousin, who was kidnapped at the same time, was found naked and brutally beaten on the side of the roadtwo weeks before. And Estelita herself sees nondescript vans guarded by armed men in alleys on a regularbasis.

But the clashing factions vying for control of Mexicos major drug exportation channels have more on theiragendas than small-scale intimidation and burglary. According to a study done by the U.S. Departmentof Justice Drug Intelligence Center, the wholesale illicit drug sale earnings estimates range from $13.6 to$48.4 billion annually.

Over the past decade, a strong movement in Mexican politics for the reclamation of the Mexican state fromdrug cartels has created this war. But many Mexicans are tired of the constant fear in which they live. Oneof the parties in the upcoming elections wants to make a deal with the bad guys and take the country backto where it was 10 or 20 years ago, Estelita said. ey call it pro-peace.

But Estelita is skeptical. eyre popular because they promise to put an end to the violence. Its just whatthe party oers. I doubt it can be accomplished she said. And anyway, theyre talking about going back toold times Having criminals everywhere, but not doing anything about anything. If this war is stopped,the country will just go backwards.

Im afraid Im going to say the wrong thing in front of the wrong person, Estelita said, but I like tellingpeople about it. I want them to know.

If Estelita is afraid to walk home alone, its justied. In Estelitas world, strangers are not to be questioned,made fun of, or insulted. Because that one single comment could be her last.

Living in FearPatrick Haertel