Working Grant - The Hell of Juarez

The Mexican War on Drugs is at its heights. December 2006, Mexican President Calderon declared the war on the drugs cartels that smuggle Colombian Cocaine into the USA. 40.000 troops have been deployed to stem the drug violence. Although some drug kingpins and cartel leaders have been arrested, the wave of violence that is hitting the country has only increased. The cartels are now involved in a war on two fronts: One against the authorities, the other one amongst themselves about the control of lucrative smuggling routes. It is an extreme brutal struggle where so far 18.000 have died a violent dead in sometimes cruel and senseless massacres.
The epicentre of the violence is Ciudad Juarez. With 2600 people killed in 2009, that is 7 victims daily, this city of 1,2 million people has become the most dangerous city, not only in the country, but in the world as well. War photographer Teun Voeten, renowned for his earlier work in Bosnia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Sierra Leone and Colombia is with a grant of The Pascal Decroos Fund working on a photo book on the drug violence.

In June, Voeten stayed a few weeks I Juarez, to document the shocking amount of murders. He also visited the city of Culiacan, home base of the feared Sinaloa cartel. During two other trips in October and November, Voeten documented the narco culture in Michoacán, photographed army raids on illegal labs in the countryside and continued working in Juarez and Culiacan where organized crime and narco-violence has infiltrated and affected all aspects of life.  In a recent trip March 2010, Voeten continued to photograph the breakdown of law and order in Juarez.
 
With his Mexico photography, Voeten won an award in the category Foreign News in the Silvered Camera, the annual Dutch Photojournalistic Competition.

File number: 

2009/715

6.000 euro was granted on 02/06/2009

 

Authors

Teun Voeten

Teun Voeten, who originally studied Cultural Anthropology and Philosophy in the Netherlands, is an award-winning photojournalist and author who has been covering the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sudan, Angola, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, Colombia, Gaza, Liberia, Lebanon and Iraq.