On Thursday 12 November, award-winning reporter Sandra Rodríguez Nieto spoke with author and journalist for the Observer and the Guardian Ed Vulliamy about life and death in Juarez, the Mexican murder capital of the world.

The evening at the Frontline Club began with a touching dedication to a close friend and colleague of Rodríguez‘s, Arnando Rodriguez, “who was brutally and horribly murdered… He became a symbol of our profession at its most noble.”

Rodríguez cited the murder as a turning point for her: “After Armando got killed, it was just the opposite reaction to fear [for her colleagues at El Diario]. We were committed to keep on writing, to honour him.”

Death became a part of Rodríguez and her colleagues’ everyday conversations while working as a crime reporter for El Diario de Juárez. “We started to share our last wills: ‘If I get killed, don’t let anybody open my coffin’.”

In her latest book, The Story of Vicente, Who Murdered His Mother, His Father and His Sister: Life and Death in Juarez, Rodríguez uses 16-year-old Vicente’s murder of his entire family to highlight how a culture of impunity has destabilised Mexican society.

Rodríguez said: “Vicente might be a sociopath but he convinced two other kids from different backgrounds to help him… and that killing a family was totally easy. When I asked him why, his answer was a revelation for me: ‘Because this is Juarez; this is Mexico’.”

The culture of impunity in Juarez, and Mexico as a whole, is a topic that dominated much of the discussion. Rodríguez was adamant that “we have not just a problem of violence but of impunity, sending the message that killing is easy… and these kids are internalising this environment. A whole generation of kids in Mexico believe that murder is basically legal.”

Rodríguez made clear the extent of corruption in Mexico. She noted that “there is no single institution that you can trust… Not the police, not the army, not the judiciary.”

She expressed her deep belief that a lack of prosecution for crimes is central to the continuation of violence: “If a state doesn’t prosecute crime, it’s sending the message that human life isn’t worth it and that’s the tragedy of the country.”

She also highlighted the multi-layered and interweaving nexus of corruption in Mexico. “Corruption doesn’t start with the bottom of society, it starts at the top and spreads to the bottom.” When she questioned the state attorney in Juarez about an FBI indictment in which eleven out of twenty  cartel members were found to be former police officers, he told her: ”I don’t prosecute organised crime – it’s not my business.”

You can’t sustain a society where.. you work you don’t make money, you get killed nobody cares but that’s Mexico.” @frontlineclub — Molly (@mollykathleenv) November 12, 2015

But Vulliamy also noted the hypocrisy present in much of the discourse on Mexico. “I always get wary of sitting in London talking about endemic corruption in Mexico. HSBC was caught laundering money and none of them went to jail either.”

Rodríguez also pointed out the injustice of the divide between neighbouring El Paso, Texas, and Juarez: “One is the safest place in the US, the other is the murder capital of the world.“ This is because “when narcos in El Paso want to kill, they do it in Juarez.”

When questioned about legalisation, Rodríguez strongly criticised the war on drugs. “The first killer in Mexico is diabetes caused by the consumption of sugar… That’s the drug that’s killing Mexican people.”

She continued: “I want to challenge the narrative of the war on drugs. It’s obviously not working… the prohibition is totally wrong.”

Following an audience question on the role of community solidarity and development, Rodríguez sounded a note of hope. “Juarez is full of grassroots movements. Juarez surprised the country by the level of organisation among the people.”

Among the audience was Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who said: “Frontline performs a fantastic service of giving voice to journalists who are reporting what many are afraid to. Sandra Rodríguez is one of many who does this. We need to get out there what happens when governments fail to deal with the deep corruption of both banking and narco trafficking.”

One Mexican audience member was moved to tears when thanking Rodríguez for her valuable work in exposing the endemic corruption and violence in her country: “You and good journalism: that’s the solution. We will change Mexico with people like you.”

On Friday 4 September, the Frontline Club hosted a screening of Cartel Land, a fearless and revealing documentary that portrays the violent influence of Mexican drug cartels and the vigilante groups fighting to end their reign of terror. The screening was followed by a Q&A with the film’s director Matthew Heineman.

Cartel Land takes place in the border state of Arizona in the USA, and in the Mexican state of Michoácan. The latter has been overrun by a number of cartels, including the brutal Knights Templar, who have taken advantage of high level corruption and an absence of legitimate state presence in order to take control with increasingly violent tactics.

The film follows Dr José Manuel Mireles, who Heineman described as “the single most interesting man I’ve ever been around,” and his newly-formed Autodefensas: a rapidly growing group of armed civilians who are determined to force out the cartels and bring peace back to their towns. Just across the US-Mexico border in Arizona is Tim “Nailer” Foley, who leads a group of armed patriot vigilantes in patrolling the border. While Foley’s original intentions were based on a staunch anti-immigration ideology, his motives expanded to include the defence of the US border against Mexican cartels.

The film was very well received by the audience, with many keen to learn more about Heineman‘s experience of working in the notoriously-violent state of Michoácan. The filmmaker told the audience that he had no experience of working in conflict prior to Cartel Land; his previous film focused on healthcare in the US. While there was a constant threat of witnessing a violent confrontation in Arizona, this never materialised. In contrast, the violence in Mexico was “visceral, it was real”:

“I’m not a war reporter… so it was terrifying. I’d never been in a place where there was gunfire going off, I’d never been in a place where people were being tortured, so I had no idea where this film would lead me.”

The film vividly portrays the extent to which gunfire has become commonplace in cartel-led towns across Mexico. This is not dampened by the presence of the Autodefensas, who are themselves heavily armed. As the movement grows, the corruption, acts of intimidation and misuse of power that they claim to be fighting also begin to appear and spread within their own group.

@mheineman premiered his #sundance #winner #documentary at the @frontlineclub and it was #amazing #london #journali… pic.twitter.com/M5Pcy0GG5o

— Annabelle Azade (@AnnabelleAzade) September 4, 2015

An audience member asked whether Heineman was hopeful that the situation in Michoácan would improve. He responded that, despite the Mexican government implementing new measures of reform and legitimising the Autodefensas as a state force, the situation has worsened. “The violence has continued, kidnappings have continued. The thing that everyone feared all along, revenge and anarchy, has played out.”

Heineman told Frontline Club audience members that while he considers himself an “eternal optimist,” he doesn’t view the situation with hope. Mexican government institutions continue to fail to “provide basic safety and security for their citizens.” Heineman extended this criticism to Mexico as a whole, “especially at the local level… [there is] direct collusion between cartels and local government. We see that all throughout Mexico. But the biggest thing is us, is Americans: we’re funding this war through our consumption of drugs.”

In terms of the filming process on the ground, Heineman explained that he had intended to spend two weeks filming in Mexico, but ended up staying for nine months. As a result, he was able to develop close relationships with many high-level Autodefensas leaders.

“They were risking their lives and dying fighting for what they believed in and we were tagging along with them, so I think there was a level of respect that came with that.”

Heineman recounted one particular incident in which his lengthy commitment to the project resulted in astounding access. As detailed in the opening and closing sequences of the film, Heineman gained accesses to an outdoor operation producing meth, where ‘cookers’ openly admit that profits from the sale of the drugs feed directly into the Autodefensas.

Cartel Land is currently showing in cinemas across the UK. More information can be found on the film’s website.