Narco Saint

In September of 2005, Laura Ling, Tracey Chang, and I followed a team of federal, state, and local law enforcement officials in a task force called the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, as they raided a marijuana garden in the Sierras with around 3,000 marijuana plants in it, with a wholesale value of around $3,000 apiece. The Mexican nationals who'd been living in the garden all summer as they tended had fled when they'd heard the CAMP helicopter, leaving behind their possessions, and their shrine. "See that?" the head CAMP guy said, pointing to the shrine, "we find a lot of these. He's the patron saint of narco-trafficking." Flash forward to June of 2006, when Jael and I are working on a story based on the circumstance that all around certain parts of Los Angeles County, you can see dozens of little establishments from which you can wire money to other nations. This money called remittances,and at over $20 billion a year, it is the second biggest source of income for Mexico, after the petroleum business. Jael and I wanted to go down to Mexico to see what happens to the remittances sent from the U.S. But June is the start of the rainy season, and looking on-line, the only poor Mexican state that we could find that was still dry was Sinaloa, so we booked tickets to Culiacan, its capital. Having done so, I was informed by a DEA agent in Guadalajara, who had helped Adam Yamaguchi and I on a story on pseudoephedrine the year before that "Culican is extremely dangerous. It's the narco-trafficking capital of Mexico." That's because most of the narco-trafficking into the wesetrn United States is controlled by the Sinaloa Cartel under the control of Joaquin Guzman, El Chapo, or Shorty, in English. Naturally, Culiacan has no tourists, not even from the rest of Mexico. But, despite sometimes having spectacular broad daylight shoot-outs and generally carrying on in a way that raises the death rate and makes the evening news in Mexico City, the narcos of Culiacan don't like street crime, so Jael and I found the place pretty mild and pleasant [obviously we weren't in the wrong place at the wrong time and caught in a crossfire.] And the locals would say to us: "I feel safe. Do you feel safe? If you don't go looking for trouble, it won't come looking for you." In June of 2007, when Adam Yamaguchi, Lauren Cerre, and I were in Michoacan, another place troubled by narco-violence, the locals said similar things... Obviously, given my experience in the Sierras, it was pretty interesting to see the actual shrine of the unofficial patron saint of narco-trafficking. I have the Jesus Malverde charm that I got in Culiacan hanging in the front hallway of my house, and so far, my street has been very peaceful....

Hahhaa! I was just in Mexico with Mitch and Adam and we came across Jesus Malverde everywhere! We even brought back the Vanguard Team a whole bunch of Malverde charms. I hope they bring us good luck. Not so much drug smuggling luck, but just luck in general!

There is a bust of Jesus Malverde sitting on top of the bookshelf in our Vanguard LA office. We purchased it while sitting in traffic, driving back into California from Mexico after shooting a story. If you're ever looking for a good luck charm, there's a plethora of Jesus Malverdes down at the border!

i didn't get this one at all. the "reporting" is a joke. since when is driving by and pointing and cars and homes considered journalism?

I just saw this piece for the first time. Today is May 24, 2008, Saturday. I'm SOOO disappointed to know that this has been airing for so long. I believe you guys missed the story. Maybe this is just a byproduct of youth and being a young reporter. Or maybe I don't understand Current's mission.

I'm Hispanic, a U.S. citizen. Mexican-American in origin. Raised along the Texas-México border. My background also includes a degree in Journalism.

While I was happy to see some attention drawn to this subject matter, I was very disappointed in the overall tonality or intent of the piece. It seems to make light of a very serious issue. People's lives are at stake here. People are in danger regularly. Their economy is threatened. Plus this seems to poke fun at another culture's beliefs and values. NOT COOL.

So, the journalism aspect of this isn't a "joke." It simply SUCKS. It lacks dimension and intelligence. They might be better off doing MORE homework before taking off on these little field trips. Improving her Spanish (translations particularly), learning more about the Mexican culture, as well as journalism, might help, too. They might also consider instilling some sense of ethics and morals into their work. Specifically, she might refrain from randomly casting judgements and making blanket statements in what somehow turned into some sort of self-promotion piece. Hello??? Using the word "alleged" might be up for consideration, too. Or are there no standards abroad? It's clear that Jael is definitely more acculturated and "American" than Mexican (or Hispanic), and unfortunately rather than educating an already-- and often--ignorant, ethnocentric, American, Non-Hispanic population, in this piece she only serves to perpetuate misunderstandings and negative perceptions. This isn't all on her. I'm sure that the editing and post-production folks also contributed in this debacle.

Of course, every cloud has its silver lining, and this one did, too. Jael on the beach in a bikini was DEFINITELY the best part. Kudos to the the camera person and producer for having the good sense to keep that portion in. Thank heavens!!!

The sad part is that they missed a great opportunity here to offer some responsible reporting to an issue that sorely needs it. While it's clear that nothing is ever perfect. Jael, I strongly believe you can do better than this. I'd encourage you to consider this in your future endeavors, and treat your words with more regard.

btw...I still don't know why he's supposed to be the "patron saint of narco traffickers." I didn't get the connection.


Roo