00:00:00
[Music]
00:00:14
they say to understand a person you have
00:00:16
to walk a mile in their
00:00:20
shoes so that's exactly what I'm going
00:00:22
to
00:00:23
do I'm joining the Mexican Army to fight
00:00:26
on the front line of the War on Drugs
00:00:29
[Music]
00:00:33
any sort of mental picture I have of
00:00:35
aapco is um you know the Glory Days
00:00:37
those pictures of Hollywood stars coming
00:00:39
here in the the 50s I guess things are
00:00:42
very different in aapo now and um I'm
00:00:44
hoping these guys can help me understand
00:00:46
exactly what's
00:00:50
changed Mexico is at war with itself the
00:00:53
country is being torn apart by cartels
00:00:56
fighting over the $30 billion drug trade
00:01:03
aapco was once a glamorous holiday
00:01:06
Paradise now it's the fourth most
00:01:09
violent city in the
00:01:11
world a place where a thousand people
00:01:14
were murdered last year
00:01:17
alone now the Army has been deployed on
00:01:20
the streets the latest desperate
00:01:22
response to a war that is spiraling out
00:01:24
of control
00:01:28
[Music]
00:01:31
for one week I'll be living and working
00:01:33
alongside them finding out what it's
00:01:35
like to be a young Mexican
00:01:38
solder fighting in a war where you don't
00:01:40
know who your enemy is and you don't
00:01:43
know who to trust
00:01:46
[Music]
00:01:56
[Music]
00:02:10
I'm enrolling in unit 27 of the 56th
00:02:13
infantry battalion in Acapulco for what
00:02:16
is traditionally the busiest week of the
00:02:18
year the Easter holidays
00:02:20
[Music]
00:02:34
stop think that was for me to learn
00:02:39
it
00:02:44
hello there's normally 1,500 soldiers
00:02:47
here but for this week the government
00:02:49
has sent in an extra 2,500 men to try
00:02:53
and help out the struggling police force
00:03:14
this is me the one with nothing in it
00:03:18
nope you going to put your stff in there
00:03:20
okay I've been assigned one of the only
00:03:22
English speakers a 20-year-old private
00:03:24
called Lise as a guide and translator
00:03:27
called toothbrush toothpaste
00:03:30
gel anything you need so everything has
00:03:32
a space I can't put my personal things
00:03:35
there I can't put my vest there
00:03:36
everything has its that's is order
00:03:39
what's it like living with this much
00:03:40
order cuz I mean you have to wear your
00:03:42
shirt a certain way wear your sleeves a
00:03:43
certain way hang your clothes a certain
00:03:45
way it's pretty strict but you don't
00:03:47
have any choice yeah like was those
00:03:49
cillan still I to go outside parties
00:03:52
leave everything out there put my shoes
00:03:54
over there and leave all the bed messy I
00:03:56
go to my house and I leave I put
00:03:57
everything in order I clean it's like
00:03:58
what happened to you we miss you so how
00:04:00
they changed me
00:04:02
Mom Louise has been with the Army for 18
00:04:05
months one of thousands of ordinary
00:04:07
young Mexicans who have signed up to try
00:04:09
and help end the cycle of
00:04:18
Bloodshed the first duty of the day is
00:04:20
roll
00:04:21
call with no training I feel totally out
00:04:24
of my death
00:04:27
[Music]
00:04:44
so we are overlooking aapco Beach um
00:04:48
when you're here on service do you ever
00:04:49
go down there to the beach um yeah you
00:04:52
go patrolling with helmet and with a
00:04:54
helmet on in the phone bulletproof vest
00:04:56
you walk all day one Earth if you
00:04:57
walking on the beach for for Turtles
00:05:02
you're walking on the beach for turtles
00:05:03
yeah people like mess around with them
00:05:05
there's got to be something else they're
00:05:07
going extinct well you're not carrying
00:05:08
bulletproof vests for Turtles ah it's
00:05:11
it's very dangerous down there why is it
00:05:12
so dangerous cuz of the turtles cartels
00:05:15
on the
00:05:17
beach what are you doing on the
00:05:19
beach isn't thatd
00:05:21
[Applause]
00:05:41
I've never handled a rifle before but
00:05:44
with 18,000 murders in Mexico last year
00:05:47
alone the Army has insisted that I get
00:05:50
some weapons
00:05:53
training now grab your weapon like this
00:05:56
like ifone point to the sky okay you
00:05:59
know like
00:06:00
this like this always keep your hand out
00:06:03
of the M the
00:06:05
trigger yeah take the safety off right
00:06:09
here okay pull that one down all the way
00:06:12
down no to the right there push the
00:06:16
trigger now put
00:06:19
safety and now you take it down and put
00:06:21
in the
00:06:22
tail are you
00:06:24
in have you ever been in a shootout um
00:06:27
yes yes I have so how old were you when
00:06:29
this happens your first time I was I was
00:06:31
18 right people were shooting at you
00:06:34
yeah so who was shooting at you
00:06:36
different types of cils were they the
00:06:37
main threat here yeah they're the main
00:06:39
threat and they're not afraid to shoot
00:06:41
at you guys I'm not Not
00:06:46
Afraid yeah we're not allowed to talk
00:06:48
about shootouts is that what he said
00:06:51
yep that's
00:06:55
all
00:06:57
okay sorry
00:07:02
I've been told after lunch our unit will
00:07:04
be carrying out an armed Patrol on AAP
00:07:06
Poo's main tourist
00:07:08
Beach so why exactly do you um do you
00:07:12
have to patrol somewhere like the
00:07:13
beaches I mean you mentioned that you
00:07:15
know at points you have to patrol the
00:07:17
beaches in your full as for protection
00:07:21
for the people mhm from the dangers like
00:07:24
especially in this week every was on
00:07:26
vacation what makes them AA so
00:07:31
dangerous I can't talk to about that you
00:07:34
can't talk to me about it what you mean
00:07:37
I need to know if I'm going to be out
00:07:38
there with
00:07:42
you he said it's not
00:07:44
dangerous it's
00:07:50
just it's astonishing to be told there's
00:07:52
nothing to worry about in aapco
00:07:55
according to the papers it's the
00:07:57
deadliest city in Mexico
00:08:08
I've been told that it's not dangerous
00:08:10
here that it's safe but there's about 30
00:08:14
of us we we in bulletproof vests
00:08:17
everyone's got a
00:08:20
gun it can't be that safe if everybody
00:08:23
is this disarmed is protected
00:08:32
push your Fe in
00:08:34
there go way
00:08:41
in technically I guess I'm on my first
00:08:43
mission I'm headed down to the beach do
00:08:45
know it's busy it's uh it's Easter
00:08:47
holiday weekend it's the busiest time
00:08:49
here in kco and um it's imagine the
00:08:54
perfect time to to kick up some trouble
00:08:56
if you want which is probably why these
00:08:59
guys are here
00:08:59
[Music]
00:09:09
[Applause]
00:09:10
[Music]
00:09:14
[Applause]
00:09:18
here the see of green is something
00:09:20
departed from these cars and you've got
00:09:22
loads of loads of resids loads of
00:09:24
holiday makers just stood still saring
00:09:33
Luis and his fellow soldiers Patrol the
00:09:35
main beaches five times a day they're
00:09:37
ordinary Mexicans carrying guns as a
00:09:39
show of force against their fellow
00:09:44
[Music]
00:09:47
countrymen is that gun on safety could
00:09:50
you keep hitting me with it we don't
00:09:51
want any accidents
00:10:04
in Years Gone by aapco would have
00:10:06
entertained over
00:10:08
350,000 overseas tourists a year today
00:10:12
there's barely a foreigner in
00:10:16
sight it feels like everybody that we're
00:10:18
passing on this beach is Mexican I'm not
00:10:20
really hearing any other accents what
00:10:22
sort of tourist are you getting here now
00:10:24
um from all over the state like
00:10:26
different states like de or caloa right
00:10:30
so they're all Mexican yeah they're
00:10:31
Mexicans okay so why aren't there any
00:10:32
International tourists anymore there are
00:10:34
but probably well there clearly not a
00:10:38
lot here right now so why are there a
00:10:40
lot less I'm not
00:10:43
sure I'm not going to get very far
00:10:45
talking to Louise it's become obvious he
00:10:48
isn't authorized to talk about certain
00:10:52
subjects is it possible for me to talk
00:10:54
to any of the tourists yeah if you want
00:10:55
yeah if you want to I can CH okay let me
00:10:57
ask one of these guys over here
00:11:00
he's young guys let's see what I have to
00:11:04
say hello hello hello guys I was uh I
00:11:08
was under the impression that this is a
00:11:09
massive holiday and this uh this time of
00:11:12
year gets very busy but it seems as
00:11:14
though all of the tourists here are
00:11:15
Mexican why do you think there aren't
00:11:17
any International tours
00:11:26
here M do you not think that there's a
00:11:29
big problem with cartels and
00:11:42
narcos enjoy the sun I'm very jealous of
00:11:45
you right
00:11:46
now enjoy your
00:11:48
[Music]
00:11:51
holiday from what the locals have said
00:11:53
the recent trouble in Acapulco is
00:11:55
putting off International tourists my
00:11:58
fear is that the army of only allowed me
00:11:59
to be here as part of a wider campaign
00:12:02
to win them
00:12:03
[Music]
00:12:14
back I can't get Louise to give me any
00:12:17
specific details about the cartel
00:12:19
violence but on more personal subjects
00:12:21
he seems willing to open
00:12:24
up so how about the guys that you grew
00:12:26
up with them were any of them drawn into
00:12:27
the cartels um actually yes from middle
00:12:29
school they they just got out of school
00:12:33
and they got involved in things like
00:12:35
that some of them end up dead or end up
00:12:36
bad one of them already died one of
00:12:39
them's already died he's the same age I
00:12:40
mean you're only 20 this kid the same
00:12:42
age yeah now he was
00:12:44
19 he in kalis so what is it that would
00:12:47
make a young man want to join the cartel
00:12:50
probably money women drugs cars and
00:12:54
everything they want to look good for
00:12:56
girls and things like that so what was
00:12:58
it that made you go for the military
00:13:00
over the cartels then um well my mom
00:13:03
always told me to do the right things
00:13:04
and I was I was actually a church person
00:13:07
so I felt like this is the way I
00:13:08
supposed to
00:13:09
[Music]
00:13:14
go I'd always imagine that the people
00:13:16
who joined the cartels were just well
00:13:18
the bad guys but Louise actually know
00:13:21
some of the people who ended up joining
00:13:22
them and I can't imagine what it's like
00:13:25
to have to fight against people you grew
00:13:27
up with you can take off
00:13:34
[Music]
00:13:38
now I don't remember the last time I was
00:13:40
this physically flipping
00:13:43
knacked for whatever reason I can't find
00:13:45
flipping brush I've got to clean my
00:13:48
boots with so I'm having to borrow
00:13:52
one like a riot novice
00:13:59
try to get some of this sand off it
00:14:25
first CU a soldier s walked around
00:14:29
telling us to wake up and at that point
00:14:31
we sort of stirred a little bit and the
00:14:34
lights came on had no choice about to
00:14:36
get
00:14:41
[Music]
00:14:48
up is it always this early when you guys
00:14:51
get up sometimes you don't sleep
00:14:53
sometimes you do sometimes you don't
00:14:54
sleep I don't sleep why would you go
00:14:56
without sleep what would um the reason
00:14:58
for that patrolling right patrolling
00:15:00
sometimes you're patrolling at 5: in the
00:15:01
morning without nonstop you come back
00:15:04
and just continue what you're doing yeah
00:15:06
or sometimes they let you off and go
00:15:07
outside for your family I haven't been
00:15:09
outside much do you not feel like you're
00:15:12
missing out at all I do a lot you m on
00:15:16
everything your friend's birthdays your
00:15:19
father's
00:15:20
birthdays what's called death of family
00:15:22
members sometimes you don't know what
00:15:24
happens you miss a lot parties and
00:15:27
everything if you feel that you're
00:15:28
you're missing out on on so much um what
00:15:31
keeps you here I don't know I like it
00:15:33
actually we're almost like brothers man
00:15:35
like I've been with these guys for years
00:15:37
and everything and they treat you like
00:15:38
your
00:15:39
family life here is strictly disciplined
00:15:43
a daily routine of patrols and a
00:15:44
grueling Fitness
00:15:46
[Music]
00:15:56
regime the first duty of the day is 5K
00:15:59
run around the
00:16:01
barracks it's
00:16:14
35ยฐ I run 5Ks at home like that this
00:16:18
heat boy I've
00:16:22
never have something else
00:16:30
there's no time to recover before we
00:16:32
head out
00:16:36
again looks like we're we're all leaving
00:16:40
everybody suddenly jumped back in
00:16:42
and getting all clipped up so uh guess I
00:16:46
should follow
00:16:55
soon we're traveling into Colonia Harden
00:16:58
manga
00:16:59
one of Acapulco's poorer
00:17:04
suburbs the bario has a reputation of
00:17:07
being a cartel stronghold once a normal
00:17:10
neighborhood it's now almost entirely
00:17:12
controlled by powerful criminals
00:17:36
okay speaking to the major it feels like
00:17:39
I'm still being given the Army's
00:17:41
official line I've been told off camera
00:17:44
there were nine drug rated murders in
00:17:46
Acapulco yesterday the majority in areas
00:17:50
just like
00:17:54
this so in a situation like this how do
00:17:56
you
00:17:57
tell somebody's up to mischief and how
00:18:00
you tell if somebody is just a local
00:18:02
nobody is acting particularly
00:18:03
erratically um that's what that's why
00:18:05
the UN I but like we see it's everything
00:18:09
is depend on how they dress what type of
00:18:10
car they are and how they look at us and
00:18:12
how they act right so what are the
00:18:14
giveaways
00:18:16
then people from a cartel usually use
00:18:19
the little bags right here where they
00:18:20
can put on their weapons they use hats
00:18:27
sunglasses these streets feel like a
00:18:29
very different proposition to the
00:18:31
tourist
00:18:36
Zone you don't know who's an ordinary
00:18:38
resident and who's a cartel foot
00:18:42
soldier even with these heavily armed
00:18:45
soldiers it feels like we could be
00:18:47
ambushed at any minute
00:18:52
[Music]
00:19:08
what are you looking for here just to
00:19:10
check what's happening in
00:19:11
here there
00:19:15
anybody does anybody
00:19:20
kidnpped these bits of the barriers I
00:19:22
take it the bits that um are dangerous
00:19:25
right yeah especially at night right
00:19:28
come
00:19:45
down the minute we went into that quiet
00:19:48
little road and you could see the dark
00:19:50
Corners even even in the midday Sun you
00:19:54
could see where where things could go
00:19:56
wrong where someone could jump out with
00:19:58
a somewhere someone could attack you the
00:20:01
minute those places became
00:20:04
obvious suddenly I started to see how a
00:20:07
seemingly quiet quiet barrier could
00:20:09
become quite a dangerous
00:20:14
place we didn't come under Fire today or
00:20:17
even see the cartel but I'm getting a
00:20:20
sense of the sort of pressure these
00:20:21
soldiers have to work
00:20:24
under do you feel like you're in danger
00:20:26
being here not always when do you feel
00:20:29
like you're in danger then it's not all
00:20:30
the time when I'm
00:20:33
outside that's feel in danger has anyone
00:20:36
in your unit
00:20:37
died not when I was
00:20:40
around but this unit has
00:20:42
lost has lost soldiers and how did they
00:20:45
react to
00:20:46
that I haven't seen him the match and I
00:20:50
don't want to see them react to
00:20:52
me why not I don't know I'll probably
00:20:56
cry a lot
00:20:58
I don't like
00:21:00
crying he may not have witnessed the
00:21:02
death of a fellow Soldier but Luise
00:21:04
knows only too well the consequences of
00:21:06
living in a country so consumed by
00:21:10
violence like my grandpa you died this
00:21:13
Sunday morning and you L see me crying
00:21:15
or being sad or anything cuz it's part
00:21:17
of my
00:21:20
job my grandpa was a was called police
00:21:24
he's in the yeah he's in the police and
00:21:27
this guy was basically
00:21:29
making trouble he took out his pistol
00:21:30
from his back and shot my grandpa and
00:21:33
his partner and my grandpa died and wa
00:21:36
to the
00:21:38
hospital and he got
00:21:40
away and everyone knows who the guy is
00:21:44
yep how' you feel about losing a family
00:21:47
member in the line of G because your
00:21:49
grandfather was an officer right yep
00:21:51
well I just feel problem
00:21:53
cuz she did it working what he like to
00:21:57
do he actually like that yob he likes
00:22:00
taking care of people like the rest of
00:22:04
us that's why we were here
00:22:06
actually take care of our people I'm
00:22:09
sorry too about your grand that's that's
00:22:12
difficult it's only have a couple days
00:22:14
to get over it as well that's pretty
00:22:18
tough for him to lose his grandfather on
00:22:21
the job is probably a massive reality
00:22:24
check because you know his grandfather
00:22:27
was a police officer and in theory his
00:22:29
job's even more
00:22:32
dangerous you know I was 14 when my
00:22:35
grandfather passed away but you know he
00:22:37
died of something fairly natural for um
00:22:42
for a guy at 20 to lose his grandfa to
00:22:45
to a criminal on the streets of the city
00:22:47
that you live in and
00:22:49
Patrol I don't know how that would make
00:22:51
me feel about coming back to
00:22:55
work the Army is telling me it's safe
00:22:57
here but I want to find out for myself
00:22:59
the reality of the dangerous young
00:23:01
soldiers like Luis are
00:23:06
facing hopefully I can now finally get
00:23:09
some
00:23:12
answers I've been summoned to meet the
00:23:14
general at his
00:23:19
office get on Reggie pleasure to meet
00:23:22
you very good thank you thank you so
00:23:26
much for uh for finding the time to meet
00:23:28
me so firstly um I really really
00:23:32
desperately want to understand why the
00:23:34
military are here in
00:23:45
aoko why do you think that the police
00:23:47
hasn't been able to to get control of
00:23:50
the situation
00:24:03
so just how dangerous are the cartels
00:24:05
and how how powerful is organized crime
00:24:08
here
00:24:36
I don't know if that's really answer the
00:24:38
question again let's move on let's move
00:24:40
on um okay so do you think that the
00:24:43
locals feel as safe as the tourist
00:25:07
pleasure to
00:25:09
meet thank you very much adios well Happ
00:25:12
was a lot harder than I thought it would
00:25:15
be I guess what's really important here
00:25:17
is maintaining a level
00:25:21
of front isn't the right word but
00:25:24
presence you know there is a version
00:25:26
that that they're desperate to present
00:25:27
to the world World which is that
00:25:29
everything is under
00:25:32
control I don't know man how I leave
00:25:35
this place and what I leave Mexico with
00:25:38
it's going to have to come down to what
00:25:39
I see and what I figure out for
00:25:49
myself our unit has been given the
00:25:51
afternoon off and I want to use it to
00:25:54
get some answers elsewhere to work out
00:25:56
just how safe the area l patrols really
00:25:59
[Music]
00:26:09
is after buying a local newspaper I've
00:26:12
come to a beach frequented by residents
00:26:15
5 minutes from the main tourist Zone
00:26:17
where three of yesterday's nine murders
00:26:19
took
00:26:21
place yeah it would make sense that it
00:26:22
was there I mean the picture shows them
00:26:24
laid out by a
00:26:26
wall it's c burning just over
00:26:31
here it's right there look that's
00:26:34
exactly it it's right there they haven't
00:26:36
even managed to clean all the blood away
00:26:38
it's still
00:26:40
there and everything carries on exactly
00:26:43
as normal just the day after look at
00:26:45
that there kids playing right
00:26:55
there so yesterday I was with the Army
00:26:58
uh patrolling the beach all of 5 minutes
00:27:00
walk in that direction uh and beach was
00:27:03
quite clearly a tourist Beach whereas
00:27:05
this beach that I'm I'm at at the moment
00:27:07
is pretty much just local
00:27:10
people the reason that I'm here and the
00:27:13
reason that I'm absolutely flabbergasted
00:27:15
at what's gone on here is that three
00:27:17
people were shot yesterday a 15y old a
00:27:19
25y old and a man who was
00:27:22
54 right here 20 minutes after I left
00:27:25
that beach just over there with the
00:27:27
military yesterday and there are
00:27:29
pictures of where I'm sat right now like
00:27:31
literally right here this is
00:27:36
here it's not taken long to find
00:27:38
shocking evidence but are these deaths
00:27:41
confined to criminals or are ordinary
00:27:44
people being caught up in the violence
00:27:46
too do you work here all the time was
00:27:49
you working here yesterday I read in the
00:27:51
newspaper there was something that
00:27:53
happened here yesterday was it
00:28:02
all
00:28:04
right many of the locals are scared of
00:28:08
talking but one resident businesswoman
00:28:11
has agreed to meet me at a secret
00:28:12
location nice to meet
00:28:27
you
00:28:35
for right so why why did your shot close
00:29:00
these people that have been killed are
00:29:02
they they local tourists are they cartel
00:29:04
members are they shop owners who who's
00:29:06
getting killed
00:29:28
it's clear that the Fallout from this
00:29:30
war spreads Way Beyond rival cartels
00:29:33
affecting almost every part of Mexican
00:29:37
Society police government officials and
00:29:40
even the security services in some areas
00:29:43
have been accused of
00:29:45
corruption the tourists themselves might
00:29:48
not be targets but with so much violence
00:29:50
in this city K Luise and his fellow
00:29:52
soldiers really keep them
00:29:57
safe caros I've managed to track down
00:30:00
Carlos a local photographer at his
00:30:02
office on the main tourist strip he's
00:30:04
been following the recent escalation in
00:30:06
violence this is
00:30:18
nice so if it's assassinations that
00:30:20
you're taking pictures of is this
00:30:21
happening out in the open
00:30:37
anywhere so even on on one of the main
00:30:40
beaches here that all the tourists go
00:30:47
to Carlos offers to show me some
00:30:49
pictures he's taken
00:30:55
recently oh my God
00:31:09
and is that on this the main Beach
00:31:10
that's
00:31:12
here the photographic evidence is
00:31:15
shocking people have been killed all
00:31:17
over the city since the Army were first
00:31:20
deployed here 5 months ago there have
00:31:22
been 29 murders on the city's
00:31:26
beaches for
00:32:05
St tourism is the lifeblood of the
00:32:08
economy here it provides 70% of Guerrero
00:32:11
State's GDP so it's understandable why
00:32:14
the Army have been deployed here and it
00:32:16
seems alongside deterrence part of the
00:32:18
role it plays is to present an image of
00:32:20
a safe City to the outside
00:32:23
world this is the bit of Acapulco that
00:32:26
the government care about the police
00:32:28
care about the military care about and
00:32:31
people are being killed right here to be
00:32:34
fair to them it's not like they're not
00:32:35
doing anything they are definitely
00:32:37
working their socks off I've joined in
00:32:39
they're patrolling the beaches they're
00:32:41
up and down this main strep all day
00:32:43
they're even going into the Barrios I've
00:32:44
seen it myself so they are doing
00:32:46
something they are making a difference
00:32:48
but people are still being killed even
00:32:50
here
00:32:53
so I don't know is it enough
00:32:59
[Music]
00:33:11
I'm halfway through my time with the
00:33:13
Army but today we're leaving aaula
00:33:16
it seems like everybody's packed a
00:33:19
massive backpack with what looks like
00:33:22
tents on it it's could to be a very long
00:33:25
day
00:33:34
the Army's Mission here is to tackle the
00:33:36
War on Drugs at both ends of the supply
00:33:39
chain fighting the cartels in the city
00:33:42
and going after the drug production
00:33:46
itself to late for my
00:33:49
briefing so far the Army haven't exactly
00:33:52
been forthcoming about the violence but
00:33:54
I'm trying to keep an open mind about
00:33:56
what they're going to show me
00:34:05
we're heading 8 hours Northwest of
00:34:06
Acapulco into the mountains where the
00:34:09
cartels use intimidation and violence to
00:34:12
force Farmers to grow vast fields of
00:34:14
poppies used to produce
00:34:20
heroin just another example of how
00:34:23
ordinary people have been sucked into
00:34:25
the drug trade
00:34:30
what are the uh what are the dangers
00:34:33
here we could probably get shot at get
00:34:35
shot at okay anything else no that's it
00:34:38
that's as far as it goes people trying
00:34:40
to protect their their
00:34:42
fields is it common place for Farmers
00:34:45
then to organize themselves to shoot at
00:34:46
soldiers um yes really even though
00:34:49
you're trained and they're not um yes
00:35:04
the Guero mountains is where 40% of all
00:35:07
heroin supplied to America is
00:35:12
produced it's an industry worth 10
00:35:14
billion
00:35:20
us this is where all start it starts
00:35:22
from here destroying plants like this
00:35:24
makes them lose power they don't have
00:35:26
drugs they don't have money don't have
00:35:28
money don't have
00:35:33
power we're heading to a temporary army
00:35:35
base deep in the mountains up here the
00:35:38
military simply isn't
00:35:41
welcome in these remote locations
00:35:44
agriculture is the only source of income
00:35:46
so many of the local farmers are
00:35:48
dependent on growing
00:35:51
poppies you can't tell
00:35:54
who's or like that motorcycle that's
00:35:56
following us like do you get you can
00:35:57
look at them and there's just two guys
00:35:59
in the motorcycle but two other probably
00:36:02
Hawks what do hwks do they they
00:36:05
communicate with the people that are
00:36:07
plant planting things in the mountains
00:36:09
so as soon as we going up there they're
00:36:10
already telling them we're going up
00:36:12
there and probably as soon as we pass
00:36:13
they really communicating with them and
00:36:15
it doesn't take much to be a hwk oh you
00:36:17
need a phone or
00:36:19
radio it must be strange for young men
00:36:21
like Lise a soldier fighting a war
00:36:24
against his own countrymen never knowing
00:36:26
who the enemy actually
00:36:29
is everybody that passes by I'm looking
00:36:31
at their backpacks and I'm looking at
00:36:32
their
00:36:34
bags what they what are they carrying
00:36:40
down there seems to be quite a lot of
00:36:42
people passing by us going in the
00:36:43
opposite
00:36:46
direction is there any reason that we're
00:36:47
not stopping
00:36:51
them and now we have to go to the camp
00:36:54
field
00:37:12
it's hard to even see what direction the
00:37:14
road's going in
00:37:15
next we can't even see the mountains but
00:37:17
they can see us because of the L of the
00:37:20
cars yeah so we easy targ this right
00:37:25
now for some reason there's a random van
00:37:27
just parked up here in the dark doesn't
00:37:29
seem to be anyone in it but um as it is
00:37:33
dark I think we're just going to leave
00:37:35
it rather than check it and keep
00:37:37
going do look pretty
00:37:42
suspect you never know if it's a type of
00:37:45
Ambush or a trap
00:37:49
[Music]
00:37:57
suddenly we got electricity poles again
00:37:59
we're in the middle of nowhere right now
00:38:02
and there's a there's a whole village up
00:38:04
here there seems to be a lot of a lot of
00:38:05
lights and a lot of property and very
00:38:07
wealth they look very wealthy that's
00:38:08
what they look wealthy what's the
00:38:10
giveaway um they the giveaway they have
00:38:13
a lot of motorcycles that have good
00:38:17
properties what are the chances that
00:38:19
it's the entire Village that's involved
00:38:21
in in the fields that we're going to
00:38:23
destroy um the chances are very big
00:38:26
actually
00:38:31
so we're here now um yes we're here yeah
00:38:34
where we going to Camp
00:38:38
up we're joining another Battalion
00:38:41
who've been here for the last 2
00:38:46
weeks pass
00:38:50
it after setting up camp Lis and I are
00:38:54
assigned to Night Watch
00:39:00
so if something does kick off what
00:39:01
happens then you to Lear the whole Camp
00:39:04
okay that could be you yeah like I see
00:39:05
something and I I don't want to move
00:39:07
here just to protect the the road and
00:39:09
you go and alert the whole camp and tell
00:39:12
everybody where degression is coming
00:39:13
from right and we we just be
00:39:17
alerted it's been a long day how much
00:39:19
does um does your tiredness play a part
00:39:22
in something like this because you know
00:39:24
we've been up since very early in the
00:39:25
morning so well the things you're not
00:39:28
supposed to do to not mess up it's not
00:39:30
sit down yeah once you sit down you're
00:39:32
going to you're going to fall
00:39:42
asleep did you hear that
00:39:55
[Music]
00:40:11
here or was
00:40:19
[Music]
00:40:25
it I think the thing that strikes me
00:40:27
mostly is that they they aren't really
00:40:30
individuals everything is about the team
00:40:33
everything is about the unit and nothing
00:40:36
is about an
00:40:37
individual because you know Lo was
00:40:39
saying that if there were an attack he'd
00:40:42
send me back and he sacrificed himself
00:40:44
while trying to defend his brothers the
00:40:47
other
00:40:49
soldiers I don't know after a day as
00:40:51
long as this and ahead of a night in
00:40:55
this thing um I think I'm coming away
00:40:58
from um from a very long day um with a
00:41:03
slightly better picture of what it means
00:41:05
to be part of this unit
00:41:12
[Music]
00:41:19
[Music]
00:41:27
once again the day begins before the
00:41:29
sun's
00:41:32
up this looks like the
00:41:35
studiest and heaviest breakfast in the
00:41:37
world for a
00:41:40
reason I think the minute the sun is
00:41:41
fully in the sky we're going to set
00:41:44
off to get to the poppy fields we have a
00:41:47
long hike across rough terrain ahead
00:42:08
mhhm to your
00:42:15
sir to avoid detection the plantations
00:42:18
are often grown in the most remote parts
00:42:20
of the mountains the Army has used air
00:42:23
reconnaissance to locate this poppy
00:42:25
field in advance
00:42:38
just pointed out this piping the guys
00:42:41
who are actually responsible for the
00:42:42
puppy field they put piping in so they
00:42:45
can consistently water and
00:42:48
control the level of water going to
00:42:51
their crop
00:42:52
[Music]
00:43:00
right suddenly we've suddenly we've
00:43:04
stopped which to me could mean only one
00:43:07
thing I guess we're
00:43:09
here oh yeah you see all those flowers
00:43:14
yeah we immediately find evidence that
00:43:17
the poppy Growers have been here
00:43:19
recently I just found some bags and
00:43:21
stuff and that would be fertilizer for
00:43:23
the for be the puppy Fields right so now
00:43:26
that the way to destroy is to just drop
00:43:28
water on it to make it
00:43:30
dissolve and make it useless for them
00:43:33
you can see that big can in stuff
00:43:35
they've been they've been hanging out
00:43:36
here for they hanging out here probably
00:43:37
sleeping
00:43:39
here there's probably cans all over this
00:43:52
place growing these plants is the first
00:43:54
stage in her production the Farmers
00:43:57
extract the natural gum to make into a
00:43:59
paste which is refined and then turned
00:44:01
into heroin with a street value of
00:44:05
$113,000 per
00:44:07
[Music]
00:44:09
kilo what's the white stuff that's the
00:44:12
white stuff they used to make the gum
00:44:13
with they can actually make out of that
00:44:16
W and that just comes out of this plant
00:44:18
it comes out of this plant
00:44:21
easy
00:44:23
see can see it coming
00:44:25
out and that's all they that's all you
00:44:27
need so how much are they getting out of
00:44:29
each of these plants because that's not
00:44:31
much that's much it get this little bit
00:44:33
so that's that's one of the reasons I
00:44:34
feels I'm so big so I have to take a lot
00:44:37
a lot out of
00:44:43
them there are 177,000 hectar of opium
00:44:47
poppy fields like this one across Mexico
00:44:50
making it the number one supplier of to
00:44:52
the United
00:44:54
States it's horrifying to think that a
00:44:57
harmless looking plant like this can be
00:44:59
the cause of so much Bloodshed and that
00:45:02
boys like Louise have grown up in a
00:45:04
country ravaged by violence because of
00:45:07
[Music]
00:45:08
it has anyone you know ever suffered
00:45:11
from from the products of a field like
00:45:13
um a lot of youngers from middle
00:45:16
school friends of yours yeah friends of
00:45:18
mine they life destroyed by it too from
00:45:21
the addiction of
00:45:25
it if have needed motivation I think
00:45:28
having friends who are affected by
00:45:30
tripping this stuff is um yeah that's
00:45:34
going to drive you every morning when
00:45:36
you get up at 5:30 to get out here and
00:45:39
sweat and work your ass off you know I'm
00:45:43
this is without doubt feeding a hell of
00:45:45
a lot of people I mean the village that
00:45:47
we came through to get here didn't look
00:45:48
particularly poor but at the same time
00:45:51
it's hurting a lot of people all over
00:45:53
the world so for someone like loo who
00:45:56
feels that this is affecting his friends
00:45:59
his family his area I can understand why
00:46:02
he'd be
00:46:06
motivated it takes us an entire day to
00:46:08
clear just one
00:46:10
field I'm sure that this exercise has
00:46:13
been at least in part for my
00:46:18
benefit Reports say the Army has cleared
00:46:21
83,000 Fields like this
00:46:24
one but heading back down the mountain
00:46:27
the sheer scale of the problem becomes
00:46:32
apparent it seems like every um every
00:46:35
road we take we spot another field in
00:46:37
the mountain it looks like it they're
00:46:40
everywhere they're almost
00:46:42
everywhere there's someone really hard
00:46:44
to get so that's one there is that one
00:46:46
there as well y there's two up there
00:46:50
two that's just on this mountain and we
00:46:53
still got all of these to get through to
00:46:54
get home yeah exactly so probably be
00:46:57
seeing a whole bunch of them almost
00:47:00
almost like they're building factories
00:47:01
on Every Mountain it's Conant bring some
00:47:04
it's a non-top buiness just keep selling
00:47:06
keep making keep selling keep
00:47:11
making every one that you take down
00:47:14
another five of being so how can you
00:47:16
keep up we have to keep up that's that's
00:47:20
that's i y to keep
00:47:31
I want to go home
00:47:43
yeah my time here has come to an end and
00:47:46
I say my goodbyes to a group of soldiers
00:47:48
who are putting their lives on the line
00:47:50
every day
00:47:52
byebye byebye take care I can't help but
00:47:54
feel the Army has wanted to convince me
00:47:57
that aapco is a safe place safe enough
00:48:00
for the tourists to come back but
00:48:02
despite all their hard work there were
00:48:04
at least 240 murders in the first 4
00:48:07
months of
00:48:08
2016 so it's almost impossible to
00:48:12
agree and that's just in Acapulco in the
00:48:16
last decade the cartel violence has
00:48:18
claimed the lives of well over 100,000
00:48:21
people across the country and from what
00:48:23
I've seen in the mountains stopping the
00:48:25
supply looks like an unwinable
00:48:29
battle there is a real serious issue
00:48:32
here and the people that have been
00:48:33
brought in to fix things are definitely
00:48:36
doing a job but through no fault of
00:48:40
their own I don't know if they're doing
00:48:45
enough you can hack down a poppy field
00:48:48
one day but if there are five being
00:48:50
planted the
00:48:51
next are you just chasing your own tail
00:48:55
[Music]
00:49:03
there are some serious problems here and
00:49:05
I don't think they're on their way to
00:49:06
being fixed and I don't see them being
00:49:09
fixed anytime soon
00:49:14
[Music]
00:49:19
unfortunately hey
00:49:25
Gottis so
00:49:29
[Music]
00:49:49
[Music]
00:49:55
Ian for
