Mexico: the Drug War and Sunday's Presidential Election

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Image-for-WWLA.jpgMexico is in the throes of a war against drug cartels that's killed more than 50,000 people.  Four days before Sunday's presidential election in Mexico, the return of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) is widely predicted. That's the party that governed for 71 years until it was rejected 12 years ago. What's happened to the promises of real democracy and the end of corruption? With 43 percent of the voting population under 30, will a growing youth movement that began on college campuses and that's spreading on social media make a difference?

We begin our program with something different. Before our panel discussion, we hear a production from Sonic Trace, a project at KCRW which is telling the stories of immigrants from Mexico and Central America. This is the story of Luis, a 17-year-old, Mexican-born junior at a Los Angeles high school.

 

 

Sonic Trace is produced by Anayansi Diaz-Cortes and Eric Pearse-Chavez. It is part of Localore, an initiative of the Association of Independents in Radio (AIR) and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. It's home is KCRW's Independent Producer Project. The project is co-produced by Zeega, a non-profit inventing new forms of interactive storytelling.

Thanks to Jacob Conrad, who edited the story, audio engineer Mario Diaz, and to Marco Morales. Follow Sonic Trace on Facebook and Twitter.