Catch Amexica: War Along The Borderline Prepared By Ed Vulliamy Expressed As Print

rich source of facts but arduous to get through at times, A good start if you are just getting acquainted with the killings in Ciudad Juarez, Ive seen a lot of negative reviews here for this book, but I dont see it myself I thought it was a really interesting read.
It was far more wideranging than I expected, The subtitle on my copy is “war along the borderline”, but this isnt accurate at all, Its less about drugs, and more about poverty, capitalism and globalisation, and I thought this made the book far more interesting.
Its a journalistic work Vulliamy spent a number of years over an extended period travelling both sides of the USMexico border and speaking to people, and thats what is in this book: his observations on what he sees and his conversations with people.


The book is structured as a journey from west to east, but it is not a story of one journey.
The most interesting chapters are about peoplesmuggling, Ciudad Juarez my goodness, and the maquiladoras, I also found the “intermission” about two retired US Border Patrol officers really interesting: two Vietnam veterans with an oldfashioned outlook, who used to ride the border on horseback, shooting it out with drug smugglers it was so cliched but also like a modern Western, and a certain decency that seems lost.


The peoplesmuggling really brought out just how dangerous it is, but people still see it as a better option to seek better opportunities, compared to what theyre leaving.
Theyre exploited and brutalised by everyone along the way, including the illtreatment if/when they are caught, Its so tragic and highlights many wider problems the solution so obviously is not to tighten the border security.


A number of chapters cover things going on in Juarez reflecting the different things going on and I found that all shocking, gripping, and compelling.
The murder rate is high, but the brutality of it is what makes it most shocking, Some of it is drugrelated, and this seems to be a titfortat cycle of violence, Torture is endemic, brutal methods of killing, plus public displays of the bodies especially hanging from bridges over the main highway, alongside messages.
These are hung in broad daylight with no fear by the perpetrators, There is no fear of the police, because mostly the police are the drug cartels,

On top of the drug violence in Juarez, he describes a somewhat mysterious killing spree against the broken people of society: recovering addicts drug use is understandably rife and those with mental health problems.
The author spends some time at a priestrun home for such people, in a very moving part, and the priest lives with the awareness that his institution could be next for a massacre of the broken.
Its not entirely clear why these massacres are happening, but there is a suggestion that perhaps its the army “cleaning up” society.
But the extent of the brutal killing and often apparently without clear motivation is really shocking,

Then a “femicide” is also rife: widespread killing of women in Juarez, This seems to include prolific serial killers doing it because they can get away with it, Some of it also appears to be about emasculated men, Women seem to be more likely to have legitimate employment, especially in the appalling maquiladora factories, thereby bringing home the bread.
Unless the men get involved with narcos, theres not much for them to do, and that seems to bring out the worst as they respond to the lack of power.


Throw in the slums, crushing poverty, and the awful conditions working for a pittance to produce all kinds of things for the US, from clothes to car parts, and Juarez comes across as a hell on earth.
If I knew that anything I was purchasing was produced in such conditions I would totally boycott it, I fear its not just Mexico,

I was also taken aback by the emptiness of Juarez, The descent into violence means that much of the housing is unoccupied a staggering amount, And the unoccupied housing and neighbourhoods then become scenes to some of the other nightmares going on in Juarez.
It comes across as postapocalyptic, I dont know if things have improved,

He covers attempts to unionise the maquiladora workers, and some of the successes that have been had.
Its not entirely a bleak story throughout there are good people trying to make things better,

The final chapters cover Los Zetas and the eastern Gulf area, It was very clear that illegal smuggling goes in both directions: drugs north, and money and guns brought legally in the US travelling south, in staggering amounts.


I was struck on a number of occasions at the endemic corruption, including among US government officials.
It seems relatively easy for cartel people to infiltrate US agencies, and even easier to turn someone: accept this huge amount of money to let things through the border, or we brutally kill your family.
He meets with and speaks to a number of killers working for the cartels,

There are a number of underlying themes: the interconnections across the border its clear that its a border area rather than a border line, and the

effects of poverty and exploitation, and people with limited options.
Capitalism does not come out of this book well at all it seems to be the underlying problem with everything.
In the book, it seems to start with privatisation of farmland in Mexico, generating crushing poverty for large sections of the population.
Then there is the exploitation of so many workers, particularly in the factories, who dont earn enough to live.
The cartels then seem to be an example of extreme capitalism which in turn feeds into the legitimate economy.
Too many people are making too much money by exploiting the poor and vulnerable, often with violent consequences, I dont recall that this is something he said explicitly, but it seemed an obvious conclusion from reading this book that the solution to fix all these problems was to fix the rampant capitalism.
Its perhaps unsurprising that the writer is a journalist for the leftleaning Guardian and Observer and the book has its share of typos, like those newspapers used to be wellknown for.


Looking through other reviews, it seems the criticisms of this book fall into two categories: that his Spanish is terrible and he mistranslates a lot, and that hes a white guy writing this book, and especially that its a white showing off about all the dangerous places he has been.
Its hard for me to judge the first criticism about his Spanish language ability, as I dont speak Spanish and hence dont know if the translations he makes are accurate.
However, I personally lost nothing from this the book does not hinge on the translations he makes, It obviously does hinge on whether he understood the conversations he had, Personally Im a bit sceptical that his Spanish is that bad he has spent someyears visiting that part of the world and seems to cope well enough without an interpreter.
On the second criticism about him being a white guy, I spent a lot of time thinking about, I personally think it would have been a better and more credible book if it had been written by someone Mexican.
However, it was obvious to me that it would also be an incredibly risky book for a Mexican to write people commenting publicly on the cartels, and on the Mexican police, army and government, are routinely killed.
Further, a European author can approach the subject with a degree of impartiality that a Mexican or American might not be able to either and it seems likely to make them more willing to talk to him too, so I dont think the question of the authors whiteness makes the book invalid or is a decisive criticism.
He gives voice to a huge amount of people,

My own criticism of the book is that it stops in, and I want to find out about the nextyears, the interval between its publication and my reading it.
Theres a real risk that the book is dated, However, this is inevitable, given that it took me so long to get round to reading it, One solution would be for him to write a followup, which I would certainly read, This is a moving and poignant book, Nie, to nie jest aż tak dobra książka, Czwarta gwiazdka za niezwykle rzetelną robotę na samym meksykańskim pograniczu, za masę przeczytanych źródeł, za uczciwość i bezwzględną szczerość.

Pozycja obowiązkowa szczególnie dla"Polonusów", których oburzają po równo, zabierający im pracę czarni i Meksykanie, Hindusi czy Wietnamczycy.
Warto wiedzieć, czemu nie mogli żyć u siebie, Przed czym i kim musieli uciekać,
Bolesna i cholernie przygnębiająca lektura, Żadnej nadzieji, żadnej jasnej perspektywy, I'm drudgingly pushing through this, I love the reality and documentation of events that Vulliamy brings to the issue, but it lacks emotion to some degree.
I'm having a hard time getting through it with comfort, A point in time review of events along the U, SMexico border during some of the worst of the narcotics related violence, From the gruesome open warfare in Tijuana and Nuevo Laredo to the calm but chilling repression in Matamoros which has seen escalating violence since this was written Vulliamy sympathizes with the Mexican citizens who have gotten caught up in all the chaos.
The book details the rise of the various cartels, the various territorial fights that shift along the border and the enormous flow of drugs heading north and guns and cash heading south.
Additionally he goes into detail about the relationship between all the twinned cities on the border, the violence against young women in Ciudad Juarez, the challenges of the maquiladoras and other subjects.
Not exactly a fun read but very informative, This was my "beach" read for our Thanksgiving vacation to Florida, I was so thoroughly engrossed I barely remember any details from our holiday, This fascinating, angering and heartbreaking report is very well researched and written, and the author/reporter so well versed and caring so much about the subject matter that I began an instant obsession with the region as well as its our vexing issues.


Ed Vulliamy is wise to trace the root of the problem beyond America's drug addiction and subsequent arms smuggling.
He points to the much larger fault of theoretical globalization and the scars left after corporate flight, Although depressing, sickening and rageinducing he leaves us with hope from nonprofit "saintly" groups and individuals,

An excellent read, Sometimes these kind of books can be a bit on the dry side but Vulliamy does a great job of bringing to raw, desperate life the people he talks to and the places he describes.
My interest in the whole War on Drugs subject had been sparked initially by reading Sam Hawken's 'The Dead Women of Juarez' and then the magnificent 'The Power of the Dog' by Don Winslow but this book shows that nothing in fiction is as shocking as the events that now pass for daily life in the north of Mexico.
Highly recommended. So far my main goal is to try to get over how many spelling mistakes there are in the Spanish and focus on what Vulliamy is saying.
It is difficult given I am still only at the prologue and I've talliedmistakes so far which is frankly embarrassing for Vintage.
Hopefully it won't get worse though clearly it will and I will be able to get through Amexica without hurtling it across the room unfinished.
Here's to hoping
Ok so ages later I've finished, My verdict is that this book is little more than poverty porn with a pathetic and ineffective attempt at analysis.
I was especially put off by the chapter talking about feminicide which did nothing more than enumerate murders without trying to understand the phenomenon.
Vulliamy rattles off horrible incidents of death, torture, violence, you name it and rarely attempts to analyse anything from it.
Makes me think somewhat of the crap I produced at university aged!
Also, seriously, having lived in Mexico in/, I feel I know more about the country and the national psyche than he does erroneously or not, and certainly did not recognise the country or the people I fell in love with granted I was in Puebla, but I didn't think it was as simple as he put it.
All in all, a really average, misguided book, I hope people take it with a pinch of salt because it's badly researched or really only insofar as it serves its own ends and is riddled with mistakes.
Fantastic read and a really important book everybody should read it and be aware of the atrocities happening everyday in Mexico.


Love the very poignant closing line by Munoz the Tijuana pathologist: "I live like a man who sits eating a delicious taco on the street there, aware that every moment could be his last.
One bullet, and he is dead, "
Read this if you have any interest at all in Mexico, the Southwest, immigration and drug policy, or just want to be a betterinformed citizen and human.
It is compassionate, infuriating, engrossing, informative, and altogether readable, I cannot recommend it highly enough for people who want to know more than their Foxwatching, hatespewing kith and kin.
Vulliamy is obviously at a loss for clearcut solutions and bromides, but he brings the populations and challenges on both sides of the border to life beautifully.
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