A documentary opening Friday in Fullerton explores the drug-related violence in Mexico since President Felipe Calderon took office in December, 2006.
8 Murders a Day focuses mostly on Juarez, Mexico, the murder capital of the world or, as producer-director Charlie Minn's puts it, “the greatest human-rights disaster in the world today.” This is a place where 3,100 murders were recorded in 2010. That's more victims than the number who perished on 9-11.
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Minn tells the Weekly he is bringing his film to the AMC Fullerton because of the region's “heavy Mexican influence. . . . This is a significant topic for them.”
He claims, “This documentary sticks up for the innocent Mexican people who are
caught in the crossfire and need their voices heard. Their desperate
cries have been rudely overlooked and ignored by both the U.S. and Mexican
governments.”
According to the background materials on the film's website (www.8murdersaday.com):
Since January 2008, the Juarez drug cartel, led by Vicente Carrillo
Fuentes, has been in a turf war against the Sinoloa drug cartel, led by
Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. This war is for the coveted smuggling routes
into the USA. The Americans demand for illegal drugs has led countless
weapons and cash to enter into Mexico in exchange for these drugs. This
documentary investigates the current situation in Juarez, which has now
become the murder capital of the world because of this turf battle. In
2007, the city of Juarez averaged less than one murder per day. Today,
it is over 8 murders a day and counting. Interviews with print and
television journalists, acclaimed authors, and college professors help
look into perhaps the greatest human-rights disaster in the world today,
with no apparent end in sight.
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.