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On the streets of Nuevo Laredo, a Mexican border town
the government is fighting a war against the drug cartels.
El Mañana, the main newspaper here, has been caught in the crossfire.
When drug violence engulfed the city a few years ago,
this newsroom was on the frontline, covering the cartel killings.
Then in February 2006, the traffickers sent a message that El Mañana had gone too far.
The bullets are lodged in here. You can just about see them.
Here's one, here's one, here's another one,
Here's another one.
Orozco Tey was checking an address when he got hit in the back.
I don't remember ... I just remember falling.
I don't remember getting hit, I don't remember the grenade.
I just remember the explosion.
The attack left Jaime paralyzed from the waist down...
and forced the newspaper to freeze all coverage of the drug war.
There's no point turning this place into a bunker or bulletproofing the building.
At some point we have to go out
Instead, we watch what we publish about the violence to avoid getting into trouble
Don't publish anything about violence, kidnappings, executions or shootouts
And so El Mañana's reporters stick to a simple code
No story is worth dying for
It's the honest truth, and it's the rule we live by
But censuring his journalists is not something publisher Ramón Cantú takes lightly
His grandfather founded the newspaper in 1932
and speaking one's mind is a family tradition he is proud of
Nuevo Laredo isn't asking for pity. It demands Justice!
Now, framed scoops from the drug war gather dust...
and readers seeking missing relatives must resort to the classifieds
This is no time for heroics
The government is overwhelmed. We're defenceless
We're in survival mode
Hopefully, little by little we'll win back some ground...
so we can start publishing what's going on again
When the most sensitive stories break...
it's usually crime reporter Mario Hernández who is first on the scene
For now, he sticks to the bread and butter of his beat
Accidents, crimes of passion, maybe a robbery, and tries to steer clear of the traffickers
But with the cartels' influence everywhere In Nuevo Laredo, that's easier said than done
When something smells fishy and it looks like there's some link to organized crime...
I leave it well alone
It's a stressful, dangerous job and Mario does what he can to relax
Tomorrow he'll be pushed to the limit, as a story on his beat...
forces his bosses to decide whether it's safe to start taking risks again
The next morning, Mario gets a tip off...
that soldiers have killed five suspected drug traffickers
The army has sealed off a neighborhood on the edge of the city and the situation is tense
We won't ignore it. We cover the incident...
but whether we publish anything depends on the circumstances...
and the danger we'd be putting ourselves in
It's still too risky, Mario's bosses decide. El Mañana won't carry the story
But this time they don't back off completely
SHOOTOUT; 5 DEAD After other newspapers go ahead and publish...
La Mañana's afternoon sister paper, La Tarde, carries the story far and wide
Maybe one day they'll cover the city's biggest story again without fear of reprisals
Until then, Mario will continue to watch his back
Until I get a really close call, that is...
Then I'll ask for a transfer.
I've had some scary moments, but not scary enough yet to make me change beat.