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Julián Cardona On Evolution Of Words In Mexico During The "War On Drugs"
CIUDAD JUAREZ — In this web exclusive, Fronteras Desk reporter Lorne Matalon is in Juárez, Chihuahua to speak with Mexican photojournalist, author and social researcher Julián Cardona.
Cardona is working with Lubbock, Texas-based artist Alice Leora Briggson a book that focuses on language, specifically how words have come to take on two or more meanings as Ciudad Juárez wrestles with the legacy of years of violence that reached a statistical zenith in 2010.
Innocuous words such as punto, meaning "point" today also mean low-level drug dealer.
Here's another example: "to be baptized" can sometimes mean "to be killed," and the Spanish word, montado, or "mounted," has also come to mean a victim of torture.
The discussion about words and their evolution comes against a backdrop of what is commonly referred to in mainstream media in both Mexico and the United States as the "War on Drugs."
The conversation takes places as Juárez prepares to welcome Pope Francis.
The first Latin American Pontiff has chosen Juárez as a venue to send what is expected to be a strong message about the debate in the United States over immigration, the treatment of migrants and perhaps President Barack Obama's desire to reform the immigration system in the United States, a topic that is expected to be one of the prominent themes in the upcoming U.S. presidential election in 2016.
Cardona discusses the context of the upcoming visit, how the Pope is focused on Latin America and hopes for a more secure Mexico this year.