México – Aland Guillén

Drug cartels - Mexico

The drug cartels are everywhere in Mexico. The figures released by the government last January of 2011 showed that 34,612 people had been killed since December 2006, including suspected drug gang members, members of the security forces and those considered innocent bystanders. It is now estimated that some 40,000 people have died during the nearly five years of Mr. Calderon’s presidency. Violence has been stronger in the northern border regions, especially in the state of Chihuahua.  The states on the Pacific coast like Sinaloa, Michoacán and Guerrero have also been hit hard. Ciudad Juarez (just across from El Paso, Texas) is the city suffering the most.  In 2010, some 3,100 people were killed in Juarez, which has a population of more than a million. 2010 saw violence spread to other regions, including Nuevo Leon and Tamaulipas states. One of the focal points for violence has been Mexico’s third-largest city, Monterrey. As the map shows, the different drug cartels are spread all over the territory. Under these circumstances I have contacted 11 radio stations in three different towns to introduce our programs, but for all the spiritual need that is so apparent in the country, stations are reluctant to open the air waves to the only message that can possible bring about change and hope to its citizens.   My prayer is that the Lord would touch the hearts of the owners of the radio stations visited, and that more people would be exposed to the message of hope in Jesus Christ.  I also visited nine churches to encourage the pastors and their leadership to respond to the vision of the proclamation of the Gospel through radio; a vision that so far seems to have escaped the churches.

Leave a Reply

20 − eight =