Reggie Yates in the Mexican Drug War The Insider

This programme contains some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting

They say to understand a person,

you have to walk a mile in their shoes.

So that's exactly what I'm going to do.

I'm joining the Mexican army

to fight on the front line of the war on drugs.

Any sort of mental picture I have of Acapulco is the glory days,

those pictures of Hollywood stars coming here in the '50s, I guess.

Things are very different in Acapulco now.

I'm hoping these guys will help me understand exactly what's changed.

Mexico is at war with itself.

The country is being torn apart

by cartels fighting over the 30 billion drug trade.

Acapulco was once a glamorous holiday paradise.

Now it's the fourth most violent city in the world.

A place where 1,000 people were murdered last year alone.

Now the army has been deployed on the streets.

The latest desperate response

to a war that is spiralling out of control.

For one week, I'll be living and working alongside them,

finding out what it's like to be a young Mexican soldier.

Fighting in a war where you don't know who your enemy is

and you don't know who to trust.

I'm enrolling in Unit 27

of the 56th Infantry Battalion in Acapulco

for what is traditionally the biggest week of the year,

the Easter holidays.

SHOUTED ORDERS

I think that was for me to learn it.

Hello.

There's normally 1,500 soldiers here, but for this week,

the government has sent in an extra 2,500 men to try and help out

the struggling police force.

HE SHOUTS ORDERS

This is me. This is you. The one with nothing in it.

OK.

'I've been assigned one of the only English speakers,

'a 20-year-old private called Luis, as a guide and translator.'

Toothbrush, toothpaste, gel.

-Anything you need.

-So everything has a space.

I can't put my personal things there, I can't put my vest there.

Everything has...

What is it like living with this much order?

You have to wear your shirt a certain way, wear your sleeves

a certain way, hang your clothes a certain way.

Luis has been with the army for 18 months,

one of thousands of ordinary young Mexicans

who were signed up to try and help end the cycle of bloodshed.

MEXICAN NATIONAL ANTHEM

The first duty of the day is roll call.

With no training, I feel totally out of my depth.

MEN SING NATIONAL ANTHEM

So we are overlooking Acapulco beach.

When you're here on service, do you ever go down there to the beach?

With a helmet on in the summer?!

What on earth are you walking on the beach for?

You're walking on the beach for turtles?

There's got to be something else.

You're not carrying bulletproof vests for turtles?

Why is it so dangerous? Because of the turtles?

On the beach?

What are they doing on the beach?

Isn't that where...?

SHOUTED ORDERS

I've never handled a rifle before

but with 18,000 murders in Mexico last year alone...

..the army has insisted that I get some weapons training.

OK.

Have you ever been in a shoot-out?

How old were you when this happened? Your first time?

Right, and people were shooting at you?

Who was shooting at you?

Were they the main threat here?

And they're not afraid to shoot you guys.

Is that all he said?

OK.

Sorry.

I've been told after lunch, our unit will be carrying out an armed patrol

on Acapulco's main tourist beach.

So why exactly do you have to patrol somewhere like the beach?

You mentioned that, you know,

at points you have to patrol the beaches in your full gear.

What makes Acapulco so dangerous?

You can't talk to me about it? What do you mean?

I need to know if I'm going to be out there with you!

'It's astonishing to be told there's nothing to worry about in Acapulco.

'According to the papers, it's the deadliest city in Mexico.'

I've been told that it's not dangerous here,

that it's safe, but there's about 30 of us

and we're all wearing bulletproof vests. Everyone has got a gun.

It can't be that safe if everybody is this armed, this protected.

Technically, I guess I'm on my first mission.

I'm heading down to the beach. I do know it's busy,

it's the Easter holiday weekend,

it's the busiest time here in Acapulco and it's also, I imagine,

the perfect time to kick up some trouble if you want,

which is probably why these guys are here.

A sea of green has departed from these cars and you've got

loads of residents, loads of holiday-makers just stood staring.

Luis and his fellow soldiers patrol the main beaches five times a day.

They are ordinary Mexicans carrying guns

as a show of force against their fellow countrymen.

Is that gun on safety? Cos you keep hitting me with it.

I don't want any accidents.

In years gone by, Acapulco would have entertained 350,000 overseas

tourists a year. Today, there's barely a foreigner in sight.

It feels like everybody that we are passing on this beach is Mexican.

I'm not really hearing any other accents.

What sort of tourists are you getting here now?

Right, so they are all Mexican?

Why aren't there any international tourists any more?

There's clearly not a lot here right now, so why are there a lot less?

'I'm not going to get very far talking to Luis.

'It's obvious he isn't authorised to talk about certain subjects.'

Is it possible for me to talk to any of the tourists?

OK, let me ask some of these guys over here.

These young guys, let's see what they have to say.

Hola. Hello, guys.

I was under the impression that this is a massive holiday

and this time of year gets very busy,

but it seems as if all of the tourists here are Mexican.

Why do you think there aren't any international tourists here?

Do you not think that there is a big problem with cartels and narcos?

Enjoy the sun. I'm very jealous of you right now.

Enjoy your holiday.

From what the locals have said,

the recent trouble in Acapulco is putting off international tourists.

My fear is that the army have only allowed me to be here as part of

a wider campaign to win them back.

I can't get Luis to give me

any specific details about the cartel violence,

but on more personal subjects, he seems willing to open up.

How about the guys you grew up with?

Were any of them drawn into the cartels?

One of them has already died? He's the same age as you. You're only 20.

This kid the same age?

So what is it that would make a young man want to join the cartel?

So what was it that made you go for the military over the cartels, then?

I'd always imagined that the people who join the cartels

were just...the bad guys,

but Luis actually know some of the people who ended up joining them

and I can't imagine what it's like

to have to fight against people you grew up with.

You can take everything off now.

I don't remember the last time

I was this physically flipping knackered.

For whatever reason, I can't find a flipping brush.

I've got to clean my boots.

I'm having to borrow one.

Like a right novice.

Trying to get some of the sand off it first.

The sergeant walked around and was telling us to wake up,

and at that point, we sort of stared a little bit,

then the lights came on.

You had no choice but to get up.

Is it always this early when you guys get up?

Sometimes you don't sleep? Why would you go without sleep?

-Patrolling.

-Patrolling?

Do you not feel like you're missing out at all?

If you feel you're missing out on so much, what keeps you here?

Life here is strictly disciplined -

a daily routine of patrols and a gruelling fitness regime.

MEN SHOUT

The first duty of the day is a 5K run around the barracks.

It's 35 degrees.

I run 5K at home.

But that, this heat... Boy!

I have never...

That is something else.

There's no time to recover before we head out again.

Looks like we are all leaving.

Everybody has suddenly jumped back in.

All clipped up, so I guess I should follow suit.

We're travelling into Colonia Jardin Mangos,

one of Acapulco's poorest suburbs.

The barrio has a reputation of being a cartel stronghold.

Once a normal neighbourhood,

it is now entirely controlled by powerful criminals.

Speaking to the Major, it feels like

I'm still being given the army's official line.

I've been told off-camera

there were nine drug-related murders in Acapulco yesterday.

The majority in areas just like this.

In a situation like this, how do you tell

if somebody is up to mischief

and how do you tell that somebody is just a local?

Nobody is acting particularly erratically.

What are the giveaways?

'These streets feel like a very different proposition

'to the tourist zone.'

'You don't know who's an ordinary resident

'and who's a cartel foot soldier.'

'Even with these heavily armed soldiers,

'it feels like we could be ambushed at any minute.'

What are you looking for here?

Was anybody kidnapped?

These bits of the barrio,

I take it, are the bits that are dangerous, right?

The minute we went into that quiet little road

and you could see the dark corners,

even in the midday sun,

you could see where things could go wrong.

Where someone could jump out with a gun, where someone could attack you.

The minute those places became obvious,

sadly I started to see how an seemingly quiet barrio

could become quite a dangerous place.

We didn't come under fire today

or even see the cartel but I'm getting a sense of

the sort of pressure these soldiers have to work under.

Do you feel like you're in danger?

When do you feel like you're in danger, if it's not all the time?

Has anyone in your unit died?

How did they react to that?

Why not?

'He may not have witnessed the death of a fellow soldier, but Luis knows

'only too well the consequences of living in a country

'so consumed by violence.'

-And everyone knows who the guy is?

-Yep.

How do you feel about losing a family member in the line of duty?

-Your grandfather was an officer, right?

-Yep.

I'm sorry to hear about your grandpa. It's difficult.

To only have a couple of days to get over it, it's pretty tough.

For him to lose his grandfather on the job

is probably a massive reality check

because, you know, his grandfather was a police officer and, in theory,

his job is even more dangerous.

You know, I was 14 when my grandfather passed away

but, you know, he died of something fairly natural.

For a guy at 20 to lose his grandfather to a criminal

on the streets of the city that you live in and patrol...

I don't know how that would make me feel about coming back to work.

The army is telling me it is safe here.

But I want to find out for myself the reality of the dangers

young soldiers like Luis are facing.

Hopefully I can now finally get some answers.

I've been summoned to meet the general at his office.

Hi. Reggie.

-Pleasure to meet you.

-How are you?

-Very good, thank you.

Thank you so much for finding the time to meet me.

So, firstly,

I really, really desperately want to understand why the military are here

in Acapulco.

Why do you think that the police

haven't been able to get control of the situation?

So just how dangerous are the cartels

and how powerful is organised crime here?

I don't know if that's really answered the question again.

Let's move on, let's move on. OK.

So do you think that the locals feel as safe as the tourists?

Pleasure to meet you.

Thank you very much. Adios.

That was a lot harder than I thought it would be.

I guess what's really important here is maintaining a level of...

..front isn't the right word, but presence, you know.

There is a version that they are desperate to present to the world

which is that everything is under control.

I don't know, man.

How I leave this place and what I leave Mexico with

is going to have to come down to

what I see and what I figure out for myself.

Our unit has been given the afternoon off

and I want to use it to get some answers elsewhere

to work out just how safe the area Luis patrols really is.

After buying a local newspaper,

I've come to a beach frequented by residents,

five minutes from the main tourist zone

where three of yesterday's nine murders took place.

Yeah, it would make sense that it was there.

The picture shows him laid out by a wall.

There's candles burning just over here.

It was right there.

Look. That's exactly it. Right there.

They haven't even managed to clean all the blood away. Still there!

And everything carries on exactly as normal just a day after.

Look at that. There's kids playing right there.

Yesterday I was with the army

patrolling the beach all of five minutes' walk

in that direction.

The beach was quite clearly a tourist beach,

whereas this beach that I'm at at the moment

is pretty much just local people.

The reason that I'm here

and the reason that I'm absolutely flabbergasted

at what has gone on here is that three people were shot yesterday.

A 15-year-old, a 25-year-old and a man who was 54.

Right here. 20 minutes after I left that beach just over there,

with the military yesterday.

There are pictures of where I'm sat right now.

Literally right here. This is here.

It's not taken long to find shocking evidence, but are these deaths

confined to criminals,

or are ordinarily people being caught up in the violence, too?

Do you work here all the time? Was you working here yesterday?

I read in the newspaper that

there was something that happened here yesterday.

All right. Gracias.

Many of the locals are scared of talking.

But one resident businesswoman

has agreed to meet me at a secret location.

-Nice to meet you.

-Gracias.

Why did your shop close?

These people that have been killed, are they local tourists?

Are they cartel members? Are they shop owners? Who is getting killed?

It's clear that the fallout from this war

spreads way beyond rival cartels,

affecting almost every part of Mexican society.

Police, government officials

and even the security services in some areas

have been accused of corruption.

The tourists themselves might not be targets,

but with so much violence in the city,

can Luis and his fellow soldiers really keep them safe?

'I've managed to track down Carlos,

'a local photographer, at his office on the main tourist strip.

'He's been following the recent escalation in violence.'

This is nice.

So if it is assassinations that you are taking pictures of,

is this happening out in the open?

Anywhere? So even on one of the main beaches here

where all the tourists go to?

'Carlos offers to show me some pictures he's taken recently.'

Oh, my God!

And is that on the main beach that's here?

The photographic evidence is shocking.

People have been killed all over the city.

Since the army were first deployed here five months ago,

there have been 29 murders on the city's beaches.

Tourism is the lifeblood of the economy here.

It provides 70% of Guerrero State's GDP,

so it's understandable why the army have been deployed here,

and it seems, alongside deterrence, part of the role it plays

is to present an image of a safe city to the outside world.

This is the bit of Acapulco that the government care about,

the police care about,

the military care about, and people are being killed right here.

To be fair to them, it's not like they are not doing anything.

They are definitely working their socks off.

I have joined in. They're patrolling the beaches,

they are up and down this main strip all day,

even going into the barrios.

I've seen it myself, so they are doing something,

they are making a difference,

but people are still being killed even here, so...

I don't know.

Is it enough?

I'm halfway through my time with the army,

but today we're leaving Acapulco.

It looks like everybody has packed a massive backpack

with what looks like tents on it.

This could be a very long day.

The army's mission here is to tackle the war on drugs

at both ends of the supply chain.

Fighting the cartels in the city

and going after the drug production itself.

Late for my briefing.

So far the army haven't exactly been forthcoming about the violence,

but I'm trying to keep an open mind

about what they're going to show me.

We're heading eight hours north-west of Acapulco into the mountains,

where the cartels use intimidation and violence

to force farmers to grow vast fields of poppies

used to produce to heroin.

Just another example of how ordinary people

have been sucked into the drug trade.

What are the dangers here?

Get shot at. OK. Anything else?

Is it is common for farmers

to organise themselves to shoot at soldiers?

-Really? Even though you are trained and they are not?

-Yes.

The Aguero Mountains

is where 40% of all heroin supplied to America is produced.

It's an industry worth ten billion US dollars.

We're heading to a temporary army base deep in the mountains.

Up here, the military simply isn't welcome.

In these remote locations,

agriculture is the only source of income,

so many of the local farmers are dependent on growing poppies.

What do hawks do?

'It must be strange for young men like Luis,

'a soldier fighting a war against his own countrymen,

'never knowing who the enemy actually is.'

Everybody that passes by, I'm looking at their backpacks,

I'm looking at their bags, thinking, "What are they carrying down?"

There's quite a lot of people

passing by in the opposite direction.

HE TRANSLATES INTO SPANISH

Is there any reason we're not stopping them?

It's hard to even see what direction the road is going in next.

For some reason there's a random van just parked up here in the dark.

There doesn't seem to be anyone in it, but as it is dark,

I think we should leave it rather than check it and keep going.

It does look pretty suspect.

Suddenly we've got electricity poles again.

We're in the middle of nowhere and there's a whole village here.

There seems to be a lot of lights and a lot of property.

-They look wealthy?

-Yep.

-What's the giveaway?

What are the chances the entire village is involved

in the fields that we're going to destroy?

-So we're here now.

-Yes, we're here.

Yeah? Are we going to camp up?

Yes.

We're joining another battalion

who have been here for the last two weeks.

Just pass it through.

After setting up camp, Luis and I are assigned to night watch.

So if something does kick off, what happens then?

It's been a long day. How much does your tiredness play a part

in something like this?

Because we've been up since very early in the morning.

I heard something.

I think the thing that strikes me mostly

is that they aren't really individuals.

Everything is about the team,

everything is about the unit and nothing is about an individual.

They were saying that if there were an attack,

he'd send me back and he'd sacrifice himself

trying to defend his brothers, the other soldiers.

You know, after a day as long as this,

and ahead of a night in this thing,

um...I think I'm coming away... from a very long day...

..with a slightly better picture

of what it means to be part of this unit.

Once again the day begins before the sun is up.

This looks like the stodgiest,

heaviest breakfast in the world for a reason.

I think the minute the sun is fully in the sky, we're going to set off.

To get to the poppy fields,

we have a long hike across rough terrain ahead.

I'll come to your side.

To avoid detection, the plantations are often grown

in the most remote parts of the mountains.

The army has used air reconnaissance

to locate this poppy field in advance.

He's just pointed out this piping.

The guys who are actually responsible for the poppy field,

they put piping in so they can consistently water and control

the level of water going to their crop.

Right, suddenly...

suddenly we've stopped.

Which, to me, can mean only one thing.

I guess we're here.

-You see all those flowers?

-Yeah.

'We immediately find evidence

'that the poppy growers have been here recently.'

We've just found some bags of stuff.

You can see beer cans and food and stuff.

They've been hanging out here for a while.

Growing these plants is the first stage in heroin production.

The farmers extract the natural gum

to make into a paste which is refined and then turned into heroin

with a street value of 130,000 per kilo.

What is the white stuff?

Wow! And that just comes out of this plant?

And that's all they need?

How much do they get out of each plant? Because that's not much.

It's just a little bit.

There are 17,000 hectares of opium poppy fields like this one

across Mexico,

making it the number one supplier of heroin to the United States.

It's horrifying to think that a harmless looking plant like this

can be the cause of so much bloodshed.

And that boys like Luis have grown up in a country

ravaged by violence because of it.

Has anyone you know ever suffered

from the product of a field like this?

Friends of yours?

If ever you needed motivation,

I think having friends who are affected by this stuff is,

you know, is going to drive you every morning

when you get up at 5:30

to get out here and sweat and work your arse off.

This is without doubt feeding a hell of a lot of people.

The village that we came through to get here

didn't look particularly poor,

but at the same time it is hurting a lot of people all over the world.

So for someone like Luis,

who feels like this is affecting his friends, his family,

his area, I can understand why you'd be motivated.

It takes us an entire day to clear just one field.

I'm sure that this exercise has been, at least in part,

for my benefit.

Reports say the army has cleared 83,000 fields like this one.

But heading back down the mountain,

the sheer scale of the problem becomes apparent.

It seems like every road we take, we spot another field on a mountain.

They're everywhere.

So that's one there. Is that one as well?

That's two up there.

That's just on this mountain.

We've still got all of these to get through to get home.

It's almost like they are building factories on every mountain.

For every one that you take out,

another five are being planted, so how can you keep up?

HE SIGHS

I want to go home.

-Yeah?

-Yeah.

My time here has come to an end, and I say my goodbyes to a group

of soldiers who are putting their lives on the line every day.

Bye-bye. Bye-bye, take care.

'I can't help but feel the army has wanted to convince me

'that Acapulco is a safe place,

'safe enough for the tourists to come back.

'But despite all their hard work,

'there were at least 240 murders in the first four months of 2016.

'So it's almost impossible to agree.

'And that's just in Acapulco.

'In the last decade, the cartel violence

'has claimed the lives of over 100,000 people across the country.

'And from what I've seen in the mountains,

'stopping the supply looks like an unwinnable battle.'

There is a real serious issue here

and the people that have been brought in to fix things

are definitely doing their job,

but, through no fault of their own,

I don't know if they're doing enough.

You can hack down a poppy field one day, but if there are five

being planted the next, are you just chasing your own tail?

There are some serious problems here

and I don't think they are on their way to being fixed

and I don't see them being fixed any time soon, unfortunately.

Hey.

Gracias!

Civilian!