:00:00. > :00:06.More on all our top stories at 8, More on all our top stories at 8,
:00:06. > :00:10.but now it's time for Meet the Author with Nick Higham. More than
:00:10. > :00:13.60,000 Mexicans have been murdered in the last six years by the
:00:14. > :00:17.country's drug gangs or cartels which smuggle cocaine, heroin and
:00:17. > :00:24.marijuana into the United States. Some of those murdered, in what's
:00:24. > :00:30.have been journalists who dared to have been journalists who dared to
:00:30. > :00:33.report what was going on. An report what was going on. An
:00:33. > :00:36.investigative journalist has written Narco Land which she says exposes
:00:36. > :00:40.the corrupt officials going to the top of the
:00:41. > :00:44.Mexican establishment which not Mexican establishment which not only
:00:44. > :00:50.allows the barons to flourish but in some cases actively promotes their
:00:50. > :01:08.shocking. Anabel Hernandez, we hear shocking. Anabel Hernandez, we
:01:09. > :01:09.a lot about the terrible violence in Mexico and it's remarkable that
:01:09. > :01:14.a lot about the terrible violence in authorities and the Government can't
:01:14. > :01:17.the reason for that is not that they the reason for that is not that
:01:17. > :01:19.can't, but that they don't want to. can't, but that they don't want to.
:01:19. > :01:32.Why not? Why not?
:01:32. > :01:38.Well, what I found in five years of investigation is that since many
:01:38. > :01:49.time ago, the government get involve with the cartels and the corruption
:01:49. > :01:53.just grows and grows. Now the drug cartels control many, many parts of
:01:53. > :01:59.the Mexican government. Many cartels control many, many parts of
:01:59. > :02:05.the Mexican government. Many officials will seek bribes for
:02:05. > :02:14.protection. At one point in the book, you have a list of people you
:02:14. > :02:17.say were on the payroll of just drugs cartel and there are four
:02:17. > :02:21.generals, a Secretary of Defence in the government and a former private
:02:21. > :02:28.secretary to a president. How has that situation been allowed to
:02:28. > :02:34.happen? How has it come about? It started in the deck awed of the 60s
:02:34. > :02:46.and 70s when the Government tried to control the little drug cartels ——
:02:46. > :02:49.decade. They were really small organisations and they paid to the
:02:49. > :02:54.government something like a tax government something like a tax and
:02:54. > :03:08.the government let them work. But in the decade of the 80s and 90s, the
:03:08. > :03:15.drug cartels got involved with the cartels of Colombia and Mexico
:03:15. > :03:25.powerful because the money made them the cocaine
:03:25. > :03:29.powerful because the money made them powerful so they started to buy
:03:29. > :03:31.powerful because the money made them parts of the government
:03:31. > :03:35.powerful because the money made them many of
:03:35. > :03:41.officials that work in the Mexican officials that work in the Mexican
:03:41. > :03:46.government are in the payroll of the drug cartels. Many
:03:46. > :03:50.too. There's a terrible story in the book of one group of policemen going
:03:50. > :03:54.to arrest a drug trafficker, I think a Colombian drug trafficker and
:03:54. > :04:00.there's a shot out and his guards are also Mexican policemen. It seems
:04:00. > :04:11.astonishing? Yes. That is very common in Mexico. When that happens,
:04:11. > :04:19.when the government tries to catch people, they fight many of the
:04:19. > :04:24.persons that are protected. Many are officials. Police, officials and
:04:24. > :04:32.local police. It's very common. A central figure in your book is the
:04:32. > :04:42.biggest Mexican drug baron, a man called Mr Guzman and he runs the
:04:42. > :04:48.arrested in the 8090s and was arrested in the 8090s and was
:04:48. > :04:54.imprisoned in a maximum security prison —— 80s. He escaped in the
:04:54. > :04:59.1990s and the story is that he was smuggled out of the prison in Sa
:04:59. > :05:03.laundry cart. You say that's not true. — in a laundry cart. You say
:05:03. > :05:06.he left disguised as a police true. — in a laundry cart. You say
:05:06. > :05:11.he left disguised as a police policeman, disguised as a policeman.
:05:11. > :05:24.I started the investigation, one day I started the investigation, one day
:05:24. > :05:29.a lawyer call me and tell me that the jail
:05:29. > :05:38.him in jail and he gave me the files him in jail and
:05:38. > :05:45.documents. I looked at them and I documents. I looked at them and
:05:45. > :05:57.and didn't escape in the laundry car and didn't escape in the laundry car
:05:57. > :06:03.because when the car left, he was still in jail. What he really did
:06:03. > :06:09.is, he got inside the office and wait for for the officials of the
:06:09. > :06:18.government in the early morning on government in the early morning on
:06:18. > :06:24.January 20. They opened the door and let him get out of the prison.
:06:24. > :06:30.That was because they were on his payroll? Yes.Mexico is one of the
:06:30. > :06:34.dangerous countries in the world for a journalist. Last October, someone
:06:34. > :06:41.reckoned 56 journalists had been killed in the previous five or six
:06:41. > :06:43.years, largely by the drug cartels because they found stories about
:06:43. > :06:46.drugs. You have written many drugs. You have written many
:06:46. > :06:48.You've been threatened, haven't you? You've been threatened, haven't
:06:48. > :06:52.Why do you continue? Why do you continue?
:06:52. > :06:53.Why don't you leave Mexico, for instance, because surely that would
:06:53. > :07:11.be safer for you? be safer for you?
:07:11. > :07:16.I have received many threats but I really don't want to get out of
:07:16. > :07:18.Mexico because I really believe that the journalists, we have a lot of
:07:18. > :07:28.work to do there in the country. I work to do there in the country. I
:07:28. > :07:30.mean, the crisis is because many of the people in Mexico doesn't really
:07:30. > :07:34.know what is happening, doesn't know what is happening, doesn't know
:07:34. > :07:39.what is happening. If the what is happening. If the
:07:39. > :07:45.journalists keep quiet, if I just take my things and go to other
:07:45. > :07:47.countries, how will the people know the truth? Of course,
:07:47. > :07:53.are many journalists that keep best one, I'm not the only one,
:07:54. > :07:55.You are a brave woman. You are a brave woman.
:07:55. > :07:57.Thank you. You are a brave woman.
:07:57. > :08:00.Thank you very