Episode 2 - Mexico's drug war - THE HISTORY BEHIND THE HEADLINES
To the south of the United States’ 2,000-mile-long border with Mexico, a terrible war has been gathering pace over the past 13 years. So far, the conflict has claimed 230,000 lives, with countless others maimed, bereaved and impoverished. Tens of thousands of children have lost one or both their parents – and several hundred thousand people have been forced to flee their homes, creating a ever-growing army of refugees. Mexico’s drug war – an ultra-violent multi-sided conflict over who controls the country’s $30bn per year illicit drug trade with the USA – is currently costing almost 3,000 lives per month. But how did it all begin?