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Anderson Cooper hosts from San Diego; Michael reports on the latest escalation in violence in Juarez after a horrific attack on a drug rehab facility. Yesterday, Michael and his crew spent the day riding with law enforcement officials as the body count climbed higher and higher.
ANDERSON
COOPER: And we're back at the Otay Mesa border
crossing in San Diego.
Before the break, we took you inside that newly found
tunnel, approximately 900 feet long. Authorities
believe it was used to ferry narcotics from Mexico to
the United States. The tunnel was discovered, but,
frankly, there's no telling how many others there may
be right now being used or being built by cartels and
traffickers whose roots extend across America.
These cartels deal in drugs and in death. And we're
about to show you that in very graphic images. Viewer
discretion is strongly advised. This violence is
happening in the border city of Juarez. It's next to
El Paso, Texas, but, frankly, it is a world away.
Juarez is among the most dangerous places on Earth
right now.
Michael Ware went on patrol with a Mexican joint
operations task force through the streets, through
the killing fields.
Again, a warning: His report does contain graphic and
disturbing images.
Here is life and death in Juarez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MICHAEL WARE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This
footage is difficult to watch, these anguished cries
impossible to forget. Relatives entering this
building seeking the bodies of their loved ones
executed by a Mexican drug cartel.
You're witnessing the pain of the Mexican border town
of Juarez, the front line in the war on drugs. And
this, a crime scene I just had to see for myself.
(on camera): There's so much violence that occurs
here in Juarez that the world just does not hear
about.
And, now, it's disconcerting to see this fresh paint
here on these walls as an old woman makes her home in
this building, for, just two months ago, this
literally was a corridor of blood.
This building had been a drug rehabilitation center.
And one of the major cartels suspected that its
rivals were recruiting foot soldiers from among the
patients. So they came in this door and down this
corridor, moving from room to room to room, executing
everyone they found.
While they're now trying to build a home, this is
where 17 people died in yet another day of Juarez
violence.
(voice-over): Within two days of this attack, the
death toll rose even higher, when two survivors died
in hospital.
And there is no discrimination to the slaughter.
Under these clothes lies a 7-year-old American boy,
his father the target, but the hit man chose not to
let the child live.
On this day, we're in Juarez to see the horrors for
ourselves. It's just before dusk as I approach a
fresh crime scene.
(on camera): In Juarez, 1,600 people died from
drug-related violence last year. This year, the
total's already well over 2,000. And today's total is
already at 12.
The man in that car was hit by cartel gunmen, riddled
with eight bullets. His passenger tried to flee, but
only made it that far.
(voice-over): This was yet another afternoon of
killing in Juarez, with a night of murder yet to
follow.
(on camera): It's only 9:00. We're now going and
joining this police patrol. Since the killings this
afternoon that we saw, there's already been another
homicide, bringing today's total to 13.
(voice-over): Every night, joint patrols like this
one between local and federal police and Mexican
soldiers crisscross the city, trying desperately to
stem the flow of blood.
(on camera): Things were so bad that, earlier in the
year, the Mexican president had to call in the
military to help protect the city. For a short time,
there was a lull in the violence, but it quickly
returned. Now it's worse than it's ever been before.
(voice-over): By now, it's close to 10:00 p.m., and
the reports of violence are streaming in over the
police radio.
(on camera): The patrol has just received another
call on the radio. there's some kind of incident. But
those lights there, that's America. It's the U.S.
border. This reminds you just how close this war on
drugs is being fought to American soil.
(voice-over): But, before the night is over, there is
even more carnage to come, all this in our one
afternoon and evening visit to this deadly city.
(on camera): This time, it's almost too much to bear.
It's just after 11:00. And where you see those
policemen gathered at that door, there's just been
four more slayings, this time all women.
The early reports are that a gunman walked in that
door and executed all of them, one of them a
12-year-old girl, another one 14, and, in a
gut-wrenching irony, all of this done with the
American border crossing just here, 80 yards away.
There can be no more pertinent reminder of the
Mexican blood that's being spilt in this war for the
right to supply America's demand for illicit drugs.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And Michael Ware joins us from El Paso, just
across the border from Juarez -- El Paso, ironically,
now one of the safest small cities in the United
States.
Michael, in Juarez, does the public feel like the
presence of all these security forces and the Mexican
military, do they feel like it's making a difference?
WARE: No, absolutely not, Anderson. In fact, it's
quite the opposite.
We spoke to so many people during our visit to Juarez
-- indeed, that's Juarez, what you see behind us
right now. I'm standing on American soil. There's a
fence and a train line below. And that's the city
itself. Indeed, our police patrol was up and down
this area here. And some of the murder scenes are
just behind me.
The people fear not just the cartels, but they watch
the army and the police stand by as others are being
killed. They know that many of the police are
corrupt, that the military's doing nothing. Yet, on
the other hand, we asked some of the soldiers, when
you have an incident, do the local people help you?
And the soldiers are telling us, "They give us no
help at all."
So, there's no respect from the people for the
security forces. And the few honest police and
military aren't getting any help from a terrified
population -- Anderson.
COOPER: And the death toll is rising.
Michael Ware, appreciate it. Thank you,
Michael.