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New York Times International Correspondent Shares How One Mother Took on One of the Most Violent Gangs in Mexico

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 19 October 2023

⏱️ 56 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In his new book, “Fear is Just a Word,” Azam Ahmed chronicles the years-long journey of Miriam Rodriguez, who took it upon herself to find justice for her daughter after she was kidnapped in 2014 by one of the most violent gangs in Mexico. Rodriguez would eventually lead law enforcement to arrest nearly a dozen cartel members, doing much of the investigation and research herself, despite great risk to her and her family. Ahmed, a global investigative correspondent for the New York Times, shares that story with us, and explains how the cartels came to hold so much power in Mexico. Guests: Azam Ahmed, international investigative correspondent, The New York Times Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Mina Kim. Coming up on Forum, in his new book, Fear is just a word.

1:08.5

The New York Times, Asim Ahmed, tells the story of a mother, Miriam

1:12.0

Rodriguez, whose daughter is kidnapped by a violent cartel in Mexico and who seeks revenge

1:17.6

against her daughter's kidnappers. Rodriguez would eventually lead law enforcement to arrest

1:22.4

nearly a dozen cartel members, doing much of the investigative work herself. But Ahmed's story is also an in-depth

1:29.0

look at daily life in a town terrorized by a cartel, at government failures, and of existing

1:35.2

in the space of not knowing what happened to a loved one. Join us. I'm Mina Kim. Welcome to Forum.

1:52.7

Miriam Rodriguez was working as a nanny in Texas in 2014 when she got the call that her 20-year-old daughter Karen had been kidnapped by the Zetas,

2:01.7

one of the most violent cartels in Mexico.

2:04.3

For Miriam, it would mark the beginning of a quest for justice for Karen, for the arrest

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