Border Junkies: Addiction and Survival on the Streets of Juárez and El Paso

Image Plates

The Plaza Hotel on Calle Ugarte, El Centro, Juárez. Bus lines to west Juárez pick up and drop off passengers on Calle Ugarte. Photograph by Adam Díaz. View across the U.S. border from Colonia Felipe Angeles, Juárez, Mexico. The University of Texas at El Paso is in the background. Photograph by Adam Díaz. Left, behind the trees: The steps to the casita where I lived in Colonia Postal. At the top of the steps is an entrance to a schoolyard on the mesa. Photograph by Adam Díaz. The casita from a pathway across the steps, which lead into Colonia Postal. Many of the neighborhood kids often congregated on the steps, especially at night. Photograph by Adam Díaz. Polo’s casita in Colonia Postal, where he dealt chiva. Photograph by Adam Díaz. Another view of Polo’s casita. In 1999, the little house was in better condition. The yard was enclosed by a small picket fence, and there was some shrubbery around the house. Today, the neighboring lots are empty, and the yard is full of garbage. Structures such as this one often serve as shooting galleries. Photograph by Adam Díaz. El cuarto, Las Canchas. Bottom center: The window of the room I rented from Martín on Calle Segundo de Ugarte, Juárez. Note the two entranceways on both sides of the structure and the elevated buildings on the terrace above and behind it. Photograph by Adam Díaz. Freddy’s store, Las Canchas. I often helped Freddy out by doing odd jobs, and I used to catch the bus to Altavista from this corner. Photograph by Adam Díaz. Puestecitos, Las Canchas. A gordita stand that sometimes gave me free gorditas de picadillo when I passed by in the morning. Behind the stands are basketball courts. Recently, many of those stands have closed because of escalating violence and extortion. Photograph by Adam Díaz. The view down the hill from José’s neighborhood, Felipe Angeles. Below the hill was one of the main connection points for neighborhood junkies. This photo was taken from the spot where I once paid a municipal police officer forty dollars for the freedom of my friend Víctor. Photograph by Adam Díaz. Looking west at Cerna’s house, Felipe Angeles. The ASARCO smokestack rises in the background. Photograph by Adam Díaz. Front view of Benny’s store, Felipe Angeles. Benny still runs the store and was still in good spirits when I talked to him in 2009. Photograph by Adam Díaz. Another view of Felipe Angeles, looking down at the connection point from José’s. Photograph by Adam Díaz. Burritos Monchis, one of my favorite places in Felipe Angeles. It seems odd that it was closed the morning this photo was taken. It used to bustle with customers, and cars used to line up in front. Photograph by Adam Díaz. View of Felipe Angeles from UTEP. Center: José’s family’s property, above the cable that crosses the photo. Photograph by Scott Comar. People walking on El Paso Street in Segundo Barrio near the international bridge. Photograph by Scott Comar. El Paso Street Bridge, also known as the Santa Fe Street Bridge. It crosses from El Paso Street in El Paso to Juárez Avenue in Juárez. Photograph by Scott Comar. Under the Santa Fe Street Bridge. The Chihuahuan civil registration office sits in the background. Photograph by Scott Comar. A view of the Santa Fe Street Bridge from Santa Fe Street in El Paso. The bridge was diverted to El Paso Street in the 1960s. Photograph by Scott Comar. People gathering around a street vendor at the corner of El Paso and Father Rahm Streets in Segundo Barrio. Photograph by Scott Comar. Sylvia’s, one of my and Joe Huggins’s regular stops. It is still one of my favorites. Photograph by Scott Comar. Walking and shopping by the bridge in Segundo Barrio at Sixth and El Paso Streets. Photograph by Scott Comar. Stanton Street Bridge, the passageway to Mexico from Stanton Street in El Paso. Photograph...