Tom & Ethel Bradley Center
CSU Northridge
18111 Nordhoff Street
Northridge, CA 91330-8300
Director: Dr. Jose Luis Benavides
(818) 677-3037
Email: bradleycenter@csun.edu
Journalist Oral Histories
- Bowden, Charles (1945-2014)
- Interviewer: Benavides, José Luis
- Date: 2013
- Status: Transcribed, eng.
Bowden has authored several books on the violence occurring on the border between the United States and Mexico, focusing on Ciudad Juárez. In an additional interview on campus, Benavides and Bowden discuss the factors that led to his decision to start writing about the atrocities that Mexico’s powerful and well-connected elite carry out against the poor citizens of the country. At the forefront of his decision were the local street photographers that he encountered during a murder story he was investigating in Juárez in 1995. Bowden continues to tell the true story of why such an overwhelming amount of violence exists in Juárez.
After writing a piece about the exceptional work of the Juárez photographers, he discusses the origins of his friendship and collaborative working relationship with Juárez photographer, Julián Cardona. Bowden and Cardona collaborated on several books. In Juárez: Laboratory of our Future Bowden shares how “American generated poverty in factories owned by American companies that pay slave wages,” are not enough for Mexican citizens, working in maquiladoras (foreign-owned factories along the US-Mexico border), to survive. The book Exodus/Éxodo documents the emigration of Mexican citizens.
Charles Bowden Full Interview
- Cardona, Julián (1960- )
- Interviewer: K. Kirkton & Molly Molloy
- Date: 2012
- Status: Transcribed, eng
- Julián Cardona lived and worked in Ciudad Juárez. He started his photojournalism career at El Fronterizo and El Diario de Juárez.
Clip 1: Julián Cardona discusses the existence of a growing underworld parallel State in Mexico, formed and operated by government officials in the formal Mexican State.
Clip 2: Cardona discusses the shanty towns (Colonias) along the border and the poor conditions of the people in the maquiladoras. Fires are a common problem in the Colonias leading to the destruction of many homes.
Clip 3: Cardona illuminates his investigation into the fee smugglers are paid to take people across the border into the US. Local officers in Mexico collect “bites” off the payment the smugglers are paid.
Clip 4: Cardona explains the relationship between reporters and police sources during the shifts of power.
- Martínez, Óscar (1983–)
- Interviewer: José Luis Benavides & Freya Rojo
- Date: 2014
- Status: Transcribed, span.
Óscar Martínez explica cómo operan Los Zetas
- Del Bosque, Melissa (1969–)
- Interviewer: José Luis Benavides
- Date: 2014
- Status: Transcribed, eng.
Clip 1: Story about corruption and mismanagement in the building of the border fence in 2008.
Clip 2: How a story about immigration in Reynosa turned into a story about the crime economy.
Clip 3: Maquiladora worker story as an example of socio-economic, political violence against the poor.
Clip 4: Effects of outsourcing on workers’ rights and wages.
Clip 5: Low wages and expensive living on poor workers creates stress and rage among people.
Clip 6: Black-market maquiladoras run by organized crime and local government.
Clip 7: Reporting the story on the deadliest place in Mexico: Juárez Valley.
Clip 8: Importance of documenting this moment, collective trauma.
Clip 9: Lack of accountability and justice and lack of understating in the United States.
Clip 10: Causes of violence in the Juárez Valley.
- Chávez Aldana, Ricardo (1974–)
- Interviewer: José Luis Benavides
- Date: 2014
- Status: Transcribed, span.
Clip 1: Narcocorridos en la frecuencia de la policía precedía el crimen.
Clip 2: Reportero corrupto asociado con la policía.
Clip 3: Riesgo a reporteros en el campo, efecto de muerte del Choco.
Clip 4: Imposible creer la versión del gobierno de la violencia.
Clip 5: Los sicarios tienen horario para matar.
Clip 6: Reporteros tenían que cubrir el morbo del muerto.
Clip 7: Asesinato de sus dos sobrinos.
Clip 8: Amenazas en contra de toda la familia.
Clip 9: Efectos inmediatos después del asilo.
Clip 10: Supervivencia en El Paso, daño psicológico.
- Chávez Aldana, Ricardo (1974–)
- Interviewer: José Luis Benavides
- Date: 2014
- Status: Transcribed, span.