Juarez, Mexico: Where Suicide Is On Rise Among The Young People

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Ciudad Juarez, the city that lies on the border of northern Mexico has been considered to be the murder capital of the world. Drug violence has been out of control since 2006 and the city's high rate of violence made a long-term psychological effect like suicide among the young people of Juarez is on the rise.

Luis Mercado, a resident of Juarez, has been one of those people who has been greatly affected by the violence is happening in the city. He shared his experience in BBC News on how fatal and hard it was for him when he was on the verge of committing suicide.

He looks back and shares that he was only 16 years old back then when he experienced his first ever panic attack and it happened when he was in their school. He can't understand was happening at that time so he just runs away and hide in a bathroom then started cutting himself.

Other families in Juarez are affected by the drug-related violence but this time Luis by his naked eyes witnessed violence at home. Luis' mother killed his father when he was just one-year-old. His mother has been convicted and released but died in what the coroner mentioned were suspicious circumstances.

In this way, Luis had an urge to commit suicide but decided not too and according to him, he doesn't know what made him stop to commit such violence. Luis is just part of growing number in Juarez who attempts to take their own lives into their own hands.

The study made by the Family Centre for Integration and Growth (CFIC) with the support of the Autonomous University of Ciudad Juarez (UACJ), one in every four resident has a thought of committing suicide and one out of ten did it. While figures from Mexico's National Institute Statistics and Geography stated that young people ages between 15 to 29 made up the biggest number who die by suicide.

Silvia Aguirre, CFIC Director said that there is two manifestation of violence. The highest peak of external violence called homicide and the highest peak of internal violence called suicide. However, big thanks to Luis' great uncle Ruben for seeing the warning signs before doing such violence. He took his nephew to CFIC. Right now Luis who now works as a waiter is also looking forward to study again.