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KPBS Midday Edition

Mexican medical students face growing threats from cartel violence

International Hill with Tijuana on the left and the American border walls on the right looking west from the American side June 14, 2022.
Matthew Bowler
/
KPBS
International Hill with Tijuana on the left and the American border walls on the right looking west from the American side June 14, 2022.

Medical students face challenges in the United States that are largely academic. Intense course loads and long hours are notorious, but the burden doesn't include threats of violence.

A recent report from the Los Angeles Times documents the commonplace dangers that Mexican medical students have experienced while undergoing mandatory community service in rural areas of the country.

They include multiple reports of giving care while being held at gunpoint. A medical student was killed in a hospital where he worked in Durango state last month.

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The root cause of the danger stems from an increased presence and worsening volatility of drug cartel activity across Mexico.

Los Angeles Times foreign correspondent Leila Miler joined Midday Edition on Thursday with more on the story.

KPBS has created a public safety coverage policy to guide decisions on what stories we prioritize, as well as whose narratives we need to include to tell complete stories that best serve our audiences. This policy was shaped through months of training with the Poynter Institute and feedback from the community. You can read the full policy here.