By Angrette M. Merced Cruz

Ciudad Juarez, one of the borders cities in Mexico, is only a couple of minutes away from El Paso, Texas. They are so close in fact that the mayor of El Paso can see Juarez's downtown from his office. In other ways however the two cities are a world apart. El paso still enjoys the reputation of being one of the safest cities in the United States, in the other hand Ciudad Juarez has become the battleground for drug cartels. This conflict has taken a toll of more than 1, 500 lifes in just this past year. This growing violence has also increase the awareness of the possibility of it spilling toward the American side of the border. Some has gone as far to suggest the legalization of drugs to stop the turf battle on Juarez and prevent it's expansion. About 25,000 of the residents of El paso that have to work in Juarez are afraid at ever cross, and this fears are not unfounded given to the increase of violent crimes in broad daylight on the border.