As night falls over San Antonio, a shantytown turned neighborhood with concrete-block houses, rugged streets, and few tress, children head excitedly to a warehouse stacked with tires. there the din of Ciudad Juarez recedes, replaced by grunts, slaps, and thuds-bam!-of supple young bodies slamming onto canvas. The makeshift wrestling ring, fashioned from iron and cable scavenged from junkyards, belongs to Ines Montenegro, who opened it two years ago after one of his sons suggested the neighborhood 's children needed somewhere to play. In Mexico lute lire, a style of pro wrestling with masked fighters performing scripted acrobatic moves, isa national obsession. Montenegro 's funky arena was an instant hit. Tonight four boys ages 11 to 15-Omar, Alfonso, Eric, and Antonio--hurtle against the ropes, which slingshot them into the center of the ring. They bound gleefully, learning the choreography for such classic moves as the "tiger jump," vaulting melodramatically into the ring, and the "scissors," jumping from the ropes to wrap your legs around your opponent 's neck. The scene would have been unimaginable six years ago, when I last visited Juarez, the largest city in Chihuahua state. Child 's play had been banished from public spaces as drug cartels battled street by street to control the border city, a gateway to the lucrative U.S. drug …show more content…
I watched Mexican soldiers in helmets and sunglasses rumbled in atop armored vehicles to reclaim those streets, gripping assault rifles and machine guns, one of many attempts to halt the macabre violence that had made Juarez infamous