Jan 22 2012 – Over the last few months at least three activists have been murdered in Mexico, and a fourth survived a serious attack. In the context of Mexico’s ongoing drug-related violence, some are being targeted for daring to campaign against criminals, others for challenging the actions of corrupt officials and state forces.

November 30 2011 – Miss Bala, a Mexican movie that is a current Oscar hopeful and inspired by true events, follows beauty queen Laura Guerrero in her violent downward spiral into the hands of organized crime. Filmed, produced and edited for AFP by Deborah Bonello.

This report was produced for Time Magazine by Deborah Bonello.

Watch the video on Time’s website here.

Camera Assistant was Myles Estey - you can see his website here.

You can read the report by Human Rights Watch on their website here.

Photo: Laura Garcia and her family outside the club from where her brother Francis disappeared on March 1st 2010. The family believe Francis was taken by the Mexican military. Credit: Myles Estey.

September 9 2011 – My final piece for AFP from my trip to Guatemala. Will be watching elections this weekend….

Fifteen years after the end of a vicious civil war, Guatemala is still beset by violence, only now it is organized crime and street gangs that are driving up death tolls to wartime levels. Emergency workers called to clean up the bloody aftermath are struggling to cope.

See the video here – it’s not on the AFP YouTube channel yet.

Guatemala is to hold a presidential election in September, and the issues confronting candidates are enormous. Extreme poverty, child malnutrition and corruption continue to be huge challenges. But narco-trafficking groups and organized crime are threatening to become the country’s new bosses.

If you can’t watch the video above, watch it here on AFP’s YouTube channel.

Multinational-run factories employing tens of thousands are doing brisk business in Ciudad Juarez, even as local businesses in the Mexican border town wither, devastated by the high murder rate and extortion by drug gangs.

You can watch it here if the embedded video won’t work…..

You may remember this story I did a few months ago on survival techniques for journalists. I also produced a video on that course for the non-profit that runs it, Article 19, which you can see here as well as on their website.

This video was produced for AFP. You can also see it here on AFP’s YouTube channel.

Daniel Dominguez, one of the hard-worked crime reporters on El Diario, the biggest newspaper in Ciudad Juarez, was kind enough to let me spend the day with him last week. Here’s the report I produced for AFP, which you can also see here on YouTube. The same video is also embedded below, in case of geographical restrictions on the above.

Mexico’s march for peace, led by Catholic poet Javier Sicilia, crossed over from Ciudad Juarez – the violent epicenter of the country’s drug war – into El Paso, Texas Saturday.

They were joined by hundreds of Americans in their demands for a change in strategy from both the Mexican and US governments.

This video was created for AFP.