Inside Mexico's drug war: Heart wrenching images of poverty and violence capture true misery of country ravaged by cartels

                                                             Idea: Dr.Hari ...Courtsy: DMR
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It is a place at once thought of for its destitution, crime, and poverty – where a bitter conflict has claimed the lives of more than 35,000 Mexicans.

Photographer David Rochkind captures Mexico’s seedy drug trade in a brutally humanistic light in a series of images collected in his book, ‘Heavy Hand, Sunken Spirit.’

His photographs capture a rugged landscape thrown into a vicious war on the trade, and the people who have been affected by or succumbed to the overwhelming influence of the drug trade.

Mr Rochkind, who graduated from the University of Michigan and is currently based out of Port-au-Prince, Haiti, traveled to Mexico beginning in 2007 to photograph the series, shooting cartel members, addicts, inmates, and communities torn apart by the drug war.

These images are only a small sampling of the collection or reportage appearing in his book.
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Destitution: Photographer David Rochkind has captured a series of poignant images of Mexico's devastating drug culture; here, a young girl walks by a caravan of police vehicles during a security sweep looking for criminals and drug dealers

Darkest before dawn: Police in Nogales perform a security sweep in the poor neighborhoods of the city looking for drug dealers and drug users

The only thing that matters: Here, a woman shoots heroin in front of her lover and a baby they are supposed to be caring for

Behind bars: A man arrested for drug possession stands in his jail cell in a small prison high in the hills of Nogales, Sonora

  VIDEO  Violence is part of daily life. Police shootout with drug cartel in Ciudad Juarez 

Shooting between police and drug cartels on the streets of Juarez

Lift thine eyes: Men pray at an evangelical church in Tijuana. Many churches in Tijuana are reporting increased membership as citizens seek refuge from all of the violence around them

Belly of the beast: Ciudad Juraez is at the center of Mexico's violence, with more than 5,000 drug related murders over the past two years. President Felipe Calderon has sent thousands of soldiers to the city to try to stem the violence, though after a short decrease in murders the violence blossomed once again. Here, soldiers search young men for drugs, weapons or signs of drug use

Telling the story: Members of a Norteño band sit in their tour bus after giving a show in Mexico City. Many Norteño groups sing corridos, or ballads, that tell a story

Long day's journey into night: Central American migrants ride atop a freight train carrying cement as they head north in an attempt to enter the US. Traveling by train has become more dangerous as kidnappings and robberies have risen in recent years with increased drug cartel activity