The film Ruben Salazar: Man in the Middle draws a sympathetic hometown audience in El Paso

By |

EL PASO — Exiting the cinema, a teary-eyed and choked-up man in his sixties wearing a white guayabera shirt and a Panama fedorasaid the film he had just finished watching was tragic and reminded him of his days as a Chicano activist in California alongside César Chávez. The film was Ruben Salazar: Man in the Middle directed by Phillip Rodriguez, which explores the life and tragic death of the legendary Mexican-American journalist. Salazar was born in the Mexican border town of Cuidad Juárez, but was raised here just across the river. He graduated from El Paso High School and Texas Western College (now the University of Texas at El Paso) before he started working at the El Paso Herald Post as a reporter and eventually at the Los Angeles Times. After leaving the Times, he went into broadcasting at the Spanish language station KMEX.

n general, the rate of suicide among male Veterans Administration clients connected to care with the El Paso Veteran Affairs Health Care System has remained stable, according to Dr. Donna Nesbit-Veltri. (Camilo Jimenez/Borderzine.com)

More younger military veterans are committing suicide despite available VA programs

By |

EL PASO — As he sits at a faded-black dining room table, a man in his mid-twenties stares at the front door, his reflection visible from the dirty tabletop where a brown paper bag holding his lunch rests. His eyes dart focusing from one end of the room to the other as if he’s never been there before, sitting upright, inspecting the room. He specifically chose the seat with the best view of the front door, which he never stops looking at for more than a moment, because he says he is hardwired that way. He seems uneasy even though he has been here hundreds, if not, thousands of times, only four doors down from his childhood home. Esteban, 26, served four years in the United States Marine Corps and did two tours in Iraq.