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8:01 am

Fri December 16, 2011

Angels Send Message Of Peace To Juarez, Mexico

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Credit Raymundo Aguirre for NPR

After 20 minutes of silent witness, the angels gather around a group of neighbors and pray with them for employment, for better living conditions, for salvation from sin, and for an end to the murders.

Credit Raymundo Aquirre for NPR

In the Tierra Nueva neighborhood of Ciudad Juarez, youth church members get ready for their weekly outing as messenger angels by painting and applying glitter to their faces. Their wings are made with goose down, and their robes are old curtains.

Credit Raymundo Aquirre for NPR

Adan says he hopes to spread a message of peace in a city known as one of the world's most dangerous.

Credit Raymundo Aquirre for NPR

Carlos Mayorga, the youth minister of Psalm 100, helps angels into their van to ride around the city. They've nicknamed the van "The Weenie" for its length.

Credit Raymundo Aquirre for NPR

Messenger angels zigzag around traffic as they go to set up their posts. Every Saturday, the youth angels visit street corners and murder scenes throughout the city.

Credit Raymundo Aquirre for NPR

Cristal Armendariz, 14, stands silently holding a sign directed at corrupt police officers. Mayorga says he got the idea from the "living statues" who earn tips from tourists.

Credit Raymundo Aquirre for NPR

Adan sits on the ground and jokes that even angels need to rest sometimes.

Credit Raymundo Aquirre for NPR

David Rubalcaba, 17, holds a sign urging assassins to repent. "Some people don't like it, they tell us we're going to get shot," he says. "But it's more important what God thinks about us."

Credit Raymundo Aquirre for NPR

Messenger angels hold signs on a rooftop near a recent murder site. Police and investigators are on the scene, although murders are rarely solved in Ciudad Juarez.

Credit Raymundo Aquirre for NPR

After 20 minutes of silent witness, the angels gather around a group of neighbors and pray with them for employment, better living conditions, salvation from sin and an end to the murders.

Credit All photos by Raymundo Aguirre for NPR / Raymundo Aquirre for NPR

Young members of the evangelical church Psalm 100 in Ciudad Juarez dress as "messenger angels" to silently protest the Mexican city's ongoing violence. Here, 15-year-old Adan Ubacio Lopez holds a sign that translates to "Behold, I am here, Lord. I will bear your glory."

By John Burnett

Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 10:11 am

Listen

In the violent border city of Juarez, Mexico, young evangelical Christians are dressing up as "Messenger Angels" to bear silent witness against murder and corruption, to the dismay of the police.

On a recent Saturday morning in the barrio called New Land, at the ragged edge of Juarez, the angels get ready to go to work.

Fifteen young people glue goose down recovered from cast-off comforters onto plastic wings. Others smear on silver makeup, which is, presumably, the color of angels.

The Two-Way

7:15 am

Fri December 16, 2011

Top Stories: 'Cold Shutdown' At Japanese Nuclear Plant; Hitchens Dies

By Mark Memmott

Good morning.

Our early headlines:

-- Japanese Officials Declare 'Cold Shutdown' Of Crippled Reactors.

-- No Deal Yet On Jobless Benefits, Payroll Tax Cut Extension.

The Two-Way

6:40 am

Fri December 16, 2011

Christopher Hitchens: 'Atheist Intellectual,' 'Noble Contrarian'

Credit Brendan Banaszak / NPR

Christopher Hitchens.

By Mark Memmott

The life of often controversial writer and cultural critic Christopher Hitchens, who died Thursday after a long battle against cancer of the esophagus, as told in some of today's headlines:

-- "Christopher Hitchens, Author and Contrarian, Dies at 62." (The Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy blog)

Africa

6:27 am

Fri December 16, 2011

Thieves Apprehended After Pocket Dialing 911

By editor

As they drove off after stealing DVDs and video games from Target, one thief pocket dialed 911. A dispatcher listened as the duo detailed their heist, including how the police would be looking for their Blue Dodge Durango. That tip led the cops straight to them.

It's All Politics

6:23 am

Fri December 16, 2011

With Iowa Vote Looming, Gingrich Struggles To Stay Atop GOP Field

Credit Eric Gay / AP

Republican presidential candidate former House Speaker Newt Gingrich speaks during a Republican presidential debate in Sioux City, Iowa, Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011.

By Liz Halloran

Originally published on Fri December 16, 2011 7:36 am

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich got front-runner treatment Thursday night in Iowa during the final GOP debate before that state's crucial Jan. 3 caucuses, taking a pounding for his years as a highly-compensated Washington influence peddler.

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