Azam Ahmed, Emerson Collective Fellow, is a reporter at the New York Times, and was formerly bureau chief in Afghanistan as well as Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. Over five years living in Mexico and working across the region, he covered corruption and violence extensively, including investigative projects that received the Polk Award, the Michael Kelly Award, the James Foley Medill Medal for Courage in Journalism, and the Overseas Press Club Award. His final piece as bureau chief told the story of Miriam Rodriguez, who tracked down and helped imprison the members of a drug cartel that kidnapped and killed her daughter. Mrs. Rodriguez was then assassinated by the same cartel. The article served as a basis for his fellowship project, a non-fiction book that examines violence and impunity in Mexico through the prism of Mrs. Rodriguez's story in an effort to answer a question that has perplexed experts for decades: What went so wrong in Mexico?
Selected Works
- She Stalked Her Daughter’s Killers Across Mexico, One by One: The story of Miriam Rodriguez, a mother who died attempting to get justice for her family for the New York Times.
- Inside Gang Territory in Honduras: ‘Either They Kill Us or We Kill Them”: A story for the New York Times of a gang-controlled neighborhood in San Pedro Sula that illustrates how inescapable violence can be in places where conflict is endemic.
- How American Gun Laws Are Fueling Jamaica’s Homicide Crisis: An exploration of how lax U.S. gun policy wreaks havoc on Latin American nations for the New York Times.
- He Was One of Mexico’s Deadliest Assassins. Then He Turned on His Cartel: A year of interviews for the New York Times with a young Mexican sicario that sheds light on the allure of cartels and violence to the country's youth.
- Women Are Fleeing Death at Home. The U.S. Wants to Keep Them Out: A look at an often-ignored component of the homicide crisis - the rampant murder of women in nations spread throughout Latin America - and the US government's cruel response to it for the New York Times.
