The city continues to have several positive and unique aspects to it. But what has changed? We are not caught between crossfire, held at gunpoint or witness beheadings on a daily basis, but the difference from years back is that now is the presence of fear for these things actually happening and our conduct adapting accordingly.

Arjan Shahani in the Americas Quarterly blog shares his experience living in Monterrey, Mexico, focusing on “how daily life has changed for middle-class citizens as a result of the violence and how societal interaction today is less regulated by a rule of law and more so by a rule of fear.”