Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown | Mexico City | S03 E04 | All Documentary

Anthony Bourdain explores Mexico City's Tepito neighborhood, examining cartel violence, the Santa Muerte cult, boxing as a path out of poverty, and the city's vibrant street food culture.

Key Takeaways

Cartel violence in Mexico City has a coded, public character that shapes how society reads and responds to killings.
Santa Muerte serves as a spiritual refuge for people excluded from mainstream religious and social institutions.
Poverty, limited options, and corruption drive young people toward boxing, crime, or both.
Mexico's culinary traditions thrive even in marginalized neighborhoods, reflecting creativity under scarcity.

What the video covers

Bourdain opens by describing Mexico as a magnificent, heartbreakingly beautiful country where people fight daily to survive.
The episode examines narco violence in Mexico City, where murdered victims are left in public with notes identifying the crime, reflecting a coded language of cartel killings.
Local fixer Alex and photojournalist Valente Rosas document the aftermath of killings, riding nightly to crime scenes for the press.
Bourdain notes more Mexican civilians have died since 2006 than American military losses across ten years of the Vietnam War and eight years in Iraq.
Police officers face corrupt dilemmas when arresting people with powerful criminal connections.
Santa Muerte, the skeletal folk saint of death, is venerated in Tepito by the marginalized, criminals, and those rejected by the Catholic Church.
Boxing in the Santa Anita neighborhood offers young men a way out of poverty, though the odds of success are slim.
Tepito is portrayed as both a dark center and a beating heart of Mexico City, a hub of commerce both legal and illicit.
Bourdain samples traditional food, including a broth made from cracked ham bones, cascabel peppers, and epazote, showing resourcefulness in poor communities.
The episode profiles a chef who rose from migrant farm worker to owner of a hot restaurant, highlighting resilience and the pressures of business.

Chapters

What is Santa Muerte and why is it important in Tepito?

Santa Muerte is a skeletal folk saint of death who is venerated in Tepito. Bourdain explains that she accepts everyone, including criminals, the poor, and the marginalized, who may feel abandoned by the traditional Catholic church.

How does the episode portray violence in Mexico City?

The episode portrays cartel violence as a coded, public phenomenon where victims are left with notes identifying the crime. Bourdain highlights that more Mexican civilians have died since 2006 than American military losses in Vietnam and Iraq combined.

Why do young men in Mexico City turn to boxing?

Boxing is presented as one of the few routes out of poverty in neighborhoods like Santa Anita, though Bourdain notes the odds are poor and the history of the sport is often unkind to fighters.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

Speaker A

mexico is a country where every day people fight to live. All too often they lose that battle. A magnificent, heartbreakingly beautiful country with music and food and a uniquely Mexican, darkly funny, deeply felt worldview. Right down there, cuddled up beneath us.

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our brother from another mother felt the cool rain on my shoulders [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] holy mother of santa muerte please protect my stash of cocaine let it not be interfered with by the cops or the competition

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Our brother from another mother felt the cool rain on my shoulders.

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dead they are after all left out to be seen often with a helpful note identifying who done what and generally speaking why there is a language to the never-ending violence a coded message in the twists and marks of the bodies

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Holy Mother of Santa Muerte, please protect my stash of cocaine. Let it not be interfered with by the cops or the competition.

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drugs to who is important here you kill each other for a reason it's business see more mexican civilians have been killed since 2006 than all the american military lost in 10 years of the vietnam war and eight years of wars in iraq

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Let any who would mess with me be killed. My enemies destroyed. Please forgive us our sins, for they are many.

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it's got his name on it now you realize you've just arrested somebody with serious powerful connections what do you do so they can leave it you let them go why do they always pull their pants down our local fixer alex is here to

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So is business good? I mean, is there... are there more murders, particularly nautical murders? Is every day Mexico wakes up to count the dead? They are, after all, left out to be seen, often with a helpful note identifying who done what, and generally speaking, why. There is a language to the never-ending violence, a coded message in the twists and marks of the bodies.

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basically they took the money out of his pockets and that was the only available spot to show that they didn't take it even yeah exactly so this is also a drug dealer the thing here in mexico is as soon as someone is killed

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And Valente Rosas is one of the many documenting them for the press. This is what he does. Every night he rides around waiting for a phone call or a radio message telling him that there's another one.

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out of your mind when you're not working [Music] a lot of people ask him about this but uh he said like it's a job not like any other kind of job but as soon as he gets home he just take this

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So who's buying drugs? Who's selling drugs to who? That is important here. You kill each other for a reason. It's business.

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we live in now of all of these pictures this is the one that would get people most upset you get the most male the most oh my god you know what what kind of a world do we live in

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See, more Mexican civilians have been killed since 2006 than all the American military lost in ten years of the Vietnam War and eight years of wars in Iraq.

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our hotel valente gets the call we thought we'd been waiting for one dead male shot in head a note pinned to his chest in mexico people fight to live every day one man stands alone facing another man his intent to beat his opponent with his

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What do you do if you're one of these cops? You're driving around one night, you see some guy outside of a bar beating somebody or disturbing the peace. You start to arrest him, and he's got a diamond-studded pistol. It's got his name on it. Now you realize you've just arrested somebody with serious, powerful connections. What do you do?

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in the santa anita neighborhood of mexico city he knows that these young men like generations of boxers everywhere from other neighborhoods like this are looking for a way out in mexico city boxing it's kind of like saving life

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So you let them go.

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so everybody wants to be a champion everybody everybody wants to get for the big shot but you know it's just one those are bad odds the history of boxing is not uh kind i mean most managers and promoters don't really

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Why do they always pull their pants down? Our local fixer Alex is here to translate. In this case, he thinks that they pull the pants down so check out more weapons. They're loading them into the sheet. This is the CSI team. So when they were pulling his pants off, money and jewelry started falling from the pockets.

Speaker A

options did you drop out of high school nothing it's just like being on the street snatching you know robbing and a lot of kids in the hood they're gonna say hey let's go keep not that guy big industry everybody here now wants to

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Basically they took the money out of his pockets, and that was the only available spot to show that they didn't take it.

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police you just paid off nobody's going to touch you [Music] expensive protein shakes and dietary supplements not so much boxers here eat what they can afford the food is good and it's cheap you know in mexico there's no milk pasta

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Even, yeah, exactly. So this is also a drug dealer.

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that's why mexican fighters are so exciting they're hungry exactly way hungry [Music] people tapito is a city within a city its own thing either the dark center or the beating heart of mexico city depending on your point of view

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The thing here in Mexico is, as soon as someone is killed, normally they get candles right next to it. Sometimes it's related to drug dealings and criminals.

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have turned their backs there is santa muerte this is a place and santa muerte is a saint that accepts everybody death to my enemies written on a votive candle let's face it we've all prayed for that at one point or another

Speaker A

How long have you been doing this?

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it's a sizable morning beverage my companion blogger and chronicler of the city jorge pedro wow the whole season of the walking dead for 25 cents you want to buy something depito's got it looking for some cheap underwear pirated copies of man versus food

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About nine years.

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right and we are in the surface okay we are among movies clothing families but i don't think it's as easy as to be candice to ask where can i get a gun probably they will kill you if you ask that

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How many bodies do you think?

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simmering in broth chances are i'll be happy writer sociologist and lifelong resident of tipito alfonso hernandez apparently feels the same way so this is supposed to be a bad neighborhood this is the best i love this neighborhood it is known for being the lost souls

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Hundreds.

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onion cascabel peppers and epizote is added thickened with stale bread and leftover tortillas you got nothing you make something really awesome out of nothing the grandmothers had the creativity to taking advantage of the bones of the pigs and now it's a good methodist any great

Speaker A

How do you push them out of your mind when you're not working?

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take this right after that she's asking you if you like to the migos if you enjoy yeah it's good delicious so these guys have been open about 65 years all the members of the crew are relative is there hope for social change in this

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[Music]

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ladder to become chef owner of the city's hottest restaurant i grew up in the states i was a migrant worker picking fruits and vegetables as a kid my parents didn't earn a lot of money so i decided to work rather than go to

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A lot of people ask him about this, but he said, like, it's a job, not like any other kind of job. But as soon as he gets home he just takes this cover off and just keeps living.

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don't people will run you over you won't last a minute i don't let people bully me around [Music] garcia runs maximo bistro with his wife gabriella here's the kind of extra helping of crap you gotta deal with if you run the hottest restaurant in

Speaker A

That's a terrible picture. That's sad. What happened here?

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and then calls daddy and gets the health inspectors in to shut the place down so your other customers basically started taking pictures of them with their cell phones next thing you know we have the media outside and this is friday right sunday morning

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She ran away from a circus. She was basically crossing the highway, and a bus just ran over her.

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restaurant in town if you were just running a cantina you know a few blocks away i would have been able to close you down and that's that [Music] right now a defiant young creative generation of mexican chefs like eduardo

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The world we live in. Of all of these pictures, this is the one that would get people most upset. You get the most male, the most... oh my god. You know what kind of a world do we live in?

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time that i worked is uh how old are you i'm not i'm 18. you've been 18 for three years those are abalone from baja i told you i love butter i use it even for some mexican dishes and then just some roasted chili serrano

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This was probably the most viewed picture from different media around the world. Eighty thousand Mexicans have died in the last seven, what, seven years, in narco violence. And this is the most important picture.

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mexican cuisine in general if it's traditional it's the ingredients coffee of suckling pig topped with grandma salsa an instant classic how about it no you do it like the mexican way pick it up and go [Music] wow pretty hard to imagine anything

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As our crew gets ready to crawl back to our hotel, Valente gets the call we'd been waiting for: one dead male, shot in the head, a note pinned to his chest.

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his success garcia is still fighting a struggle most mexicans are all too familiar with what happened that day happens every day and the promise always is we're going to shut you down you don't know who i am and for me i rather close my

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In Mexico, people fight to live every day. One man stands alone, facing another man, his intent to beat his opponent with his fists until he can resist no more. A match, yes, but more accurately, a fight.

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mexico launched a concerted war on drugs ostensibly against the notorious and seemingly untouchable cartels absolutely no one can say with any credibility by the way that mexico's war or our trillion-dollar war no has had any effect in diminishing the

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[Music]

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mezcal is never a lemon it's with orange it was not what a lot of people wanted to hear much less c published today annabelle hernandez author of the groundbreaking expose los signores del narco lives under guard in a secret location

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Jorge La Sierra is a former bantamweight title holder. With his father, Jorge senior, and his son Alexis, he trains aspiring fighters in this gym in the Santa Anita neighborhood of Mexico City. He knows that these young men, like generations of boxers everywhere from neighborhoods like this, are looking for a way out.

Speaker A

followed that instruction but he didn't really do anything new he just did it worst since the beginning the plan of the government was protect the sinaloa cartel and fight against the enemies of the sinaloa cartel of the seven major mexican cartels the

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In Mexico City, boxing is kind of like saving lives. Boxing gives a little discipline. Let's say you're good, but you're not that good. Can you make a living just being a contender?

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and the particularly murderous losettas the cartels are responsible for importing roughly three-quarters of all illegal narcotics to america in your work you've uncovered what had to be some very embarrassing and incriminating associations and connections between very high elected

Speaker A

No. But a lot of fighters try to make it. Tons of boxers want to be a champion. Everybody wants to be a champion. Everybody wants to go for the big shot. But it's just one of those bad odds.

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i have to say that it wasn't really a surprise for me what happened after i published my book what i didn't expect is that the threats came from the federal government annabelle says that one of her sources warned her that the biggest threat

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The history of boxing is not kind. Most managers and promoters don't really give a damn about the fighters. They use them up, and at the end they leave a guy all broken down, no money, and scrambled brains. We're just like a prostitute.

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of the sinaloa cartel what happened to this man right now he is very happy drinking rome i think building many enterprises fake enterprises laundry his money to me the weak link of the bankers a banker who launders money he's got a

Speaker A

In this area, what are your options? Did you drop out of high school?

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narco because los angeles el narco are not only el chapo guzman and the leaders of the discarders no los angeles and narco are also this the politicians as the and bonkers and the businessman the people have to know who are these

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Nothing. It's just like being on the street, snatching, robbing. A lot of kids in the hood are going to say, hey, let's go. Not that guy. Big industry. Everybody here now wants to be a soccer player, while boxing... because they make money.

Speaker A

my father was a businessman in that year many gangs used to kidnap to the businessman just for money so when we went to the police and asked them to to investigate they said well if you pay us we will

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Who's got a longer career, a narco or a boxer?

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worst problem in mexico the drug cartels are maybe the worst face of that problem but the problem in in in the deep is the corruption the corruption is the mother of all our problems in mexico it should be

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Uh, I don't know. Might be fifty-fifty. I mean, a narco can last longer. You'll be protected by the police you just paid off. Nobody's going to touch you.

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why are you still here i have lost many things in my life my father was the most important person in my life i already lost everything i don't have any life anymore i don't have a social life i don't have

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[Music]

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to sweden and other countries i don't want to left it's my choice my choice is fight [Music] i came to oaxaca for mezcal i like mezcal more and more these days and this guy ron cooper finds and sells

Speaker A

Expensive protein shakes and dietary supplements? Not so much. Boxers here eat what they can afford. The food is good and it's cheap. In Mexico there's no middle: you're either poor or you're really, really rich. It's a crazy thing. The minimum wage you hear is like fifty, sixty pesos, which is like five bucks, not an hour, a day. But on the other hand, that's why Mexican fighters are so exciting. They're hungry. Exactly, way hungry.

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all had gods and goddesses that took responsibility for those things all of your mezcals come from different villages and only that village and only one maker in that village we call our stuff single village mezcal because most mezcals are made with a

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[Music]

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people you feed them breakfast lunch and dinner we have a band every day and then they really consume don't drink yet [Music] for mother earth and our ancestors and then you say stigi bail [Music] that's extraordinary back in the day

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Tepito is a city within a city, its own thing, either the dark center or the beating heart of Mexico City depending on your point of view. It's the home of Santa Muerte, the skeletal saint of death. This is where they come: the impoverished, the oppressed, the marginalized, the criminal, people for whom the traditional church has less relevancy, for the unforgiven and the unforgivable, for those on whom the Catholic saints have turned their backs. There is Santa Muerte. This is a place, and Santa Muerte is a saint that accepts everybody.

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this a good high the high is humorous you have these funny thoughts dancing around the back of your happy witty yes in oaxaca ancient indigenous traditions and ingredients define not only the mezcal but also the food [Music] one of the main reasons people visit our

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Death to my enemies, written on a votive candle. Let's face it, we've all prayed for that at one point or another.

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draws much of his inspiration from oaxaca's central market probably america's most beloved food is what they think is mexican food yes and i think most americans view of mexican food is like beans fried tortilla melted cheese and some chicken yes in fact

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[Music]

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yes correct i mean this is really where the good [ __ ] grows yes this is stanza barbacoa and this lady here it's always making like the best tender yes tender tasty man greens and crunch cabbage and cilantro

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Tepito is a poor neighborhood for sure, and a tough one, a center of commerce both above board and not.

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barbacoa it's so tasty all this uh it's full of chilies none people think that mexican food has to be necessarily spicy because chiles we use and we go for flavors not for the spiciness what most people miss is how really deep

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[Applause]

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up traditional oaxacan dishes in the market for 30 whoa years awesome when he said he's cooking the egg right on the mouth oh man so the guy we're going to come out first of all a lot of the kamal you see now

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Perhaps a breakfast beverage first, a michelada: one giant beer with lemon, chili powder, salt, and Maggi sauce. It's a sizable morning beverage.

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zucchini flowers with the string cheese oh that's so pretty to see omado's cooking his focus his passion have very old very deep roots my parents were farmers in a small village like mine since you are six eight seven you have a role to

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My companion, blogger and chronicler of the city Jorge Pedro. Wow. The whole season of The Walking Dead for twenty-five cents. You want to buy something? Tepito's got it. Looking for some cheap underwear? Pirated copies of Man v. Food seasons one through five? This is where you find them.

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the tomatoes i tell you how to prepare molcajete salsa so that was at the beginning of my profession learning from the knowledge of how a tomato should taste like when you cut it directly from the plant where it should taste that's right

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So this all seems very wholesome. I mean, where could I buy a gun, some heroin, and a prostitute? I was looking forward to that.

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this is a way to preserve our culture throw out food [Music] the quiet little town of teotitlan del valle is about 15 miles outside of oaxaca the town where the arts crafts and traditions of the pre-hispanic mexico are celebrated and packaged for

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Let's say that Tepito has many layers, right? And we are on the surface. We are among movies, clothing, families. But I don't think it's as easy as to just ask where you can get a gun. Probably they will kill you if you ask that.

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faithful time-consuming difficult traditional way she was taught to make these things in the way she's been making them since she was six years old [Music] look at her hands by the way small surprisingly delicate given all the hard

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[Music]

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[Music] chicken dish this mole sauce like a lot of the real old school moles made by masters like abigail uses 35 different types of chili peppers and takes more than two weeks to make [Music] do you think that until recently until

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It's become very popular in the last years. A lot of good smells here, man, a lot of good-looking food. My happy place is somewhere in here. Oh, there it is. Yeah, we already hear, "Amigas, beautiful!" Now, wherever there's bones and guts simmering in broth, chances are I'll be happy.

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spaniards so we were always told that everything that was good and excellent has to be important right and what we have here it was just not good right another zapotekin classic chileagua a simpler dish of cow and pork

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Writer, sociologist, and lifelong resident of Tepito Alfonso Hernandez apparently feels the same way.

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ingredients the same flavors herbs etc but you know develop it a little bit i mean that's as old school as the cats this is super raging i find a beast and this one you cannot have this is something that you do not find

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So this is supposed to be a bad neighborhood?

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artist who goes by the name jessica captures that spirit of oaxacan protest [Music] the last supper for sure it's a lost supper but mexican laptop who are these people it's the most powerful people in mexico people that is driving mexico this is

Speaker A

This is the best. I love this neighborhood. It is known for being the lost souls neighborhood. It is called Angeles neighborhood, like angels, right? Being there, but in Tepito there are no angels, only lost souls. What's the saying?

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right you know and uh and metal this is in mexico you know because he is like over all of it yeah so this is the way mexico works yeah for me the most problem in mexico is a corruption

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[Music]

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from mexico city was visited by malcolm lowry a tormented self-loathing brilliant and hopelessly alcoholic author his life work under the volcano was set here it is widely believed to be one of the great novels of the 20th century

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The base comes from boiling cracked ham bones to release the marrow, to which garlic, onion, cascabel peppers, and epazote are added, thickened w

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murdered his son juan francisco and six other equally blameless innocent victims cecilia found himself moved to march to mexico city to demand an end to the increasingly futile so-called war on drugs that was mindlessly grinding up so many victims in the crossfire and in

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the margins [Music] in under the volcano the evil that's coming is fascism nazism what is the heart of the infernal machine today is what does he want to say what does he want people to hear him can he think of one place on earth where

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the good guys are winning and where you are not ground under the wheels of the machine is have you written a poem since the death of your son no [Music] so as i have come to know in my own life

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drugs even drug addiction can be a survivable event death is not death is final [Music] [Music] you

Topics:Anthony BourdainParts UnknownMexico CityTepitoSanta Muertecartel violenceboxingstreet foodnarco culturetravel documentary

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