Angels Take To The Violent Streets Of Juarez

Angels have appeared in the violent border city of Juarez — or at least young people dressed as angels. They show up at busy street corners and bloody crime scenes spreading messages of hope and peace.

?It comes from the bottom of my heart,? said 15-year-old Israel Santillan as he loaded signs to be carried by the angels onto the roof of an old van used to shuttle the angels around the city.

The angels are not part of a Christmas pageant. They?re members of the tiny evangelical church called Psalm 100.

Outside the modest building that serves as the church, teenagers ripped open old down comforters and pasted the white feathers on giant cardboard wings. Others stood patiently while their friends applied silver makeup and glitter to their faces and hair. After they slipped into long white robes, the teens were transformed into ?messenger angels.?

After trying on his wings, 19-year-old Daniel Diaz said he his goal is to reach out to other young people.

?To let them know Christ loves them and there?s hope for their lives,? Diaz said.

Like most of the angels, he?s from a working-class neighborhood where the church is located. Many of the angels are students, some as young as 14. Others hold down full-time jobs. A few have a less-than-angelic past.

Before he found God, Diaz was a ?juvenile delinquent.”

“He used drugs and robbed people at gunpoint,? said Carlos Mayorga, who organized the angel campaign.

Mayorga is a journalist in Juarez who says he saw the need for the angels after seeing so many grieving families at crime scenes. The campaign has spread to three other states in Mexico.

Mayorga led the angels in a prayer before they piled into the old van

?Dear Lord please protect these young people,? he said.

The angels have appeared at busy intersections in Juarez carrying signs. On one busy afternoon, motorists at a stop light stared at the angels. Some honked in approval. One man flashed a peace sign.

Rafael Carillo, 14, rode up to an angel on his bike and snapped a photo with his cellphone camera.

?Their messages make people reflect,? said Carillo, who liked the angel carrying a sign that read, ?Hit men repent. Christ loves you.?

Before long, the organizer got a call about a body discovered on the outskirts of the sprawling border city. And the angels rushed off in the rattletrap van headed to a rough neighborhood.

The messenger angels reach out to both killers and police officers at crime scenes. At one location, an officer tied crime scene tape around a pole, as an angel stood silently with a sign that read, ?Corrupt police officer, find God.?

The angels also offer comfort in neighborhoods ravaged by relentless drug violence.

?I hope they pray to God that the violence ends,? said Alejandra Valdez, whose son was murdered earlier this year. She watched as the angels climbed on top of roof near a crime scene in her neighborhood and hovered over the area where police examined multiple shell casings.

The angels ended the day praying with neighbors who live down the street from the spot where a man died in a hail of bullets.

?God heal this city,? prayed Mayorga as the angels stood in a a small group with adults, children and raggedy dogs, and a woman quietly wiped away tears.

After a long day dressed as an angel with giant wings, Daniel Cuevas, 17, said it was worth all the hard work, ?to see people moved by our message.?