Working in the Mexican border town of Ciudad Juárez, Rocío Idalia Gallegos Rodríguez and Sandra Rodríguez Nieto investigate some of the most ruthless drug lords and corrupt government officials in the world. At great risk to themselves, these two women are documenting the rampant violence, poverty and fear that the U.S.-Mexico drug wars have brought to their stretch of the border.

Their stories, for El Diario de Juarez, proved that the government and army were arresting and sometimes torturing innocent people as part of the war on drugs. They have discredited a government claim that is was vigorously working to take down drug lords and their hired killers.

They have also investigated the brutal killing of fellow reporter Armando Rodriguez in front of his eight-year-old daughter in 2008. Their reporting led international media groups to pressure the Mexican government to solve the case.

Gallegos used public records to show that Mexican President Felipe Calderón’s short visits to Juárez were in fact very pricey. Her stories contrasted the government’s lavish travel spending with its meager budget to improve social problems that lead to crime and violence.

Rodríguez was part of a team that analyzed all the murders in Juárez in 2008 and 2009. She found that most of the victims were children and teens, not drug cartel members as U.S. and Mexican officials claimed.

Gallegos and Rodríguez were among the first to put the violence in context and give it a human face.