article_snippet.sent: For Juarez to be considered a safe city, there's a long way to go," says Sergio Meza, executive director for Plan Estrategico de Juarez, an independent organization that works to improve the deadliest city in the world's quality of life.
article_snippet.sent: With more than 40% of Juarez living below the poverty line, according to Plan Estrategico de Juarez, the future of the deadliest city in the world will depend on "the people's participation in public matters.
article_snippet.sent: "We are looking at a compromised future," Sergio Meza said.
article_snippet.sent: The scars from the recent past remain.
article_snippet.sent: Several buildings downtown are shuttered and marred by graffiti.
article_snippet.sent: Americans who, before the violence, came to Juarez for bargain shopping have not returned in the numbers seen before the spike in violence.
article_snippet.sent: Longtime residents of Juarez and neighboring El Paso may be reluctant to say the wounds of the violent past have altogether healed.
article_snippet.sent: Reveles says the threat of violence is "still a little bit concerning," though that hasn't stopped Reveles in recent weeks from going to Juarez to meet friends for dinner and drinks.