A 20-year-old criminology student has been made police chief for a border town in one of the most violent regions in Mexico

Marisol Valles got the job in Praxedis G Guerrero, in the northern state of Chihuahua, following an invitation from the mayor, Mexican media reported. Chihuahua is the battleground for drugs cartels fighting over lucrative smuggling routes across the US border. Asked if she feared for her safety, she replied: "Here everyone is frightened." Valles has been studying criminology in the city of Ciudad Juarez, about 100 kilometers from Praxedis, which has seen more than 6,000 killings since 2008. Now she has the title of director of municipal public security. More than 28,000 people have been killed in Mexico in drug-related violence since 2006, when the government deployed about 50,000 troops to combat the cartels.