Peter Pereira : Photojournalist

Carlos Burgo graduated at the top of his class from college. He owned a two family home and had a good job. That was twenty years ago when life was good. After his marriage began to fail, Carlos began hitting the bottle. It began with a single drink to help with the pain. One drink let to another and soon his life was dancing with a one way street lying at the bottom of the bottle.

Going to work became impossible after losing his license, and his funds began drying up. Life became a vicious cycle, centered on getting another drink. Carlos has lost his car, his home, his life. Homeless and penniless, Carlos sleeps in a shelter, eats at a soup kitchen for the poor and often finds himself in jail. He often asks the police to put him in jail to keep him from freezing on a cold night.

Every year over twenty two thousand people die from liver complications due to alcoholism. Statistics show that over 76 million people have at one time or other been addicts, and approximately 6.6 children have at least one parent who is an addict.

Sitting alone in his jail cell, Carlos recites some prayers in Latin that he remembers when he was a altar boy. Carlos thinks that the future still hold promise. He still has hope to quit and become "a respectable man again".