Teen Killer 'El Ponchis': Mexico Confronts a Bloody Future

By IOAN GRILLO / MEXICO CITY Ioan Grillo / Mexico City – Wed Dec 8, 2:30 pm ET

The most striking thing about the skinny 14-year-old was his eyes. They looked like they belonged to a bloodied war veteran - which, of course, he was, being in prison for two killings. As I talked to him in a prison cell, Miguel Angel Cantu opened those eyes wide in a penetrating glare of hatred and anger that could strike fear into grown men. But those eyes could not hide the suffering behind them. Cantu had killed two men in Ciudad JuÃ