Thread: Young generation falling prey to Juarez drug violence

Young generation falling prey to Juarez drug violence

Posted: June 28, 2009 08:59 PM PDT

Updated: June 28, 2009 09:44 PM PDT

By BELO Border Bureau Chief Angela Kocherga

JUAREZ -- Mexican officials say more than half of those killed in Mexico's most violent city are young people, even children.

"Sometimes, when we cross the border there are heads; the heads of people right there," said a woman recalling what he has seen in Juarez.

Children and teens are also casualties of drug violence. At least 60 percent of the murder victims in Juarez are under 25, officials said.

One of the recent victims was Priscilla Ibarra Alfaro. She was only eleven when she died in a hail of bullets. An American citizen, she was visiting her mother and younger sister in Mexico.

"Her vacation [in Mexico] was a point of no return," said her uncle. Priscilla lived with him on the Texas side of the U.S.-Mexico border. Her uncle said she wanted to work during her summer vacation and planned to help him at the family bakery.

If some youth are caught in the crossfire, others are caught up in the cartel's turf war as foot soldiers.

Juarez's youthful labor force and proximity to the U.S. made it a Mexican "border boom" town. It has also been exploited by drug traffickers trying to grow their business.

"Youngsters are easily recruited by cartels," said Teresa Almada. She works with "at risk youth" in some of Juarez's poorest and roughest neighborhoods.

Eric Ponce is one of her success stories. He's now enrolled in college but still volunteers at the youth center. He worries about the lack of role models for kids.

"The gangsters carry a lot of weight," he said nervously.

http://www.kvia.com/Global/story.asp?S=10609291

This is really nothing new in Mexico.

In this day and age it's the drug cartels, in the past it was something else whether it was victimizing traders, travelers, or pioneers, rustling livestock, robbing trains, banks and businesses, raiding for gold, silver, or whatever, holding entire towns hostage to shakedowns and extortion under the threat of horrendous violence....the list is a long one.

It's really a tragic thing to even have to say but all throughout history......and all it takes is one thorough look through history....the Mexican culture has been one consisting of crime and violence. It's never been anything else and I can't see it ever becoming anything else because that's the culture which has been in place since day one.

This business with the drug trade is just another example of the adage "Same thing, different day"