Drug Cartels and Violence

1565 Words4 Pages

How would you feel if the only thing that you knew was violence, and drugs? For many children this is not a hypothetical question. There are children in Mexico that live this way. Some willingly join drug cartels. These children lose their education in order to make money, and because they do not know the true danger that they are getting themselves into by working for the cartels. Should children be fighting, and working for the cartels? These questions have different answers depending on which side is answering the question. To every story there is two sides, two different points of view. What kind of violence are the cartels participating in? That is not a hard question to answer for the cartels have brought violence, and disorder to most if not all of Mexico. In one part of Mexico, called Chihuahua, there has been all of kinds of violence. An example of this comes from a resident of Chihuahua. Luis said that “there has been every kind of violence, there have been executions, shootings, levantones (kidnapping without calling for money or without a reason), extortions if they don't pay them they can burn their business, kidnap their family members or kill them (Rocha).” The cartels have gained too much power, and now people live in fear of being the next target. All though they are bringing in all of this violence some of the cartels are not bad. Why are kids willing to join the cartels? There are many reasons for kids to join some of the reasons are as followed. “First, the children are enticed or manipulated into joining the cartels (Beckhusen).” Next, “most of the kids look to these sicarios (hired people to kill the competitors), and narcos (drug dealers) like they are great people. For example they make a lot of money,... ... middle of paper ... ...rom http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/02/AR2009110203492.html David, L. (2010, December 4). Youth Suspected as Cartel Hit Man. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved from http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052748703989004575653031565874598 Gordts, E. (2012, March 14). Mexico Children Used As 'Mules' By Drug Gangs. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/14/mexico-children-mules-drugs_n_1344009.html Kellner, T., & Pipitone, F. (2010, September 9). Inside Mexico's Drug War | World Policy Institute. World Policy Blog. Retrieved from http://www.worldpolicy.org/blog/2010/09/09/inside-mexicos-drug-war Keralis, J. (n.d.). Drug Cartels in Mexico. Forced Migration Review. Retrieved April 16, 2014, from http://www.fmreview.org/non-state/Keralis.html Rocha, Luis C. Online interview. 21 Apr. 2014.

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