A Cartel Threatens You Into Recruitment... What Would You Do?

By Chivis Martinez

Mexico's Children of Narco Violence

Ninis of Juarez photo by Dominic Bracco

DD said...”What would you do?”

What would you do? You are a state police officer whose duty is patrolling the highways looking for speeders or drunk drivers. You have been on that job for many years. The worst corruption you have been guilty of is taking a small mordita (bite) occasionally when you stop a speeder. You are parked at one of your usual spots watching for speeders. It is just after dark. Suddenly a black SUV pulls up and parks in front of you. A pickup with it's lights on bright pulls up close behind you. Four men appear at the front windows of your car. One enters the passenger door. He hands you a set of keys and says "this is the keys to the new pickup behind you. If you don't accept this gift, we will kill your wife and daughters in a horrible way" And they call your wife and daughters by name. They tell you all they want of you is a little information from time to time. You will receive a monthly sum of money as a gift to show our appreciation. You have to give us your answer right now. Do you accept our gifts?

This happened to the uncle of my niece's husband several years ago. What would you do in his shoes?"

A BB reader and forum contributor know as "DD" wrote the above comment in the comment thread for my post  titled "My Son is One of Them, But he is a Good Person"

 

DD” is a friend. He is educated, kind, thoughtful and fair. He’s a Texan who years ago along with his wife and son moved to Mexico, her home country.  In both of the Mexican cities DD and I are in, the plaza is governed by the last letter, Z,  or “the letter” as they say in Mexico. We connected through BB, and he is one of two people that I allowed to interact with my office staff, something I just do not do for security purposes. I trust him. His comment compelled me to also weigh in on this topic.

Before my move to Mexico had I been a reader of this post I would have been sanctimoniously blaming the mother, blaming the son, and sure in the conviction that he had choices and his mother has her head wedged in a dark nasty place. 

Drawing from my personal history and  the safe, strong, law and order American society that I grew up in, I would be critical and disbelieving that anyone could be forced into criminal behavior.

When I read this story the faces of the children I have known since they were beginning their lives flooded my memory. I am going to speak to you in general terms, I realize there are exceptions. Mexican parents are just like you, they have dreams for their children of enjoying a better life than that  which they have lived. But the drugwar violence intervened, and now the wish is for them to be exempt from the narco life, stay safe and not have their lives terminated in their youth.

Nine years ago in Mexico, narcos were an off topic between friends, family, and unequivocally never spoken about at school. Life was surreal to me, as no one would speak to me about the narco war, or narco events in our city. If I would bring the topic up, it was met with nervous chuckling and subject went nowhere. Everyone knew who the narcos were, where they lived, some of the activities, most everyone had relationships with a narco, they may be a friend, a family member, or a neighbor. But,  no words spoken.

That was then. 

About 3-4 years ago things changed. Children began openly speaking about narcos. Poor children began aspiring to become a narco, or to marry one. A girl spoke of her dream to be a teacher and was mocked by another “you will be poor, and I rich because I will marry a narco”.

Children began drawing pictures reflecting narcos and their lifestyle. On Dia de Los Muertos, a day to honor the dead, children sometimes dressed in sicario costumes and made altars honoring a dead narco who lived the life. Things became more open.

I was crushed to begin recognizing the faces with the nextels. The sweet-faced babies whose mothers would proudly introduce to me, are now middle school age or younger,  spending their hours on designated spots working as a "halcon" (lookout) for narcos.

About the post. I posted it to see where readers were with this issue. To hear from you and how you feel. The truth is this story could be told thousands of times by thousands of people and it can be 100% true. This story absolutely happens. People, adults and children are forced into criminal activity. If it was a simple offer to be rejected with no penalty, the overwhelming majority of people would do so. But when you family is threatened, your mother, your child, whomever, it is a different game. What would you do? I saw a comment, “they should move from the area” ha! If only that easy. We are talking about people that live in poverty or has an extended family so large it is impossible, you see extended family are not exempt. You disappear, and their lives can pay the penalty. Your refusal is made into an example of what will happen to those that do. 

Allow me to play the devil’s advocate in this story. Lets concede the son in this story was lying, he joined of free will.  Martha loves her son. The son adores Martha. That is evident because he either saved her life or invented the story for Martha to save her the pain of knowing that her son freely chose this path. So, he is a good son in that respect. And why would he choose the threat story? Because he knew she would accept that story, because it is a fact that many young people and adults are recruited that way when the money is not enticing enough.

Are there those that freely choose the criminal life with cartels? Absolutely. Do some children aspire to be a rich narcos and are recruited by their free will? Ditto.

However, many are forced into the life, and in southern Mexico in places like Michoacán when children are age ready, narcos barge into private homes and kidnap young males. Adults in key positions such as police, or media are often targeted.

With respect to those who choose the life, Mexican society and its movers and shakers have done this to themselves. By marginalizing the poor and perpetuating a racial discrimination against Mexicans of Indian ancestry, they have excluded them from an education that has parity with the middle and upper classes. By middle school they become NiNis, I cannot place blame against those that are outcasts of society. Clearly they are culpable for their actions, but the motivator is hopelessness, lack of education, lack of opportunity. In a country with the majority of persons  below the poverty level, the decisions to exclude certain people,  would come home one day to bite society in the ass. 

And it has. NiNis are the biggest pool of recruitment for cartels. Society has made this so simple for cartels to acquire those foot soldiers, the bottom layer, all these young dead bodies you see in photos in the aftermath of a shootout.

El Chapo himself is illiterate. The travelling teacher that visited his town in the sierras stopped going when he was 8 years old, so there too was the end of his education. He is so restricted in reading and writing that while in prison he would dictate his words to another prisoner to write his letters. 
 

This is a gray area issue that is so complicated one can’t explain it in a post, it takes devoting time to the issue and studying it. A fast study is to live among it. I have begun an article about a nini named Carlitos. I met him a construction site, I spotted him as he was struggling to maneuver a wheelbarrow filled with wet cement. He was 13. He was completely illiterate. We began a journey that day that has been astounding. His story is a study in the lost potential of millions of children thrown away by Mexican society, deemed not worthy of an education. It has had its bumps, and near misses, as Carlitos visited his hometown of Monclova for a summer staying with a childhood friend and was almost recruited. He is now back on the educational path with an incredible story about his journey to become educated.

And those children that survive the violence, how will this emotional tragedy manifest itself when they reach adulthood?  Already I have seen children that can turn off emotion completely when describing horrific events.  A young boy from Mier, living in the shelter of San Miguel Aleman, was happy, laughing and playing board games when we asked if anyone would like to speak about Mier.  He was still smiling until he spoke about the night his father was taken "by the bad guys".  He was void of emotion, speaking in monotone when describing the event.  At the end of his interview he was asked "what do you miss most in Mier?"  His face  then reflected a deep sadness when he answered, "my dog".  The children exposed to the violence are not given counseling. These are the children of Mexico's future.

So, as DD asked, “what would you do?”, your life and that of your family are threatened, there is no such thing as calling the police, as the police are also "with them"....I know what you would do, unless of course you are a sociopath, you would go along with the program.  That is my guess.

Categories: ChildNarcos, Drugwar, Halcon, NarcoRecruitment, Zetas