Interview: The Life of a halcón in the CDN

Translated by El Profe for Borderland Beat from Valor Por Tamaulipas

Although organized crime recruits its "halcones” [hawks] or vigilantes, among young people under 20, it can also be the lady who sells corn on the corner or bus stop, the taxi driver, or even students.

A cuazito decided to ask openly about the obligations and cost of working as a halcón for a group from the Northeast Cartel [CDN] and this was the response he received.

Cuazito:

Some "friends" of the neighborhood told me that I would not want to work as a halcón but the truth is I don’t know much about it, my friends tell me not to get into it since it's a crime, and truthfully, they may pay well, according to what they told me, it's 7,500 every quincena [payday, 15th day of the month] and P.S. the truth is I really don’t understand them very well, please help me.

Answer:

If you want to get into it, the truth is that it’s in style among reggaeton kids, cholos, and nacos, I can not tell you not to enter, you do what you want at the end of the day, what if it's bad? Well, that depends on the education and values that your parents have given you, especially your mother.

What if they pay you well? Well, the first quincena or week (if you’re still living) they pay you well and like that they hook you, the rest they no longer pay you because you are now their slave with no chance of getting out alive.

Yes, you will feel like the man when you cruise around in a stolen truck with a high power weapon and with a Nextel you will feel like the shit although one thing is for sure, if you get caught, those against you are going to fuck you up so bad that even when you have died you won’t forget it.

The same if you get caught by the cops, in jail you will be taught anal sex techniques daily and free and also without a condom…although, okay, maybe you will like it, and another thing, when your bosses don't need you anymore they'll hand you over to a rival who will throw you into the growing pile of corpses that is our country nowadays.

And well obviously, the techniques of torture are truly atrocious, they make you regret (in vain) that you were born and the worst of all is that the same fate goes for your mother and your lady and the other people who form your family circle.

But hey, if by hanging in a stolen truck with a cuerno de chivo and with the Nextel, you’re going to feel like the shit, and since it’s possibly the only opportunity you have in life to bring green bills to your wallet since you do not have the capacity to study or start a business and make a lot of money honestly, then enter.

Life is lived only once and many teenagers of today's society will only have the opportunity to be "important" people by getting into it as a hawk, hit man or any pendej@d@ related to narco, so, good luck :)

Investigator:

"They give them radios, which is the only thing they work with and they are radioing who enters and who leaves through the bus terminals," he explained.

It is a risky job because if they make a mistake in providing a clue they are severely punished.

"The first (fault committed) they’re paddled, a single file line is made and they are hit with a kind of paddle. For the second one, a punishment that is very medieval is applied, a punishment that is called La Grulla, they are put upside-down, tied up by their hands and feet, and can be left for up to two or three days without eating. And for the third, many times, they disappear. "

However, the investigator revealed that the salary they receive for this work is only 3 thousand or 3 thousand 500 pesos at least, although sometimes they do not even get paid anything. "Some of them told me that they would then go into theft or rob an OXXO."

"There is everything, there are people who are forced because the brother or the cousin is already inside and they are taken in, and there are others who are very attracted to the phenomenon of being narco, the truck, hanging around with guns, they enter and when they realize that the reality is very different and it is not as they thought, they can no longer leave and that is the tragic part. "

The investigator stressed that "halconeada" is a first step to enter the world of drug trafficking and when they serve for three or four years, if they survive, they rise to the criminal chain.

Those who are arrested are accused of crimes such as criminal association and serve penalties of between 4 and 15 years.