Mexico News Oct. 18

Posted by the Generals on October 30, 2011, 7:27 pm
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Subject: Mexico News DAILY October 18, 2011 Mexico Mexican drug gangs target young Texans Development: On 17 October the Texas Department of Public Safety claims Mexican drug trafficking organisations (DTOs) are recruiting children as young as 11 years old in Texas. Significance: Under increasing pressure from law enforcement agencies along the US border, DTOs are recruiting children to smuggle drugs into the US. The Texas authorities say that they have detected six of the seven DTOs with operations in Texas using minors, often recruited from street gangs. The US Customs and Border Protection agency, in conjunction with the state government, has reacted by launching a prevention campaign called “Operation Detour” by visiting schools to warn students of the different activities associated to DTOs and the dangers these pose to them. Key points: • Details about this recruitment process on the north side of the border are still lacking. The recruitment of children by DTOs has been common in Mexico, especially among the so-called Ninis, or the young men or women who do not study or work (in Spanish, short form for the phrase ni estudian, ni trabajan). There are about 7m Ninis in Mexico according to an Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report (although Mexico’s Secretary of Public Education claims 78% of those are young, married women with children who stay are stay-at-home mothers). • This report will be campaign material for Texas Governor Rick Perry, who is campaigning for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012. Known for his most recent hawkish stance on border control to tackle drug trafficking, Perry has been outspoken about the danger DTOs pose to the state of Texas and made border security a priority of his three-term administration. • On 17 October, the current opinion poll leader for the Republican nomination, Herman Cain, is advocating the construction of an electric fence along the southern US border to reinforce the border.

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