The Narco Wars: Mexico’s Youngest Assassins
For many of Mexico’s youths, a job with a narco-cartel is the only job they can find—and the only one they may ever get.
By: Jana Schroeder
Homeland Security Today
Second to right is César Raúl Meza Torres, mini 6, killed at age 21 on April 2010 in Zapopan, Jalisco. He started his brief career as a sicario at a very early age. His father was Raúl Meza Ontiveros M-6 killed on March 2007 in Culiacan.
Organized crime analyst Jose Luis Piñeyro, who teaches at Mexico City’s Metropolitan Autonomous University, told Homeland Security Today, “The most obvious change I see is that those being recruited as hit men or hired assassins are young people—very young people—who are unemployed and poor or drug addicts. They’re not professional assassins, and they don’t have particular knowledge of how to use weapons.” He added: “They’re disposable, they’re recyclable. They’re hired for an average of US $500 to $650 a month to kill an unlimited number of people or to carry out other acts of violence. Ten years ago, a hired assassin charged US $12,000 to $13,000 to kill just one person. So you could say that hiring assassins has become cheaper for drug traffickers.”
source: Borderland Beat: Mexico’s Youngest Assassins
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