Collateral Damage: Children are easy prey for Mexican drug cartels

The Mexico team of reporters from the LA Times looks more in depth at the devastating "collateral damage" being done - by the interaction of poverty and the drug war - to children and youth in Mexico. They begin with the life story of Edgar Jiminez Lugo, "El Ponchi," the now infamous, reputed "child assassin."

Children are easy prey for Mexican drug cartels - Sacramento Bee: "Edgar's arrest was one more shocking twist in Mexico's 4-year-old drug war: Could a boy who stands barely chin high to a grown man be a bloodthirsty cartel assassin?

The case has shaken Mexico, possibly because the answer is so clear. Faced with an abysmal education system and even worse job prospects - and lured by easy drug money and the clout that comes with it - thousands of ever-younger youths are joining the ranks of violent cartels.

The virtually endless supply of young foot soldiers keeps the cartels well-stocked with thugs, gunmen, mules, peddlers and lookouts. As vulnerable kids fall through the cracks, Mexico risks losing part of a generation." Dec. 19, 2010, LA Times/McClatchy