The arrest of a 15-year-old minor in the early hours of Sunday, October 12, who is accused of homicide, kidnapping, and drug dealing in Tabasco, recalled cases of other minors involved in illicit activities such as “El Ponchis” or “El Cachetes” and highlighted how organized crime in Mexico continues to recruit children and adolescents.
Although there are currently no official government figures that accurately estimate how many children and adolescents have been recruited by organized crime throughout Mexico, various civil society organizations and journalistic investigations have attempted to document the dynamics of criminal groups’ involvement in children in these contexts.
In 2019, a study conducted by the National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) revealed that more than 30,000 children and adolescents in Mexico were involved in organized crime. Likewise, this agency conducted 452 interviews in 2017 with adolescents in detention centers, of whom 35 percent stated they belonged to an organized crime group.
Furthermore, of the 35 percent who stated they belonged to an organized crime group, “the majority indicated they were recruited between the ages of 12 and 14.” Of the total number of adolescents interviewed in detention centers, another 17 percent indicated they committed a crime in association with members of the gang they were part of, according to the CNDH study.
