Blog dedicated to reporting on Mexican drug cartels
on the border line between the US and Mexico
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Saturday, December 4, 2010

The Increase of Young Foot Soldiers is a Threat to Mexican Society


It may seem impossible to believed that a child of 14 years could be so cold blooded and have the mentality to be a leader, since he was 11 years old, of an organized crime gang, who were responsible for abducting, torturing, executing, dismembering and even hanging the bodies of their victims from bridges, while getting paid in dollars per head.

In total disbelief, Edgar Jimenez Lugo, better known as "El Ponchis," was finally arrested after military intelligence authorities followed closely his path as a hired assassin, who would ultimately be linked to more than 300 executions in Morelos.

It is a network of young people causing terror and misery among the population.

"When we don't find the rivals, we kill innocent people - maybe a taxi driver or a construction worker - so that we can get paid," Jimenez said, adding that he earned $3,000 per hit. He said he had personally killed four people.

The criminal group of the CPS (South Pacific Cartel) was young heirs of the Beltran Leyva cartel in the state of Morelos, uploaded and documented their atrocities on the internet. In late October a video was posted on the Internet of the boy, sporting a mop of frizzy hair, holding an AK-47 assault weapon and posing with other gang members. One image showed Jimenez with an apparent victim whose eyes and mouth were taped shut.
 
On the video, Jimenez casually says that he didn't care whether he and his fellow gunmen got the right targets, just as long as they killed someone.
 
It was also revealed that the child, a murderer for hire, was an accomplice in the crimes with his sisters, young women that were known as "Las Chavelas" and who were also captured along with his brother, while pretending to flee from justice. In news reports said that one of them, 19-year-old Elizabeth, was a girlfriend of Hector Beltran Leyva, the leader of a splinter faction of the powerful Sinaloa Cartel that operates out of Morelos state.

News reports also reported that the elder sister led the gang "Las Chavelas" that took slain rivals of the Beltran Leyva group and dumped them on city streets.

News reports said Jimenez was a U.S. citizen, although U.S. Embassy spokesman Alex Featherstone said, "We have not confirmed this boy's citizenship."

Mexican journalists who were present when soldiers turned the youth over to prosecutors in Morelos state Friday morning peppered the boy with questions. He said that the headless corpses of his gang's victims were strung up from an overpass on a main highway leading to the capital.

"Why did you kill them?" a reporter asked, according to a transcript on the website of the respected newspaper El Universal.

"'El Negro' ordered me to. I got high on weed and didn't know what I was doing," Jimenez responded.

"Why did you get into this?"

"I didn't get into it. They pulled me in," the boy responded.

"Are you sorry you did?"

"Yes, I'm sorry I got involved with all this," he responded.

President Felipe Calderon has pointed to the ever-younger ages of gunmen for the drug syndicates, especially in the northeastern border region, as a sign that cartels are facing problems recruiting foot soldiers.

Yet Mexico has an estimated 7 million young people who neither can find jobs nor attend school, and many of them are tempted by easy money or motivated to join gangs out of anger over the killing of a friend or a parent.
 
"We count some 20,000 orphans who have the choice of either being forgotten about or looking for some activity to help them survive," sociologist Luis Gomez Sanchez told the Milenio television network. "These youngsters are cannon fodder for drug traffickers and their illegal activities."

The case of "El Ponchis" highlights concern about the falling ages of foot soldiers in Mexico's ongoing drug violence, which has left more than 30,000 people dead since late 2006.

Experts say that cases like this, are signs of high concern in the Mexican society, showing a sign of decomposition affecting the very core of the Mexican structure by the brutal and increase violence that is prevailing the country as a whole.

Sources:
Milenio
El Universal
Some translation by the McClatchy Newspapers



36 comments:

  1. It is not the same kid. The one they caught is bug eyed. Has fat lips.. The other one with the afro has Chinese looking eyes skinny lips and looks older.... So what is this????????!!!!

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  2. He's got a fat lip because someone gave him a chingaso! It's all very confusing though because they don't really look the same, even the skin tone. I thought he was going to San Diego because his mother was there and the Ponchis on the vid says his parents are dead. Who knows, it's Mexico, they've never been real big on the truth over there.

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  3. Hard to judge. Looks like a little scared kid when caught. But also was a cold-blooded killer. He's really another victim of this crap.

    What the hell is wrong with his mother to allow this to happen and then try to help his escape? She must have known and encouraged her kids' involvement.

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  4. I agree - does not look like the same kid

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  5. In the perp video Ponchis says he has 6 siblings but no parents they "are dead". funny since his mom reportably sent him and sis the tickets to return to San Diego. I want to see the bitch who hatched these little bastards.

    Secondly, when asked if he is scred now, he says calmly "no" ...when told what will happen and does he know that, he says yes, but he is not afraid.

    This makes me very unhappy but this murderer may be free in a couple of years. All I could find is the age of criminal responsibilty is 12 in most states but 18 in what we call capital crime. He could spend very little time in jail...if they have juvenile court or places of incarceration I have not been able to establish.

    The first video was old a child changes the most between 12-16 and he is 14. It is called puberty!

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  6. The kid on the second vds isn't El Ponchis, he is some other kid that gives up Ponchis name in an interrogation. Not sure how his face got attached to El Ponchis but that seems tobe the case all over the interweb.

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  7. the kidd with the afro that was interviewed was NOT "ponchis". i thought that was pretty obvious. that was one of the other members of the CPS cell. afro kid was talking about ponchis and his sisters and things they do. these pictures of ponchis are the 1st to come out. are ppl really that dumb?

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  8. his voice is different too and he's dark. this is wrong if they set him up.

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  9. my bad. if this is the real ponchis, he looks like a baby. when i was 14, i was playing football at the park with friends. this kid has a few loose screws in his head. i pray to god that he never gets released to society again. his mom gave birth to the anti-christ.

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  10. Wow, I think everyone's right. Looks way different. Even the voice is not the same. Hope they're not just picking-up a scapegoat.

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  11. it is really indicative of the desperation of the almighty narcos that they have to enlist misguided children...

    maybe it is good, child soldiers are a sure sign that they are having trouble recruiting....

    maybe more mature people are getting wary of working with them,,,i hope so

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  12. I say douse him with gasoline and set him on fire.

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  13. The kid is obviously high, you can tell by his lip movements.

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  14. Maybe a sign of Beltran-Leyva's/CPS desperation, or lack of recruits, kids aren't hired to do the dirty work like this, some of them are hired as lookouts for a few hundred a week, but this is reserved for dirty people, having kids do hits all coked up.

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  15. I agree that this may not be ponchis, I believe that cps has several kids working for them and this is one of them. This kid is extreamly high on cannabis and coke.

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  16. @ Brito 3:17

    I wish this was true but it is not so. It is est. that The 3 major cartels have 100K foot soldiers. Where it is true kids are used as halcones or street drug pushers, that is no dif than the US, where using kids is a pragmactic way to move drugs and if caught they are back out in no time, on probation or a few months in Juvey. Remember the cartels are drawing from every human resource; female, youth, Central Am Migrants...wherever and whoever...the new motto.

    As for our little bastard Ponchis, I was PISSED that he was so casual and declared he was not scared. Not I know why. in juvenile court they try youthful murderers and send to a juvey rehab!! That's it my friend. a few in the juvey. but GET THIS.. cartels have burst in and taken young offenders out! 4 in NL were in for kidnapping and murder and the cartels broke in and freed the group....

    WHile some may argue is it him/not him I could care less...I want to know if any justice will be served. and it won't

    here is the article about the freed lil bastards

    http://eleconomista.com.mx/seguridad-publica/2010/08/26/grupo-armado-libera-cinco-menores-penal-nl

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  17. One way to stop this crime is to allow the army police or citizens to personally reap all the money that the drug lords have accumulated upon their capture. Lets make drug dealers and gangsters poor and give an incentive to only HONEST citizens

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  18. Maka- He could just be very scared.But I agree, the lip biting and sucking could mean he's high on coke. He says that he is not, but I think that is just the "tough guy" act. I am looking at a kid who is nervous and scared, almost like he wants to cry several times. He says that he was threatened with death do commit these crimes....who knows though. $500 USD per week for just being a part of the gang is ALOT of money and then they were paid $3000 usd for each murder.

    Everyone- This is NOT THE SAME KID. If you listen to what they say in each video. The kid in the .older video, the one with the afro says that one of his BOSSES WAS EL PONCHIS. These two videos are of two different kids. I repeat NOT THE SAME KID..... 0just listening to the video and you can get that.

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  19. The "Kid" is not scared. He will have a cushy ride and out at 18. There is a bill proposed in Mexico that will afford a choice to have these killers tried as adults. Bout damn time. Hope it passes.

    Valerie...what you don't know is in Mx there is a generation of children that have been desensitized ..they feel nothing, it is my greatest concern seeing this first hand.. in this person you are seeing what Mx will have in a group of future adults. .

    I don't know anything about the effect of drugs as myself never have indulged. I think these mild curiosties are like wondering about the color of paint on the walls when there are two gorillas fighting in the room. Huge issues should prevail. Just my dos centavos of course.

    Looks LIKE The sister was NOT the GIRLFRIEND of EL H...this makes more sense; she was the GIRLFRIEND OF EL NEGRO. This from her own lips.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40490661/ns/world_news-americas/

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  20. In many cases, if trained properly, adolescents can become more loyal servants to a cartel than an adult male. They are more easily manipulated and can work for less. They are more willing to prove themselves and have no worries about going to jail because they know that juveniles are treated with leniency. They can play a more elusive role because kids don't pose a threat. But this is not new. Its been happening all over the world for years. The l.a. gangs have raised young neighborhood boys from the block into becoming future criminals. Palestinian men have even nurtured young boys into becoming martyrs. But this is unusual; a group of young boys and girls, ages 12 and up, working for themselves as sicarios; kidnapping, torturing, murdering, decapitating their victims and videotaping it with content. Even murdering innocent people for money and pleasure. Their leader was a twelve year old boy. They even named themselves the south pacific cartel. This has got to be the lowest point in the war. Someone mentioned one time that cannibalism is the next step to this filthy war. Which caves do these disease ridden rats come out of?

    One night i was at a motel room with a group of people drinking in mexico, when i was introduced to a young guy. I talked, drank tecates, and laughed with this guy all night. Three months later, i saw his picture on the internet that said he was a sicario who claimed to have killed more than twenty people. This guy was a sick man and i would have never guessed that he was a cold-blooded serial killer.

    Now they have child murderers and woman murderers. I feel so bad for the good mexican people who have to deal with these filthy animals. They are surrounded by rats, cockroaches, snakes and leeches. I don't know how they do it everyday but my deepest respects go out to the good, hard-working, religous citizens of mexico.

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  21. The creep with the afro and white skin, thin lips in the video looks like a real psycho! This one looks like a little bug eyed idiot!
    Bet he's taking the fall for the other one out of fear!

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  22. @ ajulio

    yeah man, i drank and partied with with some dangerous cabrones in my wild days in the tables and bars in Monterrey y Guadalajara...out all night and half the day doing some crazy shit..it is strange how you can be safe in the company of "bad guys" ,,,and then the ratas shake you down on the way home ...Mexico...no way to make sense of it...nowadays the guys are not the same ..no honor at all... no business sense...just thieves and killers

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  23. The one in the video is EL Cris...All of these little fuckers should be shot. They are like rabid dogs...

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  24. Of course he was pulled into this, be it by hunger, fear, withdrawal, intimidation or all of them together. The Mexican government specializes in turning desperate children into criminals by taking advantage of the fact that these kids are consider worthless by society.
    This kid was coerced into committing these crimes, there's no doubt about it.

    Como de costumbre, los altos funcionarios responsables de esto, se rascan los hu3*05 mientras utilizan a niños para que cometan estos crimenes, los entrenan,los amenazan o recompensan con drogas, los consideran desechables

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  25. MEXICO IS KNOWN FOR USING SCAPEGOATS FOR EVERYTHING!

    NOT EVERYTHING REPORTED IS GENUINE. THESE KIDS AND PEOPLE ARE THREATENED TO BE RAPED AND THEIR FAMILIES KILLED IF THE DONT "CONFESS" TO BEING RESPINSIBLE. THEY PICK A PERSON, PLANT WHATEVER EVIDENCE, CALL A PRESS CONFERENCE AND TELL THEM WHAT THEY WANT THE PUBLIC TO BELIEVE.

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  26. The police themselves "fed" drugs to him so he could appear "calm" and nonchalant. The authorities forced him to snort or shot him up a little something, he IS scared because those soldiers are nothing but depraved murderers and rapist themselves who only God knows what they subjected this kid to. What a sham!

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  27. @lito brito

    i read your comments all the time. you're very funny and man, you're giving ernest1 a smackdown. you seem like that cool uncle that everyone has that is cool to drink with. i would like to have a shot of tequila with you brito.

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  28. yeah lito. the guy i was drinking with was the leader of los linces and was the guy who killed the pilot at the amadeus sripclub in juarez.

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  29. That is definitely not the same kid. I'm very confused now...

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  30. no question, thats not EL PONCHIS.

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  31. Poor Lil El Ponchis,he smoked a Lil Pot and he became a 12 year old sicario cuttin peoples heads
    off on "You Tube" for whoever pays him a couple of
    Peso's and gives him a joint! W'ell rest assured he
    won't do more than a couple of years in Mexico since
    you do more time for robbery than you do for murder.
    With any luck he will be back in the states (he say's he was born in San Diego)with Mom and Step Dad
    I just hope when he comes to the states he's on Prozac and not pot,since he say's he killed when he was stoned on pot! And how bout them cute murdering
    sisters of his huh? What a close family!!

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  32. @ ajulio

    yeah man...y a few indios...i been trying evolucion 501...about 90 pesos... at soriana...reposado 100% agave ...nice wheat color..

    never hurt me yet...jejeje

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  33. must be that "killer weed"...la ciriguaya..

    cocaina and meth..todo la polvo blanco is the bad shit..makes anyone crazy...

    he don't look like no meth head tho...they look like zombies straight out of day of the dead...


    what happened to the cheech y chong days when la mota was all fun , and the mexican growers was sort of more or less cool guys...

    at one time it was sacriligous to kill over weed...what tha fuck ...

    cisco kid , he was afriend of mine...

    gone forever...i really hate the new cocksuckers

    i just want to be able to be in Mexico and not be killed ..is that too much to ask

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  34. yeah...them chicas is to die for huh?

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  35. Those are two different boys in the pictures. They are different kids, but both are guilty of committing atrocious crimes against their enemies. I read that one boy, the skinny one with the frizzy hair, liked to torture and kill his victims. He admitted to sexually torturing, then castrating and beheading several men while taking photos of their torture with his cellphone. The boy admitted to castrating and beheading at least 4 men (at least!), and admitted it without remorse. In my opinion, the little punk should be executed. Can you imagine the humiliation and degradation those men felt at the hands of a little kid? An adult man castrated by young kid---that is so wrong, so vile.

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  36. If you guys would actually pay attention, the guy in the second video identifies himself as El Cris.

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