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Sunday, April 28, 2019

Children Slaves Laborers: Drug Fields to Big Ag Fields

Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: PorEsto
                           "Slave children": They suffer abuses of all kinds in drug plantations

The executive director of the Network for the Rights of Children, Juan Pérez García, said that child labor ranges from family or community employment, to slavery in planting and cultivation of the poppy crops.

The most worrisome is that children are recruited, kidnapped or forced to participate in illicit activities, as there are complaints about the slavery of children and adolescents who are forced to work in marijuana plantations, he said.
Such are the cases of the States of Guerrero, as well as in the so-called Golden Triangle of the Sierra de Sinaloa, where there are "uprisings" of young people from primary and secondary schools.

He recalled that there are reports of attacks on secondary schools in Guerrero, where minors are taken to work on the marijuana harvest. 

In Veracruz they have even closed schools to prevent them from "raising" minors, many of whom are never seen again, he said.

In an interview with Notimex, Pérez García said that child labor is the result of economic inequality, since 47 % of families in Mexico live in and suffer from poverty.

He added that when data on children or people under 18 are disaggregated, poverty reaches 53% of the almost 22 million children and adolescents, according to data from the National Council for the Evaluation of Social Development Policy (Coneval). 

Of that realm, he explained, 4.7 million are in extreme poverty and face difficulties to eat at least once a day, which explains why there are more than three million of them engaged in economic activities between five and 17 years of age.
                       Children participating in the long labor strike, San Quintin, Baja, Ca 2017

Most of them,  eight out of 10 work in small units, and of those more than 3 million, about 500,000 perform domestic work, mainly women, and 2.5 million are in the agricultural sector or family workshops and sales of services.

He explained that there are three types of economic activity carried out by minors, such as family or community activities that are not necessarily pernicious: There is what they do for a third party, where they are actually hired; and there are illicit activities, where they suffer exploitation and may even be enslaved.
In rural communities it is a traditional practice for parents to pass on to their children their knowledge about planting and cultivation, as well as the use of land, involving them from a young age, which does not mean that they leave school or stop playing or are at risk.

Something similar happens with other activities such as street trading, he said, although there is a common denominator: these are families that suffer extreme poverty, where children's work is part of the family as a whole's  income.
The one that is done by contract, exposed, particularly in urban areas, is done mainly in the construction industry, where it is a priority to hire indigenous adolescents, who are urged to obtain an income, without knowing their labor rights and many are illiterate and do not even speak Spanish.

Similar cases are seen in the mining industry and, of course, in the agricultural sector, where entire families travel from Oaxaca or Guerrero to the fields of Sinaloa, Sonora and Baja California, to mention the most notable.
These last activities are pernicious, because they can mean the loss of school, risks to their health, absence of rest days and sometimes even excessive violence and, despite this, hiring can be legal, since the Labor Law allows an adolescent of 15 years and above work with the supervision of the Secretary of Labor.

Minors who are hired face several disadvantages, such as the fact that they receive less salary than an adult worker and can not be registered in the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), nor be part of unions, nor do they have the opportunity to present legal resources are subject to some injustice.

"They are exploited, they bring an economic benefit to the family income, but they have many disadvantages that make them totally vulnerable," he said.

20 comments:

  1. La tas regando Yaqui,
    Messing with the owner class that control the work and the workplace and their economy may force them to black ball you, they may even be trying to locate you right now to give you a pass on the chicharra bed

    ReplyDelete
  2. Secretaries of Labor high up in their offices are not aware, nice to see strikers riding again, specially those so young pickers, bless them. Those 4 bags may be worth 20 BUCKS to split around.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AMLO did approve the legal right to ban as an organization. Reffernce to unionize.
      Let's just hope it doesn't turn into a Hoffa thing. Where Corruption and labor unions resort to travesty. Enriching those elected officials and workers get nothing in return!

      E42

      Delete
  3. Thank you Yaqui for this story. Must think of a guy i meet, he said me this "My son, you are 8 years now, you know the numbers, now you go working with me on the market." For gods sake he didnt follow his father and made good living.

    Thats where the government should start to fight crime. Put them in schools, serve them free breakfast and lunch. Parents receive a few peso as compensation for the loss of workforce. Free schooling for at least 8 years.
    How to finance it? Get after the drug money!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Just like Illinois lottery. All revenue was supposed to fund education. As many are aware chicago public schools are understaffed and facing many closures due to lack of funding. Added with teacher strikes because of classroom sizes and pay.
      To rely on politicians is like waiting to hit the big one (lottery).
      Good luck.

      Delete
    2. 3:23 strange thing in Chicago, there is never a shortage of money to privatize schools, teachers, classes, buildings, programs...
      --They pay even more money to private school enteprises that do not have to deliver accounting or results, ever!

      Delete
  4. Lucky bastards have all those poppys to enjoy. I'll kill to have their jobs and get paid with chiva. Paradise to me.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Fuck Narcos. Quit using their drogas,
    ppl.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. An unheard tune since the days of the Reagan education drug policy.

      Idiots prefer drugs than a well paying job. Pointless to keep continuing the efforts to educate one in America today. These kids are more likely to purchase drugs with ease than liquor or cigarettes if underage. Drugs in America are everywhere. Its frightening.

      Truth
      E42

      Delete
  6. The chapo series clearly shows how these plantations are run.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Only thing worse is the diamond mines on the African continent, see them on Zembla TV.

      Delete
  7. A sad and unfortunate circumstance for many. It's not like the US is far from such labor concerns or practices. Many sweatshops here in the United states partake in the use of slavery (agriculture, manufacturing and prostitution).

    Abuses will always continue despite the rigourous efforts by many organizations to stop this practice.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Majority of global human trafficking enslaves many people to pay their debts in whatever way possible. For many of them the perception of a good life comes with agony.

    E42

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Jeffy Epstein, a self made billionaire does not charge for his customers for the young minor aged stocks in trade, he benefits from the Kompromat, his partners in crime protect him from the law, even buy federal prosecutions away from Him Faster than his Lolita Express plane. He also pays his young girls nothing but good tips, like $200.00 DOLLAR A DAY, sometimes...

      Delete
    2. Can't disagree nor dispute.

      E42

      Delete
  9. US does the same to immigrants what else is new??

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Many countries. Don't discriminate.

      Human trafficking is invisible and yet everywhere.

      Delete
  10. These kids have the saddest eyes ever.
    Poor kids.

    ReplyDelete

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