Guatemalan Children in
Organized Crime
Guatemala - Guatemalan
children and teenagers
between the ages of ten
and seventeen are being
recruited by drug
trafficking gangs and
other crime
organizations, according
to reports from
humanitarian
organizations, released
in Guatemala on Sunday.
Criminals use them as
informants, to
distribute retail drugs,
watch during larger
operations, and even
attack people in the
streets, the sources
said.
They usually use
children under 14, who
cannot be indicted for
any crime in courts and
are easily manipulated,
sexually abused and
exploited for labor.
Leonel Dubon, director
of programs of Casa
Alianza, an institution
committed to vulnerable
childhood, said there
had been a drastic
reduction of street
children in the past
year, but the reason was
that they had been
recruited by gangs that
gave them shelter.
At least 5,700 minors
were registered in
conditions of
abandonment by Casa
Alianza in 2007, but the
number shrank to
1,800, said Dubon.
In colonies including
Bethania, El Limon or
the Matio Alioto
settlement, in the Villa
Nueva municipality, the
children work as hired
assassins for gang
members, he said.
A total of 417 children
were killed last year in
Guatemala, most of them
with firearms, according
to a report by the
Archbishopric's Human
Rights Organization.
From January to October
this year, the number of
children killed in
violent actions reached
300. |
