Mexican cartels have intensified the forced recruitment of minors in several regions of the country. A report from the Ministry of the Interior reveals that the most affected states are Baja California, Guerrero, Michoacán, Guanajuato, and Zacatecas. Meanwhile, the federal government remains silent and looks the other way.
The Network for Children's Rights estimates that more than 145,000 minors are at risk of being captured by organized crime. Criminal groups use them as lookouts, distributors, drug planters, and even hitmen. The State has simply lost control of the territory and childhood.
Narco-minors: the new reality of Mexico
In Tijuana and Mexicali, the Sinaloa Cartel and the CJNG recruit teenagers for drug trafficking. In Acapulco and Iguala, they are used for extortion and kidnapping. In Michoacán, the Viagras and the Michoacán Family employ them to plant and monitor.
In Guanajuato and Zacatecas, the cartels push them into robbery, extortion, and fentanyl trafficking. They are no longer collateral victims; now they are a direct target of organized crime. All this happens without a clear national strategy for child protection.
