Mexican women work, die for gangs in drug war city

[mike r]

http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-51273620100903

Sep 3 2010
Mexican women work, die for gangs in drug war city
By Julian Cardona

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico (Reuters) - More women are working and dying for powerful drug cartels in Mexico's most violent city as high unemployment along the U.S. border sucks desperate families into the lethal trade. Once almost unheard of in the macho world of drug trafficking, a record 179 women have been killed by rival hitmen so far this year in Ciudad Juarez, the notorious city across from El Paso, Texas, as teenage girls and even mothers with small children sign up with the cartels, authorities say... Violence is taking on a different tone there as women suspected of working for drug gangs are shot by rivals on busy streets, often in front of their children, a deviation from cartels' traditional honor codes barring attacks on women. "Ninety percent of female homicides in Ciudad Juarez are linked to organized crime," said Patricia Gonzalez, attorney general for Chihuahua state that includes the border city. "The women are probably involved.".

Women are attractive employees for drug traffickers because they are less likely to be searched in drug raids in Mexico. One woman who smuggled cocaine into the United States for a drug gang told Reuters she has seen girls befriend hitmen, become their lovers and eventually begin working as smugglers. Many are drawn to the status and excitement of the drug trade. "When the boyfriends are going to kill someone, they invite the girls along as if if they were going on a trip to the mall or the cinema. It becomes totally normal to work for the cartels," said the woman, who declined to be named...

Many of the women working for drug gangs in Ciudad Juarez are poor. Some have been laid off from factory jobs as Mexico struggles out of its worst recession since 1932. Most are eager just to earn enough to educate their children. "The economy has been a major factor in why these women are selling drugs and participating with organized crime," said Imelda Marrufo, a women's activist in Ciudad Juarez. Some women, particularly teenagers, join cartels after dropping out of notoriously underfunded schools. They meet boys at nightclubs who are already selling drugs. Some are forced into the business by family members working for cartels...

Despite media reports to the contrary, police say that women generally do not work in hit squads that assassinate rivals or police. Instead, they supervise men who do. "They tell them who to kill and when," said Aide Arellano, a social worker for Ciudad Juarez's police force. "They travel with their children so as not to look suspicious." Yet the glamour of cartel work is fading as gangs begin to go after female drug workers without regard to their gender. "They are killing women just like they kill the men, shooting them. These murders aren't being investigated and it exacerbates the impunity," Marrufo said.

[secondwind]

1. Am SO in favor of legalizing ALL drugs at this point!!!!!

[Bobbieo]

2. Not far beind you on this!

[Turbineguy]

3. "...traditional honor code...."

:rofl:

No, actually, I'm not.