Mexican Scholar Says the State Offers Poor Juveniles Two Options: Drug Trafficking or Emigrate By Itza Varela Huerta
Asked about
statements by the head of the Center for Research and National Security (CISEN, Mexico's intelligence agency), with respect
to poverty, drug trafficking and juvenile discontent being seen as threats to national security, the national coordinator
of Oportunidades, Salvador Escobedo, said that the problem of poverty concerns everyone and there is a risk that
people living in poverty may be more inclined to get involved in criminal acts, however this is not documented.
In an interview following the presentation of the Ethos Poverty
Index 2011, the federal official said, with respect to the drop in households' income,
that this situation has a direct relationship with external economic problems that have affected all countries.
According to the Ethos Foundation, Mexico is the third least poor
nation in Latin America, after Chile and Brazil. Measuring well being considered two components: household poverty and
the poverty environment.
The
first includes the dimensions of income, education, access to drinking water and wastewater service; the second [includes]
public health, institutions, economy, democracy, public safety, gender and the environment.
Besides the aforementioned countries, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela,
Ecuador and Bolivia participated in the sampling.
In the case of Mexico, the variables that contribute to household poverty are income, health service and access
to drinking water.
To lower
poverty, the publication concludes, democracy needs to strengthen and the problems associated with violence and insecurity
[need to be] reduced.
On the
other hand, Alfredo Nateras, a specialist in youth studies and a professor at the Autonomous Metropolitan University, said
in relation to the declarations of Guillermo Valdés, head of CISEN, that these kinds of speeches seek to criminalize
the young and to legitimize zero tolerance policies.
He deemed that the State is the threat to young people, given that it excludes them and denies
them development opportunities, while organized crime gangs offer them opportunities for social attachment and identity.
In conclusion, he added that the
State's options for the young are to become drug traffickers or migrate to another country, in both cases looking for
the prestige and respect they do not get in [Mexico].
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La Jornada,
Mexico City, Jul. 20, 2011; edited translation by MexiData.info
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