Bridget's World News Blog

Mexican Court to Try 14-Year-Old Charged in Cartel Beheadings

Sunday December 5, 2010

The brutality of the drug war in Mexico doesn't tend to surprise many anymore, with heads being left on doorsteps and cartels not giving a moment's hesitation about who might be caught in the crossfire. Since Mexican President Felipe Calderon declared war on the drug cartels, the violence has only intensified as the gangs dig in their heels. But just when you think you've heard it all, the Mexican justice system is now saddled with how to handle a 14-year-old hitman accused in participating in four beheadings at the behest of cartels. More:

"Authorities said they arrested El Ponchis on Thursday at an airport south of Mexico City with a 19-year-old sister. Mexican officials allege the boy was working for the Cartel of the South Pacific, a branch of the splintered Beltran Leyva gang. The sister has said they were headed for Tijuana, where they planned to cross the border and seek refuge with their stepmother in San Diego.

Many youths have been used by drug cartels, but the story of El Ponchis may be the most shocking. A YouTube video that emerged a month ago sparked talk of a child hit man -- said by some to be as young as 12.

'I participated in four executions, but I did it drugged and under threat that if I didn't, they would kill me,' the boy said when he was handed over to the federal prosecutor Friday.

Authorities identified the curly haired suspect only by his first name, Edgar.

Morelos Gov. Marco Adame Castillo has said the boy was born in San Diego, California, and Mexican officials were researching whether he has dual nationality. A U.S. Embassy official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to embassy policy, said earlier that American officials had not confirmed his citizenship."

The kid will be tried under a juvenile law that would put him behind bars for three years, as there's no system for trying youths as adults in Mexico. More about the child assassin here:

"Stories of a hit boy, maybe as young as 12, spread after a YouTube video appeared last month with teens mugging for the camera next to corpses and guns. One boy on the video alleged that 'El Ponchis' was his accomplice. State and federal authorities refused to confirm El Ponchis even existed.

In the video, the youth told an unseen questioner that his gang was paid $3,000 per killing.

'When we don't find the rivals, we kill innocent people, maybe a construction worker or a taxi driver,' the youth is heard saying.

Figures obtained by The Associated Press from Mexico's attorney general's office show that the number of youths 18 and under detained for drug-related crimes has climbed steadily since President Felipe Calderon launched his assault on cartels in 2006. There were 482 that year and 810 in 2009. There were 562 in the first eight months of this year, on track to surpass last year."

what do you think about this?

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AUSTRALIA

A CROSS-country US Airways flight was diverted after a small dog on board bit a flight attendant and a passenger.

The dog’s owner was supposed to keep the animal in its cage for the duration of the flight, but she took the dog out and it ran loose, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

The captain decided to divert the plane - carrying 122 passengers from Newark, New Jersey, to Phoenix, Arizona - and landed at Pittsburgh International Airport

what do you think about this? .........................................

CUBA

Cuba mulls 2nd Salvadoran bomber's death sentence Monday, December 6, 2010 Print E-mail Share Comments (0) Font | Size:  0 (12-06) 10:18 PST HAVANA, Cuba (AP) -- The Cuban Supreme Court on Monday began reviewing the death sentence of a Salvadoran man convicted of terrorism for a string of Havana hotel bombings in 1997. State-run website Cubadebate announced the review of Otto Rene Rodriguez Llerena's case, but did not provide details. Last week, the court commuted the death sentence of a second Salvadoran man convicted in the case, Ernesto Cruz Leon, giving him 30 years in prison instead. Rodriguez and Cruz Leon both confessed to the bombings, which killed an Italian tourist and wounded 11 other people including seven foreigners. They were found guilty in 1999. The plot was allegedly organized and financed by Cuban-Venezuelan Luis Posada Carriles — a former CIA operative and one of Cuba's most-wanted men, who is also accused in the 1976 bombing of a Cuban jetliner and in a series of attempts to assassinate former Cuban President Fidel Castro. Posada Carriles acknowledged involvement in the hotel bombings — but later retracted it and denied playing any role. He was convicted in Venezuela of the attack on the airliner but escaped jail and fled the country. Today he lives in the United States, where he faces charges of lying to federal authorities in his 2005 bid to become a U.S. citizen. While capital punishment is allowed under Cuba's constitution, President Raul Castro announced in 2008 that nearly all death sentences would be commuted and the rest — a handful of capital cases involving terrorism — would be reviewed. Besides Rodriguez, the only prisoner remaining on death row in Cuba today is Cuban-American Humberto Eladio Real, a member of an anti-Fidel Castro group who was convicted of killing a policeman in 1994 when he stormed ashore in Villa Clara armed with assault rifles and other weapons. There has been no word on whether a review is planned for his case.  what do you think about this