Mexicans demand the return of the death penalty after kidnappers murder boy, five

Published on Tuesday 4 November 2008 22:33

MEXICANS are calling for the death penalty to be brought back after drug-related violence has led to a record daily bodycounts and kidnappers murdered a five-year-old boy by injecting him with acid.

Fifty-eight people were killed in violence tied to Mexican drug cartels on Monday, the highest single-day tally in 2008, El Universal newspaper has reported.

The deaths included that of a 25-year-old patient who was "finished off" by masked hitmen who stormed a Red Cross operating theatre in the border city of Ciudad Juarez after failing to kill him in a street shooting.

So far this year, 4,325 people have been killed in violence related to drug trafficking in Mexico. President Felipe Calderon has sent thousands of troops to combat drug gangs in the most violent states since he took office in 2006, putting pressure on the cartels and sometimes leading to confrontations on Mexican streets.

The grim announcement follows the grisly discovery earlier this month of six human heads in various locations across Mexico. Cartels have turned to beheading their enemies as they battle for control of smuggling routes.

They also carve up the bodies, dump them in acid, or strip the victims naked and hang them from bridges.

There has also been a rise in kidnapping which has sparked public ire with Mexicans growing restless about the state of lawlessness in their country.

The latest abduction has triggered fears that gangs have sunk to a new low after they grabbed a five-year-old boy from a Mexico City street market and killed him by injecting acid into his heart.

Javier Morena was the oldest son of a poor family that sold fruit at a market in the tough neighbourhood of Iztapalapa.

Javier disappeared while playing at the market on Sunday, 26 October. His family spent days looking for him, finally persuading a local television station to post his picture on the news three days later.

A taxi driver recognised Javier, and went to the market to find the boy's relatives. He told them he had given the boy and a teenager a ride from the market to nearby Mexico state, and the teenager had told him the boy was crying because his younger brother had been stolen. The family showed the driver a picture of their son. Also in the picture was a 17-year-old family friend, whom the driver recognised as the alleged kidnapper.

The police raided the 17-year-old's home, and he and his family and two others confessed to having killed the boy before they could ask for a 300,000-peso (14,294) ransom, Mexico City attorney general Miguel Mancera said in a statement. Mr Mancera said the assailants injected the boy with acid and buried him on a hill outside the capital.

Five suspected kidnappers, including the 17-year-old, are under arrest. It remains unclear if the group had carried out other kidnappings.

Javier was buried early on Monday. Hours later, sitting in her home of cinderblock and corrugated tin, the boy's mother, Laura Vega, said she has no idea why the kidnappers targeted her family.

But she called for them to face the death penalty, long banned in Mexico, and that they should "suffer the way my son suffered."

Her eyes red and swollen from crying, she said: "He didn't have to die like that, far from his parents.

"If he had to go to God, it shouldn't have been like that."

On Monday, dozens of people left messages on the website of Reforma, a Mexican newspaper, voicing outrage at the five-year-old's death. Some called for Mexico to reinstate capital punishment.

One man, who identified himself as Eric Aguilar of Mexico City, posted: "Keeping them alive only guarantees a hidden danger for the rest of society."

Javier's death echoes the recent kidnapping and slaying of Fernando Marti, the 14-year-old son of a sporting goods magnate whose death prompted a national outcry against crime.

Marti's decomposing body was found in the boot of a car, even though his family reportedly paid a ransom.

More than 100,000 people marched through Mexico City in August to demand an end to widespread police corruption and rising crime, after prosecutors said a federal lawman was part of the gang that kidnapped Marti.

Abduction led to cash haul

MEXICO has one of the world's highest kidnapping rates, according to the anti-violence group IKV Pax Christi.

Official figures show there were 651 kidnappings in Mexico in the first nine months of the year, although experts say the figure could be two or three times higher because many cases go unreported.

Kidnappings are up 9 per cent this year and average 65 per month nationwide.

Most kidnappings go unreported for fear of police involvement. The non-profit Citizens' Institute for Crime Studies estimates the real kidnapping rate to be more than 500 per month.

Maria Elena Morera, president of Mexico United Against Crime, said the case of Javier Morena was another example of Mexico's deteriorating social fabric.

She added: "How can they do something like this?"