Pubdate: Sun, 12 Nov 2000
Source: El Paso Times (TX)
Copyright: 2000 El Paso Times
Contact:  P.O.Box 20, El Paso, Texas 79999
Fax: (915) 546-6415
Website:  http://www.borderlandnews.com/
Author: Diana Washington Valdez

TEENS UNITE AGAINST DRUG DEALERS

What: Conference on "Young Frontier: New Millennium Challenges Faced by 
Teen-agers Along the Borderline." Event seeks to raise awareness among 
youths about the risks of drug smuggling.

When: 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday; 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Where: Chamizal National Memorial in El Paso (Monday); University Cultural 
Center/Autonomous University of Juarez (UACJ).

Admission: The event is free and open to the public. Area youths are 
encouraged to attend.

Hundreds of El Paso and Juarez teens plan to join hands across the Bridge 
of the Americas on Monday to symbolize their unity against the exploitation 
of border youths by drug dealers.

The event is part of a two-day conference Monday and Tuesday in El Paso and 
Juarez designed to raise awareness among youths about the risks of drug 
smuggling.

"The idea for the conference arose from concerns voiced at bilateral 
meetings over the growing number of youths that drug-traffickers were 
recruiting to smuggle drugs across the border," said Antonio Meza, the 
Mexican consul in El Paso.

The U.S. consul in Juarez and members of law enforcement from both sides of 
the border took part in those discussions, said Meza, who spearheaded 
efforts for the conference called "Young Frontier: New Millennium 
Challenges Faced by Teen-agers Along the Borderline."

Law enforcement officials reported that 63 juveniles younger than 16 were 
arrested in El Paso for drug-trafficking in 1997. In 1999, the figure rose 
to 148. Along the U.S.-Mexican border, about 720 youths were arrested on 
drug-smuggling charges in 1997, compared with 500 in the rest of the 
nation, according to news accounts.

This week, Juarez police reported that a 15-year-old El Paso teen and a 
17-year-old Juarez companion were shot to death Tuesday night in Juarez by 
alleged drug dealers.

Authorities said they were shot in a dispute over $250 worth of cocaine. 
Details were not available. Up to now, most of the drug-related shootings 
in Juarez have involved adults.

Conference organizers note that 25 percent of the El Paso-Juarez population 
is 18 years old or younger and that one in three residents is younger than 30.

Featured conference guests will include District Attorney Jaime Esparza, 
County Attorney Jose Rodriguez, U.S. Consul Edward Vazquez, El Paso Mayor 
Carlos Ramirez, Juarez Mayor Gustavo Elizondo and Las Cruces Mayor Ruben Smith.

Scholars, social researchers and representatives of nongovernmental 
organizations will make special presentations, along with area high school 
students.

Among the experts expected at the conference are Guillermo Velasco, 
president of Mexico United Against Delinquency, and Lorenzo Gomez Morin, 
welfare and education minister.

Representatives of the El Paso Police Department, Juarez Municipal Police 
and the Catholic dioceses of both cities will take part in a Tuesday panel 
titled "Young Frontier at Risk, Addictions and Responsibilities of the Family.

Ricardo Rocha, a prominent Mexican journalist, will moderate a panel of 
border journalists on the role of the news media in preventing drug abuse.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Terry F